Official 2011 Self-Studied AP Scores Thread

zMatrix
Sun, 03 Jul 2011 06:03:54 +0000

Chemistry, Calculus, English, and Microeconomics are technically half self studies, since I had a semester of either IB or AP (moved to another school midyear).

Biology - 5: read parts of a textbook and the entire Cliffnotes
Chemistry - 5: MIT OCW and Berkeley podcast; (one semester (2nd) of formal class)
Chinese - 5: native speaker; practiced reading online articles by c&p’ing them into google translate and selecting Chinese to Chinese (pinyin).
Calculus BC - 5: watched MIT OCW and Khan Academy; (one semester (2nd) of formal class (AB))
English Language - 5: looked over College Board past essay responses; (one semester (1st) of Eng HL)
Environmental Science - 5: read PR
Human Geography - 4: read PR and online notes
Microeconomics - 5: Berkeley podcast and PR; (1 semester (1st) of IB Econ HL)
Physics C Mechanics - 5: watched MIT OCW, Khan Academy, and Viren’s youtube physics videos; my aunt’s Physics for Scientists and Engineers textbook from college (yep, it’s nearly 30 years old), PR and 5 Steps to a 5
Psychology - 5: read PR and appsychology.com notes; listened to a a few Berkeley podcast

I’d definitely recommend watching MIT OCW combined with Khan Academy for self studying AP’s. Berkeley podcast is a close runner-up, especially for courses not available on MIT OCW.
On a side note, I agree with aboveblues. Generally AP classes (or HS classes in general) are loaded with useless and tedious work. Self studying APs is much more fun and productive, with half the time and stress :)