Hey guys I’m taking AP Micro, AP Psych, AP Lit in school and self studying AP Stats, and AP US GOV. I HAVE to get 5’s in all of these exams by the end of this school year. For AP lit and micro, my teachers aren’t that good tbh as they’re teaching the course for the first time, however my AP Psych teacher is pretty good. So i just really want to know how to get 5’s in all of these exams, for AP Lit i got “AP Literature and Composition for Dummies”, is it any good? also for AP Stats I’m planning on using Khan Academy and Statrek, let me know if they’re good. For AP US Gov I got the No Bull AP US Gov review. For AP Psych I have Barron’s, and for AP Micro I have nothing, literally nothing but an inexperienced teacher. So my question is, are these books/websites any good? and what do you recommend I do at this time to achieve my scores
Personally I don’t think it’s a good idea to self-study AP Lit. You need someone to critique your analysis. No book will help you with that.
The OP is not self studying AP Lit. But I agree that a book is a waste of time;you can either analyse lit or you can’t. You’re better off looking at old exams.
Using Barron’s for Psych and Statrek for stats is fine; that’s what I used. For micro, I used Princeton Review. I did not take APGov and am not familiar with No Bull AP US Gov review. My brother did take it and I think he used Princeton Review.
It’s not the end of the world if you don’t.
Sorry about that, that’s what I get for reading on a 3 inch screen
Would ACDC Econ be any help for AP Micro?
I don’t know how good every book is for every course, but my daughter found 5 Steps to a 5 were good books. She also used Crash Course for various tests. We did a lot of research and decided those seemed to best for her courses. She got five 5’s and one 4 in her seven APs.
If you have to get 5 on all tests, and your teachers are not good, you need to reasses your plan. First, unless you want college credit for your scores, understand that more APs does not equal a higher chance of acceptance at top colleges. Especially a bunch of randomly chosen APs. Colleges will care more about your grades in AP classes.
Secondly, doing what effectively seems to be your own prep for five exams is a great way to stress yourself out and compromise your course grades. That’s a big no-no, especially if you are aiming for top schools. If your plans for studying all these APs interfere with your ECs and schoolwork, you are going to sabotage your chances.
If you are convinced your teachers are poor, I suggest you focus on doing a lot of prep for the AP courses you are taking at school.
ime, the books fall into 2 camps: more content heavy and more test skills heavy. Head to the library and look at the AP study books on offer by subject (Princeton and 5 steps have been good in all the subjects that our collegekids have used, but there is variation). Some formats also work more intuitively for one student than another. Figure out which works for you, and which subjects you need more content in.
If you need 5s in all 5 of them to meet a conditional offer, it can be done, but you need to lay out a study plan now through the rest of the academic year. Be sure to schedule in at least 1 full, timed practice test in each subject, done in near-test conditions (at the library or in a school classroom for example) by early April- that will throw up your areas of real weakness faster than anything else. Do another at the end of April / very early May- that gives you a little time to nail down specific weaknesses.
If you are doing this for any other reason, you probably shouldn’t.
Fwiw, a first year teacher can do a perfectly fine job
I wouldn’t worry so hard about the test scores. You may end up having to take those classes again in college anyway. Even students who do get all 4s and 5s don’t always use those credits or even send the scores to colleges. We know a few college students on full tuition (not full ride) scholarships who elected not to use the AP credits on the lower level classes because 1) very few of them actually counted toward the major, 2) the ones that did pushed them into much harder levels as a freshman. That makes it more difficult to keep the academic scholarship, because the AP class may not have given the student the same preparation as the ones who took the lower level class at the university, and that first year away from home is hard enough without all the extra pressure.
Work hard, do your best, but don’t stress yourself out overmuch if you get a 3 or 4 on one of your exams. It’s your actual grades in the class that matter to colleges.