Student Experiences: AP Week

With AP week in full swing, it can be overwhelming to balance studying for APs while still doing well in school. As someone who took one AP last year and is taking three this year, I can point to many things that I wish I knew earlier. I came up with a few tips to help all students this upcoming week:

First, get familiar with the content of the course before doing any practice tests. Aside from using your notes from your class, if you feel like you need supplementary resources, there are tons of free and helpful websites that you can use to find summaries of the content of your course. Some of my favorites are Marcolearning and Quizlet. For AP History classes particularly, Heimler’s History is a great resource that you can find on YouTube.

Once you feel comfortable enough with the content of the course, you are ready to start practicing. Practice tests should be timed so that on the AP exam itself, you will be able to pace yourself properly. Tests from previous years will reflect, more or less, the same thing you find on the actual AP, and by pacing yourself, you won’t have the problem of running out of time on the real exam.

The last tip is to rest well the night before because at this point, there isn’t that much more that you can study. AP studying has to be done over the course of a few weeks, or at the least, a few days. In order to make sure you follow these tips, I suggest creating an AP study plan in which you designate certain days for studying certain units.

AP week can be stressful, but following these tips will help reduce that stress significantly. Good Luck to everyone taking AP exams this week!