<p>i "self studied" the econs and the politics ones and not bad at all</p>
<p>i took psychology as a sophie and I did not take any psychology classes. got a 4 on the exam btw.
i also think environmental sci and stat is doable without taking the class.</p>
<p>It really depends on your background and strengths. I'll give my impressions of the tests I have taken. My primary strength is in math.</p>
<p>In general, I would advise self-studying those APs that are more concept-oriented (such as math or physics), but not those that are more fact-oriented (such as History, but that is not on your list).</p>
<p>AP Statistics is an easy choice. I learned this in a couple weekends from Barrons, no sweat.</p>
<p>AP Calculus BC is a little harder in terms of depth of understanding necessary, but if you're good at math, there is VERY little you actually need to learn, so I think that is easily doable.</p>
<p>AP Physics C is very doable if you've had Calculus. It's basically math with a different frame. The topics can be a little hard to grasp right away, so give yourself plenty of time to absorb it.</p>
<p>AP Chemistry is a bit of a wild card. Many people say it is the hardest AP of them all. I found it to be fairly easy though, and a careful reading of a thorough review book should be good for at least a 4. There is a lot more to memorize in Chem than any of the others, but it's all fairly easy to retain.</p>
<p>AP French Literature, if it is anything like Latin Literature, would be a very bad idea, I think. Latin Lit. consisted of an immense amount of reading that I could barely stand to do spread out through a whole school year, so trying to do that much reading as self-study would be suicidal. If French Lit. is like this, I wouldn't try it.</p>
<p>According to my friend, if you like math then AP Calc is a very easy self-study course. He says Calc is not just a subject, but it is like a beautiful painting because of the concepts that put life into a new picture. </p>
<p>I took Comp Sci A and I think it is a doable self-study course if you have the proper resources, such as a compiler and a textbook and prepbook.</p>
<p>Anyone who has taken Music Theory, would that be a hard self-study course?
At my school the class is extremely hard and like 2 people made A's, 3 had C's, and the rest failed, out of around 12. And I heard the exam was even harder than the class.</p>
<p>Macro and Micro is defintely do-able...I did it in less than a month...just read some and skimmed some of the text book (I ordered it from Amazon...I rec. McConnell and Brue), reviewed Kaplan the night before, and pretty sure I fived the Macro and got a 4-5 on Micro.</p>
<p>all but
AP Chem, AP Phys (B and C), AP Calc BC, AP Calc AB would be great to independent..</p>
<p>Math is too critical to independent study.. (except for Stat)</p>
<p>Do BC if u did AB though.. its not that much more..</p>
<p>You will get killed on Lab problems on the Science Exams if you independent study exams!!</p>
<p>All Histories/Social Sciences/and Environmental are all just plain READING!!!</p>
<p>ditto with catch</p>
<p>i used an economics book that my neighbor had, it was paperback and stuff and it was from the post-stagflation era lol</p>
<p>I'm taking courses at Stanford over the summer and one of these courses is American Government and Politics. With this course and a good review book or two, I should be golden for the AP test and not need to take the course in school, right?</p>
<p>honestly, if you put the effort, all APs are doable self study. Thats a fact!</p>
<p>Its possible to do:</p>
<p>AP Psychology
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP Stats.</p>
<p>Notice I said possible. Self studying Stats and Psych would not be fun (based on friends' experiences). I think it'd be fun to self study Micro/Macro (maybe its just the type of person I am).</p>
<p>Yea, don't do chem. There are alot of stuff PR/Barrons/(Your book) won't prepare you for. And you just wont have the experience to know what happens, say, a strong base is titrated with a weak acid.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I managed to BS a 5 on ap chem... lol. i was hoping for a 3. =D. Yea, unless u really like chem or u learned alot in chem honors or sumthing, dont do it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I really spent only like 100 hours studying this altogether, and I'm expecting a 5.
[/quote]
Yes, you only spent 100 hours studying for this exam. Are you kidding?! That's a ridiculous amount of time to spend studying for one exam. I could probably read a Psych textbook cover to cover in that amount of time.</p>
<p>If you independently studied an exam (and thus a teacher isn't assigning homework, projects, and tests) and studied 100 hours, I would hope that you get a 5. Heck, you should get close to, if not 100% on the AP exam.</p>
<p>On topic:
You can literally learn Macroecon in one intense week. Although there's a lot of topics on the outline, the actual exam only really covers 3 topics (fiscal policy, monetary policy, international trade) and asks about 30-40 MC and 2 FRQ's on these three topics alone. If you just glance over the other stuff, a 5 should be no problem here. Microecon is tougher, but it's still doable. You could probably self-study it in two weeks if you're fast, but some of the stuff takes a while to digest. There is not as much of an imbalance of topics, but if there were any biggies, I would say know your supply/demand curves and market structures cold. </p>
<p>I think Physics B is a manageable self-study if you had a rigorous Physics course, but I believe most schools that offer AP offer this course anyway. Physics C is very difficult, but if you're smart, you probably can pull it off too. Unlike Biology, AP Physics is not very lab-oriented. Therefore, someone with a solid knowledge of theoretical physics could go in and get a 5. There are lab questions, but you don't actually need to have hands-on experience with lab equipment to do well. Again it boils down to theoretical physics.</p>
<p>The Governments are pretty easy self-studies if you are willing to put in the time and effort. There aren't any tricks to these exams. You just have to expose yourself to the news and read a lot. And I really mean A LOT. Government textbooks aren't a breeze, so you need to be prepared to set aside quite some time.</p>
<p>I have also heard of people self-studying Environmental Science and Human Geography. Those shouldn't be too bad.</p>
<p>Psych is the ultimate self studyable.</p>
<p>How long do these AP tests usually last?</p>
<p>a few more questions......</p>
<p>what kind of lab work do you do for AP Bio? (best study book)</p>
<p>what is harder, stats or SAT I Math? and what would be equivelent to a 500, 600, 700, etc. SAT I score?</p>
<p>Psych is easy for someone who has NEVER taken a pysch class?</p>
<p>and what would you suggest I do?
I am currently taking Honors World Hist as a junior...should I take the AP test this year, or should I take AP World Hist next year and just skip the test (I know I won't get credit but at least it will look like I am taking a rigorous course load)</p>
<p>Blythe I think that Princeton Review is pretty good because it has like the 10 main labs that you need to do for A.P. Biology. The labs are pretty easy if you did pretty good in Biology. </p>
<p>About World History I think you should self study it and save that space for another A.P. If you want an easy A.P. class take it though. My teacher is pretty strict in that class. We outline the chapter and he just talks about it so it's kinda hard, but it would be pretty easy if I didn't have a teacher.</p>
<p>blythe, if u take a rigorous course and skip the test, some colleges might get suspicious. They might think ur a slacker or sumthing especially if u got good grades. So if u take Ap world his, take the test. Im sure ull do great if u prepare well enough.</p>
<p>I'm self studying macro-economics.</p>
<p>Chemistry seems hard. I mean, I love chemistry, so I wouldn't mind self-studying. I kind of did it last year, but you need to practice a lot of problems. But then again, I actually took the class (we learned nothing, but did labs) and I learned a lot from the labs so...</p>
<p>Psychology is easy.</p>