So AP exams are in a couple months. This is my first year taking AP classes (Comp Sci and World History), and I’m wondering what people do to study for these exams (or AP exams in general). I’ve gotten Barron’s for both, but I’m not sure what to do, or when to start.
Basically: When do you start prepping? (March? April? Cram?)
What do you do with your book? (Flashcards? Read/highlight?)
How many practice exams do you take? (As many as you can get?)
About how much time you you put into prepping?
Any answers appreciated; thanks in advance.
I never read a single chapter of our APWH book last year, and I just watched some John Green videos in the week before the test. I got a 4, but I still don’t recommend my strategy at all. This year, I’ve been actively using my Princeton Review to supplement my APUSH readings, and I’ve been doing pretty well. I’m starting review from the AMSCO book , and I’m thinking of doing a timeline for things like the leading party and the elections, flashcards for each president’s values, achievements, and failures, and then I usually just put sticky notes throughout the book so I can write down important stuff. I usually highlight in different colors because I’ve had a colorcoded system for a few years and it sticks for me, but for others, it may just confuse them. After about a month, I’ll take a practice test, see what I got wrong, and categorize it by the time period or concept, and see if there’s a trend in what I don’t know. Then I’ll just sort my classwork from throughout the year by era and look through that for the time period I don’t remember well, and hopefully I’ll just be able to watch some videos in the week before the test and relax the night before. (: Hope you do well! [Also, practice writing the essays. I was lazy last year and would do a test, but only the MC and not the essay, so I screwed myself over on the actual exam.]
ALSO: Utilize your teacher. They get paid for a reason. Write a DBQ or CCOT or all three over the weekend, shoot them an email, and hand them the essays on Monday and ask for a time to come in and get some feedback on what you’re weak in. Good teachers will take the time to see what you’re struggling with, and it may just be one thing that takes away the point you need. Identify your weaknesses and fix them. March may seem early to begin studying, but it’s a month where you do light reading review, and April is hardcore so then you can focus on small details and concepts in May.
Look at the APWH 2007 exam and sample questions from the collegeboard.
Why are they so easy? (Not trying to brag here or anything but wth? How is this the exam with one of the lowest percentage of 5s and 4s? I’m NOT a history wiz or anything NOR do i have a high grade in the class. I barely got an A last semester and probably gonna get like a 90 in the class this semester too.)