complete idiot's guide to HS and APs

sirsteveh
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:23:18 +0000

I recommend taking all the AP tests for your classes unless you are either 100% sure you will fail or you have financial hardship (though it cost me $100 per test at my school, versus thousands in college tuition). It can’t hurt, and it bumped me out of a ton of prerequisites in college.

Also, my speculation as to why many students do very well in AP classes grade-wise but fail the exams: high school has a tendency to be lopsided in favor of homework. Some people are great at making sure they get help on all their homework, get full credit on projects, etc., but I was not one of those people. I generally got B’s in my AP classes, but got a 5 on every test I took. The fact is that the class introduces you to the test material, but you have to put in a lot of practice for the test itself.