Which AP's to take and How to Self Study Them?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

I am thinking of AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science, AP Human Geography.

Are those good?

AP Psychology
-Said to be quite easy to self-study.
-However, people say you have to memorize a lot.

AP Environmental Science
-Said to be quite easy.

AP Human Geography
-Said to be quite easy.
-However, many say that colleges don’t accept this AP and it doesn’t look good.

Are those good AP’s to self-study as a FRESHMAN?

Also which books are the best for each subject?
Thanks.

2

First things first: why do you want to self-study APs? If it is to impress colleges, your time is better spent on getting top marks in the most rigorous classes you can take and developing yourself in EC areas that are important to you.

Self studied APs can do two things for you:

  1. exempt you from some intro level classes and give you some credits towards graduation - but how many and which depends on the specific university.

  2. be useful if you are applying to international universities- if they relate to the specific subject you are applying to study.

3

I self studied AP Human Geography and I took AP Psychology online (so basically self-studied).

With AP HUG, I used The Princeton Review (you might also wanna get Barron’s to guarantee a 4/5) and I got a 5. I did online FRQs and took practice MC exams. It didn’t take long to self study. I spent the entire summer taking notes (which I probably could’ve just read the book and underlined) and I learned urban geography 2 nights before the exam. Very easy, little AP credit if you do decide to take it. I don’t think it “doesn’t look good” necessarily, especially if you mention on your college apps that you self-studied it.

With AP Psych, I took an online course (and it wasn’t the best). I recommend buying Barron’s and using that as your only source of prep book. DO NOT buy Princeton Review. My friend got it and it was highly disappointing and lacked very important info, and included a lot of stuff that didn’t matter. I went through Barron’s a week before the exam and ended up with a 5. This one’s probably more easy to self-study than AP HUG if you contribute the barrons book to memory (since its more predictable than AP HUG). I did some FRQ’s from online and graded myself and I took some actual AP multiple choice exams for extra prep. Probably more likely to get college credit