Should I take 8 APs?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>Is ‘National Scholar’ worth the effort?</p>

<p>I actually want to take AP USH, Eng Lang, and Psychology. Would it be worth the effort to self-study for an additional five AP exams to meet National Scholar requirements? </p>

<p>Here’s what my schedule would look like if I was to aim for National Scholar: (please recommend books)</p>

<p>-AP USH (I’m currently taking this course, and we should be getting AMSCO books @ school very soon. Is that sufficient?)</p>

<p>-Eng Lang (Took the AP course last semester but didn’t learn anything; I’ve got Cliff’s book)</p>

<p>-Env Sci (self-study)</p>

<p>-Human Geo (self-study)</p>

<p>-Psychology (self-study)</p>

<p>-Art History (self-study) OR Spanish (self-study; had three years of HS spanish)</p>

<p>-World Hist (self-study)</p>

<p>-Euro Hist (self-study)</p>

<p>If I don’t aim for National Scholar, is there much differentiation between AP Scholar, AP Scholar with Honor, and AP Scholar with Distinction? Do colleges view the recognitions much differently?</p>

<p>If aiming for AP Scholar, I’d take AP USH, AP Eng Lang, and AP Psychology. If aiming for AP Scholar with Honor, I’d add AP Human Geography for the four exam requirement. Furthermore, if I was to aim for AP Scholar with Distinction, I’d add AP Human Geography as well as AP Environmental Science to meet the five exam requirement.</p>

<p>What do y’all recommend?</p>

<p>(Please keep in mind, although I’m not involved in any spring sports, I’ve got a rigorous course load that usually produces a couple hours of homework per night. That will leave me with about two hours of self-study time per weeknight.)</p>

2

<p>Wow, if you can handle it… more power to you. Barron’s prepare the best in my opinion.</p>

3

<p>I’d go for Scholar w/Distinction. It still looks good, and you won’t be killing yourself cramming for a ton of tests. Plus, if you try to study for 5 extra exams, you might end up with a 3 on one or more of them, causing you to miss the requirements for National Scholar.</p>

<p>National has a lot more prestige attached to it, but Distinction is very respectable.</p>

<p>Distinction is safer, and very do-able. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>That’s a LOT of self-studies. Not gonna lie, I took 8 AP tests in one year for the title, but I didn’t self-study that many… However, if you start now, I believe you can do it…</p>

5

<p>I don’t believe that the title gives you any more edge than another person, but go for it if you can handle it.</p>

6

<p>why don’t you go for econ? macro and micro were basically the same supply and demand graphs all over the place, just different labels and different shifts. but by studying for one “economics” in general you can cover two tests.</p>

7

<p>make a plan. like figure out what nights you’re going to study psychology, what nights world history, etc. figure out how many chapters are in each book, make an estimate for how long it takes to cover each chapter, and see if you have enough hours in the year to cover everything. and then decide how many APs you want to take. it’s easy to expect a lot from yourself if you’re looking from the top down, but if you have a concrete sense of exactly how much work is required to finish how many chapters in the book, you’ll have a better sense of your limits.</p>

<p>and don’t use liberal estimates. “oh, i can finish one chapter every hour if i really try.” base it on how much you actually expect to get done. and then allow for a few extra weeks because you’ll invariably fall behind.</p>