lewisandclark

I'm toying with the notion of self-studying for 4 APs (Human Geography, Psychology, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics). Before I decide to do it, I was wondering what the best way to self-study is.
- Do people just study of review books(PR, Barrons, etc.) or do people get textbooks and actually read/learn material?
- Which way is more effective?
- How long does this procedure usually take?
- Is it even possible to cram?
- Recommended studying schedule (2 hours a nights 3 weeks before the exam, or w.e, etc.)

Any other advice would be appreciated as well.
Past experiences of self-studying would be cool.

PS
What I'm thinking of doing right now is just getting the textbooks and learning for about an hour a day or so, and as the AP exam approaches, go over the review books. Problem is, that's a major chunk of my time. According to that plan, that's 4 hours everyday just for self-studying. Would be extremely difficult to manage that with my school schedule and whatnot. So I guess I'm looking for somthing that's not everyday, or on weekends, or whatever.

waterbox

From what my friends told me, using review books alone worked out fine for them. They just spent some extra time on the side talking to the teacher about it.

llpitch

You should study exams that actually matter. Human Geo and Psych are pretty meaningless. If I had known how easy self studying was, I would have done Econ and a science last year. (I did Comp Gov and Psych, both 5's). I do recommend Comp Gov though, I really liked self studying that.

But if you do stay with the 4 you listed, you only need prep books. For Comp Gov I started 2 weeks before the exam and read my prep book three times through. For Psych I started 3 days before the exam and read my book two times through.

I'd recommend you start sooner so you can actually have a life the weeks before the AP exams.

adamonkey2

- Do people just study of review books(PR, Barrons, etc.) or do people get textbooks and actually read/learn material?
- Which way is more effective?

I think it's more effective to use the review book, it is of course the most efficient way to cover all the knowledge that is going to be tested and is at the same level as the real test.
I tried studying from a textbook in addition to self studying from a review book, it didn't work as well. It was more boring and went in depth in the wrong places, also the exerices weren't as good quality for practice.

Also, sometimes it's extremely useful to have an interactive website to introduce the stuff to you before you tackle the review book (since it is review, and u havn't learned much yet). This is mostly for subjects like Physics or Calculus, since the concepts are slightly harder to grasp and an interactive learning experience can help a lot.


- How long does this procedure usually take?

It really depends on the subject you're going to take. If it's something like Environmental Science or (maybe Psych?), it takes much less time. I know this guy who self-studied APES the day before the test and scored a 5.
But for things like Physics and stuff, it's much harder and you really have to understand all the concepts.
But, you probably have to review the stuff (if you already finished studying the book before), starting from 3 weeks before the test or something. It's very useful, and you'll find that you forgot a lot of stuff.

- Is it even possible to cram?

Depends on the test. Learning a few millenia of history in one night is very hard to do. If you're going to take the test, i'd suggest you take it seriously and not cram. You're doing this for learning experience right?
Oh, and yeah Micro/Macro fall into the non-crammable category.

- Recommended studying schedule (2 hours a nights 3 weeks before the exam, or w.e, etc.)
Any other advice would be appreciated as well.
Past experiences of self-studying would be cool.

I don't know about Human Geo/Psych, but when i self-studied for SAT Physics, basically, i finished covering the material a month before and got a few 800's on my practice tests and was satisfied. About 2 weeks before the test, i started studying (around 1 hour a day) to refresh my memory and took as many practice tests as possible. I actually took notes when i was self-studying the review book, since it's VERY helpful, your knowledge actually goes in. But then, that's probably already known.

This is from someone who took SAT2 Physics in his sophomore year and scored an 800. I'm pretty sure the same self-studying tactics can be applied to AP's.

unefille

I self studied ap environmental science and I got a 5. I know that it's one of the easier ap's so maybe it doesn't matter as much but I would say that if there's a particular ap subject that you're interested in(like me, I'm kinda into ecology and stuff) then you shouldn't have too much trouble self-studying it.

stl2cali2k1

which books should i get for env. sci?

should i self study for it even if im taking 5 aps next year

Modulation

If you do decide to self-study/cram, do it over spring break. I found that to be very effective.

I used PR for env. Sci. However, I would recommend a supplement because PR doesn't cover a few topics well, like forestry... Go to CB website and print off a sheet of the topics covered on the test.