6 AP Classes Junior Year. Any tips or advice for these classes?

Yakisoba
Sun, 10 Apr 2016 03:35:56 +0000

I was in the same position at you junior year–ranked 8th out of some 400 students, and about to take 6 aps. I made a pretty big jump, going from 2 last year, but I still did exceptionally well; in fact, my first semester grades were better than the first semesters of my freshman and sophomore years. Though I was able to end with high grades, I did make some mistakes early on, including:

1. Underestimating classes. This is what you ABSOLUTELY don’t want to do. I underestimated Art History, and I didn’t do well on the first exam…thankfully, I was able to bring it back. However, Calc BC was a different story; I didn’t think it needed too much studying at first, but then I did poorly on a few tests. I managed to end with a low A, but it was by far my lowest grade that semester and definitely held me back…it was also the class I put in the most work for.

2. Not using every resource to the best of my ability - I cannot stress this enough: use collegeboard and any other material your teacher gives you…who knows, a practice question or two may show up on the test.

3. Not paying attention to weighted averages. This sort of falls under underestimating classes, but before you start the year, you should pay attention to how much of your grade tests, quizzes, and homework is worth…if you have multiple tests on the same day, focus more on studying for the tests for the classes where tests are weighted 50+% of your grade.

4. Procrastination - I got better at limiting the amount of procrastination this year, but it was still fairly pervasive. Just try your best to stay focused for long hours.

Here’s some general things that helped me particularly, which should apply to any schedule:

1. Get enough sleep - “enough” is different for every person. Personally, I found that going to bed by 2AM or earlier was safe for me before a test, since I have a fairly high tolerance for sleep deprivation, but I wouldn’t risk that too many times.

2. Use every minute wisely–work before school, during lunch, etc. If you feel you don’t have enough time to finish your assignments, waking up early at 4AM to finish is much better than getting the work done and sleeping at 3AM.

3. Ask your teachers for help–make sure you know what you want to ask them, and make your questions specific so they give you exactly what you want to know.

Overall, 6 aps isn’t really that bad as long as you know your classes inside and out and know how to manage your time effectively.