All across the Woodland many students are becoming increasingly stressed. With Advanced Placement (AP) testing just around the corner, students are beginning to feel overwhelmed with studying. Not to mention, this is also accompanied by other testing for sophomores and juniors such as the PSAT, SAT, and NGSS testing. This, along with balancing other classes, sports, or after school activities, can become quite hectic for students.
But, one thing is for certain: all of these students recognize the necessity of studying for these tests, as they could impact their future. With good scores, they may be able to opt out of college classes should they choose to go. So take it from some of the experts; here are some ways to do the best studying for AP exams.
Some students will go the easier route, simply studying the assignments that they are given on AP classroom or the classwork and homework provided by the AP teacher. This work especially occurs in classes like AP Literature or AP Language and Composition, as passages and essay topics could be a variety of different subjects, students must simply practice the types of questions.
“I like studying for my APs using AP classroom,” said AP Language and Composition student, Olivia Brunetti. “The topics are a variety of subjects, so I found that practice is the best solution to studying.”
While some prefer the easier route of just doing the classwork assignments, others may choose to go above and beyond, even taking time to create their own practice problems or search YouTube to find practice examples for their specific AP course. This exercise is often a good solution for students taking AP’s such as AP Precalculus, AP Statistics or AP Calculus. In math, there are often specific formulas or types of questions that are likely to be asked on tests, so knowing and getting your own practice of these types of questions is vital to students in those APs.
Yet, these are just various students’ ways of studying. The College Board website offers interesting tips on different ways to approach the exam based on what AP you are taking. For AP Precalculus, the College Board recommends that you try and answer each part of each question and the website event states “Credit for each part is awarded independently, so you should attempt to solve each part.”
For courses like AP Biology, the College Board provides students with formula sheets that they will be able to access on the day of the exam, in order to highlight the importance of understanding how these formulas work and being able to use them in your own work.
So, while there may not be a specific technique that works for everyone, there is sure to be lots of advice out there on how to take AP exams, whether it is more of a formulaic exam like biology or math, or more complex exams where there could be a variety of different topics like AP Literature and AP Language and Composition.
