<p>**Stealing this from LoseYourself’s ‘Tips for AP Chemistry’ thread [I hope you don’t mind, LoseYourself]</p>
<p>Sooo…</p>
<p>What textbook did you use?
How fast was the pace? (how often was there a test)
Review Books?
How often you studied and did the reading?
Your score on the AP test?
Any other tips/tricks/advice?</p>
<p>Textbook: None
Pace: About medium. There was a test about every 3 weeks or so.
Review Book: Princeton Review
Studying/reading: Didn’t study every night, I only studied before a test. Before the AP I read the entire PR over, did old FRQS on ap central, and looked at cram sheets online.
Score: 5
Tips/advice: Make sure you memorize ALL formulas, especially those not on the formula sheet. It also helps and saves a lot of time if you memorize physical constants (electron mass/charge, plancks constant, etc). It is also essential to understand the connection between concepts, there are many. For questions, draw a free body diagram and label everything, if necessary. List any and all given information so you can decide what formula to use for that problem.</p>
<p>Took this freshman year(2 years ago) so I’ll try to remember 
What textbook did you use? I think the title was Physics by Wilson and Buffa, something like that.
How fast was the pace? (how often was there a test) Every few weeks, but the tests were ridiculously hard and you could retake questions you missed for half credit.
Review Books? Princeton, all of the others are horrible
How often you studied and did the reading? There wasn’t any reading per se, but I suppose reading the material in the chapter could help a lot with the conceptual questions and your overall understanding. I studied a ton for this class though, because I really liked physics and I really wanted a good grade/a 5 on the AP Test. So maybe like 3-4 hours a week regularly to maybe 2 or 3 hours a day the week or two leading up to the ap test.
Your score on the AP test? 5
Any other tips/tricks/advice? Um, no, not really :P, feel free to pm me or ask me if you have any other questions!</p>
<p>What textbook did you use?
Giancoli’s 5th edition. We had homework out of there on most nights.</p>
<p>How fast was the pace? (how often was there a test)
The pace really wasn’t bad at all. We had a test around twice a month.</p>
<p>Review Books?
Princeton Review. It definitely got me where I needed to be by the time I walked into the testing room for the AP exam.</p>
<p>How often you studied and did the reading?
I did the homework assignments, which rarely took over 30 minutes to complete. I studied for about 2 hours the night before a test using worksheets and my review book. I started studying for the exam about a month before the exam date. I went through all of Princeton Review, jotted down a few notes for each chapter, and wrote down the formulas discussed in each chapter. I made sure I memorized every formula on the sheet and did a bunch of MC/FRQ sets.</p>
<p>Your score on the AP test?
5</p>
<p>Any other tips/tricks/advice?
Don’t get too confident for the exam if you are doing well in the class. Only a small handful of people get 4s and 5s in my school, but grades higher than 85 are pretty common. Be sure to study your review book and do released FRQ sets from AP Central. Also, make sure you have covered each topic that will be on the AP exam. My class never covered fluid mechanics, so I had to learn that myself.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks everyone! </p>
<p>1 question: How did you guys memorize all the formulas? Any 'methods?</p>
<p>Textbook - Giancoli</p>
<p>Pace - Every 3 weeks sounds about right. Larger units divided into two.</p>
<p>Review Books - Didn’t use one for the AP, but used Princeton Review for the SATII.</p>
<p>Studying - Read relevant chapters & did problems every night. Physics is one of the AP subjects you absolutely <em>cannot</em> cram for. Pacing yourself to learn the material at the speed the class goes is vital, and in-class lectures may not be enough to totally understand the material. Be prepared to devote some time to just reading the book, fully understanding what’s going on, and applying it in homework problems. </p>
<p>Score - 5</p>
<p>The formulas will become second nature if you use them enough. I wouldn’t advise spending time rote-memorizing formulas. Use that time to do more problems – you’ll find you aren’t even thinking about the formulas after awhile. Other advice: Don’t get lazy with homework/reading the book yourself. No teacher is a substitute for spending quality time with the book and some problem sets.</p>
<p>Textbook: Giancoli</p>
<p>Pace: There was a test about every three weeks.</p>
<p>Review Books: I didn’t use any, though I did refer to several review sheets, and we did old Physics Bowl questions for multiple choice practice.</p>
<p>Studying/Reading: There was no assigned reading, but we did have problems in WebAssign for each section. I would recommend reading the textbook for a better conceptual understanding. Practicing problems and looking over problems I had trouble with was my way of studying.</p>
<p>Score: 5</p>
<p>Tips/Tricks/Advice: Don’t sit and spend time memorizing formulas. It is more important to be able to use and apply the equations and associated concepts to each question on the AP Exam. Like bobbytables said, if you practice enough problems, the formulas will become second nature. Even if you know the formulas and all the constants, be familiar with the formula sheet. If your teacher doesn’t use the past AP FRQs, practice on the ones online at AP Central, and time yourself. Make a picture!</p>
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<p>Honestly, if you know the basic formulas such as v=(d/t), v=ed, f=ma, etc, then you can easily derive most of the other formulas on the reference table which, in fact, are derived from the basic formulas.</p>
<p>I memorized the formulas by going through flashcards on my iTouch. When I started doing that, I only had 10-15 formulas I needed to make sure I knew. If you stay on top of your work throughout the year, most of the formulas will become second nature. You can find flashcards on quizlet.com.</p>