The Great Question of Should I Really Self-Study

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

Hello, I know there too many forums about the whole self-study topic, but today or rather tonight I decided to ask my own questions on self-studying.

  1. I'm a rising junior in a small school in Wyoming that only offers 12 APs, which I know is more than many other schools, but I was wondering how I should self-study? I'm trying to take anywhere from 20-25 APs, mostly to prove I'm not stupid despite what people say, but also b/c I am very interested in all of these subjects and trying to narrow down what I want to do in college

I also don’t have much experience with APs b/c AP Calc AB is my only class so far

I will already be taking a class with the school for AP Euro, AP Lang&Comp, AP Calc BC, and AP Physics C, while at the same time taking French 5 which usually takes the AP exam at the end of the year anyways.

I have decided to self-study and I have already ordered books which I will go into more detail below, but I wanted to know if anyone could give me a run-down of how I might go about studying these topics.

AP Art History - I ordered the Gardner’s Art Through the Ages Textbook and the Annotated Mona Lisa as a supplementary text

AP Macro/Microeconomics - I ordered Economics: Principles, Problems, and Policies, 19th Edition by McConnell and PR

AP Physics C Electricity and Magnetism - My physics teacher only teaches mechanics, but I ordered PR 2015 and I have a textbook already by Halliday called Fundamentals of Physics Edition 8

  • I want to also do the Physics 1 and 2 exams to get extra exams for State AP scholar, but I don't know how these differ from Physics C and the reviews on amazon for the PR, 5steps to5, and Barrons all were bad and said they weren't good, so how different are they from C and if I learned C how much extra prep would I need/ should I just skip it

AP World History - I have three textbooks already and I ordered PR

AP Comparative Gov’t and Politics - I ordered Comparative Politics: Structures and Choices by Barrington, PR, and AP Comp. Gov’t & Politics: An Essential Coursebook, 6th Edition

Now that we know what classes, will anyone with any prior experience with these course comment and tell me how they are doable and if there are any specific tracks I should keep on

P.S. if this succeeds I plan on doing AP Chem, Bio, Env. Sci, Human Geography, U.S. GoPo, US HIS, Psych, Lit, Music Theory, French (as a class again), and Stat

If I had a good teacher I might even end up taking AP Computer Science, b/c that is interesting to me and I tried to teach myself before not for APs but could never do it, and I know I will never be able to teach myself or use a book, so if anyone knows any good online courses I have an open ear

Thank you for any help or even just reading this! :wink:

2

You’re taking all of these APs just to prove that you’re not stupid? Colleges aren’t gonna care about these self-studied APs, and who cares what everyone else thinks about you? This is a bit much. The only reason I would suggest self-studying is if you’re really interested in a subject or if you really want some college credit.

3

Agree with the above. Additionally, you’re planning on taking 20-25 tests in 2 years?? That seems unworkable. Since colleges will not care that you are self studying AP’s, and since you won’t have senior year scores before you’re admitted, this seems like a whole lot of work for little return. AP Scholar might be nice, but it’s one of those things that people will forget about right after it’s awarded.

4

Take APs for the credit. Haha, if I passed that many APs I’d run out of financial aid after my first year for breaching the unit limit.