Hello everyone! I posted in another thread regarding this subject as well, but received only one response.
I'm looking into doing an AP course via independent study this year and taking the AP Exam in the spring. What are your thoughts/experience on independent study?
A good place to post your question would be in the SAT/ACT section. There's a sub-section of AP and I see a number of students--not homeschooled--self-study for AP exams. I'm guessing they might have some good tips.
My son took his AP exams after college classes and after an actual AP class except for AP stats. He self-studied that using some free online videos and an AP Stats study guide. For AP Calc B/C, he used Thinkwell videos and a study guide, but he'd also taken calc at the CC.
My son has self-studied for all his AP exams (eight thus far). We used Thinkwell and a textbook for BC Calc and for chemistry, relied on textbooks for the other subjects.
I think we are looking at self-studying for APs a little differently than most students on CC are; in my son's case, the AP exam is being used to demonstrate mastery of the subject he spent the year or a semester studying. So we are not relying solely on prep books.
We have found that working through released exams and FRQs is the best way to prepare for the exams themselves.
My guy self-studied for two AP exams - Psych and Stats - and got 5s on both. He could also have taken Calc and Bio (and most likely would have had 5s), but opted not to since he knew he was going to retake those at his 4 year school anyway due to possibly heading pre-med.
Just be certain on your transcript you don't call the courses "AP ______." You can't do that without collegeboard permission after getting your syllabus approved. We didn't bother. He just used the same books, etc, and called the course "Statistics w/AP test score = 5" on his transcript. It was much less hassle that way.
While I self studied Biology this year (actually, I took a very easy class along with it, but 80% was self study) and got an 800 and a 5, I don't plan to do any self study in the future because I want to be able to list the class as AP.
This year I also took AP government online, and it was not hard to get an A, and I can call it AP. It mostly had assignments that prepared you for a 5 on the AP test and was very flexible.
