4 Tips To Nail Your AP Exams
By Jody Bell
My bedroom floor was a pile of scattered papers – some crumbled, some coffee stained, and some scribbled with so many notes you couldn’t see the margin. To many, it probably looked like I was trying to crack the case on murder mystery. In reality, I was attempting to study for my AP exams.
It was mid April of my junior year and I was already a tad behind my peers when it came to the big AP exams that would take place the second week of May. I had never taken an exam that was as complex and content heavy as these – and I misgauged the study window. I tried to lay out all the material I was responsible for and immediately started to freak out once I understood how much I had to know. After many deep breaths, I pulled myself together and made a study schedule based on known content and devoted myself to make up for lost time.
A month later and I walked out of my test feeling amazing. I ended up scoring very well despite starting my studying late. The rocky start actually forced me to be incredibly meticulous when it came to the planning and discipline of my studying routine.
Now, I know for a fact that plenty of AP students with tests in less than a month haven’t yet started studying. That’s okay – studying for these tests is entirely out of many high school student’s comfort zone and many don’t know how early the preparation must begin. If I’m referring to you, don't freak out just yet – I’ve put together a one-month crash course to nail your AP exams.
1. Figure out the material you’re responsible for:
Unlike your tests and quizzes, AP exams aren’t created by the person who taught you the material.
Instead, all AP exams are created by the College Board. This can make the preparation for studying for AP exams more difficult as the topics (along with the depth of coverage) is different for each teacher. If you purely study notes from class you might overstudy some material and understudy other information. Thus, it’s crucial you use study guides and resources from the College Board website.
As you look through exam descriptions, ensure that you are familiar with the subjects listed, and jot down areas that you want to further emphasize in your studying.
2. Gauge depth of knowledge
Once you have a clear understanding of the material you’re responsible for, figure out where you stand on some of the major topics and work backwards.
This outline of current knowledge will serve as a foundation for the rest of your study schedule, so it’s crucial you devote a good amount of time to this and get a bit creative. Personally, I took all the necessary material and broke it down into the major units as outlined on the College Board’s website. I physically wrote the names of these units on paper, and laid these labeled pieces of paper across my floor. I then put the corresponding handouts, tests, and quizzes that pertained to these specific units and put them on the printouts. I went through unit by unit to generally see how I performed on these tests and quizzes, and then jotted down some of the major subtopics within each unit. Once I had this, I made a master list of all units and subunits along with my average test grade.
As a visual learner, this was both a review session of material, but also a way for me to break down the material a bit and feel less overwhelmed.
3. Come up with a schedule and compile resources
With this list, you simply need to work backwards from your test date to see what pace you need to have during your studying.
It’s crucial you build in rest days along with review days to prevent burnout during this process. Additionally, you may find it helpful to search for and compile resources to study with as you are putting together your schedule. This allows you to have an additional layer of accountability given that your plan for studying involves a tangible action. To find these resources, there are a lot of different informational hubs, along with books directly from the College Board that you can purchase.
5. Test yourself
Arguably one of the most important parts of studying is testing yourself and your progress.
Luckily, the College Board has plenty of different resources for this. There are usually past questions on the back booklet of your AP course description, and there are plenty of past exams which have been released. If you can, really try to use questions from The College Board when testing yourself – you will become more familiar with the manner and wording they use in their questions.
Hopefully these tips will help you feel as though you can tackle these AP exams! Whatever happens, if try your best and do it early, you’ll be happy with the outcome!
If you have any questions regarding AP exams, Girls With Impact, or have an article idea, shoot me an email at jody.bell@girlswithimpact.com.
Jody Bell, 20 is Girls With Impact’s Editor in Chief and a program graduate from Greenwich High School. Girls With Impact is the nation’s only online, business and leadership program for girls 14-24, turning them into tomorrow’s leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators.