Self-Studying APs: Improving Your App - Page 3

Beavers66 · 07-20-2007, 08:10 PM

does anyone have a syllabus for 6th Edition Biology by Campbell and Reece ; I'm self studying and am wondering which of these 55 chapters and 1200+ pages are not needed to know for the exam

llpitch · 07-20-2007, 08:33 PM

^ I need to know also, I have the 7th edition but it's basically the same

dchow08 · 07-21-2007, 01:27 AM

I'm already going to be a senior, so if I self-study for exams the admissions officers won't know my scores. Do you think it's still a good idea for me to self-study for a bunch of tests, so I can skip huge, annoying intro classes?

Also, would it be best to take and do well on as many AP tests as you possibly can? In other words, are there cases where it would be better to take an intro class in environmental science than to self-study and get a 5?

Also, does anyone know from experience if self-studying for AP Latin: Vergil a good idea?

llpitch · 07-21-2007, 05:25 AM

I would DEFINITELY not self study Latin Vergil unless you have a really strong backing in Latin...like 3-4 years.

dchow08 · 07-21-2007, 01:04 PM

I've taken Latin for three years. Yeah, I guess it would be hard to self study the Aeneid because without a good teacher it's hard to translate it by yourself. Okay, what about AP Biology? I'm going to be a senior next year, so colleges won't know until after I've been admitted. Should I self-study for that so I can skip intro classes?

oasis · 07-21-2007, 01:34 PM

@ Beavers - why do you need a syllabus for Campbell's Biology? Do you mean an outline of topics? I'd actually say if you are going to self-study Bio, get Cliff Notes first and read through it. Use Campbell to supplement the areas that you are still fuzzy on. I would NOT recommend reading through all of Campbell if you are just interested for AP credit (well sure, if you enjoy the material or want to try for the Olympiad or love learning for the sake of learning, by all means I invite you to read the entire text). Campbell does a lot with examples and synopses of research, both modern and older - you do not need to know all of that for AP Bio. Cliff Notes touches on the main concepts for AP Bio pretty well - so you can use that as a "guide," if you will, if you decide on self-studying for Bio.

@ dchow - AP credit is good if you are going to a school that allows you to bypass a lot of intro classes with AP credit. The majority of colleges let you do that - but there are some that are very stringent about the classes for which they offer credit (like MIT, for example). I'd say that research the AP policy of the schools you are going to first and decide. But in sum, I'd recommend having taken at least Calc, English, Bio, Chem, and Physics before college if you are thinking about going into science (don't try to self-study Calc, English, or maybe Physics if you haven't, though). They are good previews for college classes IMO and it's good to go in with a foundation, regardless of whether you get credit at the college you end up attending. For the "non-core" AP classes, then it's just up to your discretion on how much is "good." You can put self-study APs on your college apps, but again, it's at the discretion of the colleges on whether they will take that as a mark of academic rigor, since it's your senior year already.

People generally self-study "non-core" AP exams (like Env Sci) for AP Scholar awards. If you are seriously thinking about going into a field like Env Sci, I think it's still better to have taken the equivalent college course. Of course, if you are just aiming to use the 5 on the Env Sci test as elective credits in college (MIT allows many AP exams to be used as "elective" credits - so you won't have to take extra elective classes but does not allow you to bypass the course equivalent of the AP exam at MIT), then it's a different story.

The bottom line is I would recommend you to peruse some AP policy at possible colleges that you want to apply to and decide then. The AP policies at colleges are very diverse and it's hard to give a definite answer that generalizes for all the schools.

Just to reinstate:

It is more to your advantage to self-study AP courses before senior year, as satisfactory performance on them will enhance the application. For senior year, it's more a question of whether you want to bypass introductory courses rather than "looking good" on the application.

If anyone has more self-study AP questions, please ask! That's what I'm here for :]

Vicky_sky · 07-21-2007, 03:08 PM

would you recommend self-studying like 1 or 2 AP's, alongside a rigorous IB schedule? i will be taking 4 AP exams (Bio, Eng, USH, Span) my junior yr and since i want to be Nat'l AP scholar, i need 2 more. I wanted to take psychology as my IB elective, but my school no longer offers it so i will self-study AP psych on my own and/or take an online class. this leaves one more....

AP Chem?? i had a year of honors chem, and will be taking "IB Chem" next year- how hard would it be to self-study?
AP Euro History?? it looks freakishly detailed and difficult but then again i took AP World, would this help?

any other suggestions?

mj93 · 07-21-2007, 03:29 PM

First off, thank you SO MUCH for the post. It helps a lot. I'm a rising freshman and I was already planning to self-study AP Psych next year, but based on your post I think I can handle Env. Sci as well (I'll be in Honors Biology)--will this be too much?

Edit: Also, which textbooks do you recommend? I didn't read the whole thread, so if you already said, I apologize.

tokenadult · 07-21-2007, 04:05 PM

Thanks, oasis, for posting this information.

I've been to your alma mater high school, back when we lived in Taiwan.

oasis · 07-23-2007, 01:11 AM

@ Vicky - If you are taking IB Chem, I think it should be adequate for AP Chem. Often, the IB equivalent of the AP class is more rigorous than the AP exam so I think you should be fine. I'd advise going against self-studying Euro if your schedule is already jam-packed because Euro covers a fair amount of material that isn't in AP World. Granted, you can read through all of REA and get a 5 (that's what I did ^^") but it's kind of boring and not fun when your schedule is already packed to the max. Chem would be great.

@ mj93 - Env Sci is a natural extension to Bio, so it shouldn't be too hard. I didn't use textbooks for either self-study, so I'm not sure @@" =p. There is a thread on this forum that talks about the best textbooks to use for different exams, so perhaps read that. For prep books, get Smarty Pants for Env Sci and PR for Psych. That's all I used to get the two 5s.

@tokenadult - Nice to know! =) Any comments on it? haha

Lionelhutz828 · 07-23-2007, 01:21 AM

I do not mean to be at all confrontational when I ask this question, but:

Don't any of you just study things you're interested in?

llpitch · 07-23-2007, 01:54 AM

I'm pretty sure that's why oasis did what he did..

oasis · 07-23-2007, 02:06 AM

It's okay, I get that question a lot, actually.

Although I try to add in the element of "Improving Your App" or "getting AP scholar," or "which APs are easier to self-study," I don't ever think that's the mindset you should approach this whole thing with.

I self-study APs because I seek a challenge that's further than what my school can offer. When you go to a school with 5 APs, you'll know your educational possiblities are quite limited. At the same time, I do not seek to cram pointless APs that I do not care about. I love history, so I did all 3 history APs - I didn't care much about Human Geography, so I didn't go take it just because its an "easy" AP. Some people don't understand me when I say this, but I'm actually interested in a lot of APs - and what is there to lose after self-studying to see how much of the material you retained through taking the AP test?

For me, AP is all about challenges and exploring what your school curriculum can't offer you. I wrote this thread for the numerous students who come from small schools with limited curriculums, because if even one of them can go out and explore their passions through AP (which is not available at school) or challenge themselves academically by striving for one of the AP awards, this thread would not have been written in vain.

So yes, I hope that answered your question. ^____^

golddustwoman · 07-24-2007, 02:07 PM

Do you think it's pointless to self-study for an AP test in my senior year since colleges won't know I took it unless my counselor mentions that i'm going to self-study in my recommendation?

shadowing · 07-24-2007, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by golddustwoman

Do you think it's pointless to self-study for an AP test in my senior year since colleges won't know I took it unless my counselor mentions that i'm going to self-study in my recommendation?

I don't think so. When you take the AP test, you have the option of sending in the AP score to the college you are going to. If you send the ones you studied for independently, they'll know.