<p>Awesome guide to self-studying Calculus BC:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/927984-guide-self-studying-calculus-bc-while-taking-ab.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/927984-guide-self-studying-calculus-bc-while-taking-ab.html</a></p>
<p>Did you guys get 5’s? That would lend validity to your claims…</p>
<p>Stat-memorize all formulae, know when to use them and how to design an experiment.
Chem-know thy periodic table. Trends, etc. Also have a general sense of reactions, equilibria, and associated formulae.
Calc B/C-you don’t need to know about Taylor polynomials to get a 5. Thank goodness. 
Just know when to use derivatives and integrals.
USH-read the material throughout the year, then read one of the shorter review books back-to-back the night/two nights before.
Phys. C Mech–learn everything in Barron’s, then pray for the curve to save you.
Phys. C E&M–learn everything in Barron’s, then pray for the curve to save you.
Lang–make sure everything you say can be supported by something in the passage. (only applies to rhetorical analysis; I fail at the other two essay types)
US Gov–same as USH, but know your interest groups and structures/institutions
Spanish–you might want to actually know Spanish before you go into this one :[ Know the structure of the test and what each FRQ expects of you.
Lit–ace the MC and do reasonably well on the FRQ’s, try to figure out what the authors meant and then hammer it home even if you disagree
Bio–know your stuff. Similar to USH, but I didn’t even read the book beforehand.</p>
<p>5’s on everything before Gov, except Lang, which was a 4. Expecting 5’s on Gov and Bio, might have a 5 on Lit, just praying that I passed Spanish. :/</p>
<p>What books are good for US Gov and CompGov?
And yes, I have looked at the book suggestions thread, just want some other opinions.</p>
<p>Fast track to a 5…used for USH and USGov. Although I had good teachers, too. It’s good for a last-minute cram.</p>
<p>Biology</p>
<p>This one is all memorization. If you are truly interested in learning biology, get the Campbell’s textbook. If you just want a 5 on the exam, get Cliffs. Period. If you come to a FRQ that you don’t know the exact answer to, write down all information that you do know related to the topic. You are bound to get a point or two. Just don’t contradict yourself or you will lose points (ex. The process produces 2 total ATPs…The process makes 3 ATPs). If your class is finished will finish the entire book before the AP exam (I doubt it) I recommend you start reviewing in April with class notes or a review book. There are a lot of released MC questions floating around for this AP that should be done a few weeks before the exam. If you need something for this exam, PM me. </p>
<p>English Language and Comp</p>
<p>Practice the multiple choice questions because they are harder than the writing portion. Learn your literary terms such as metonymy, antithesis, pathos, etc; there will be MC questions that use them. Use them in the analysis essay if possible. Practice writing all three types of essays (1 synthesis (DBQ), 1 analysis, and 1 FRQ) in one timed sitting. You will need to build up your stamina. Make sure that you answer the prompt or you get no points. I recommend that you review for this exam throughout the year. Write a few FRQ responses a month. Increase your vigor to all 3 types of FRQ in one sitting maybe a month before the exam. It is hard to come across good practice
MC questions for this exam.</p>
<p>US History </p>
<p>Pay attention throughout the year for this AP. It’s all memorization and anything is fair game. Practice DBQs if you don’t know how to do them. The more outside information you use on the DBQ, the better. This is probably the best subject to buy a review book (I heard AMSCO is good) or to take good notes. There is just so much to remember. I recommend doing practice DBQs and FRQs throughout the year. I also recommend reading through a review book beginning in April. </p>
<p>Calculus AB</p>
<p>I was not forwarned, but half of the test is done without a calculator. There are a lot of released exam MC questions online, so utilize them. Do as many FRQ as you can. This will help so much. The FRQs each year are basically the same concepts as all other years with different numbers. No review book is needed for this class if you pay attention in class. Know all of your fomulas and basic trig identities. A few will show up on the exam. I recommend you start reviewing slowly maybe one released exam MC and FRQ set a week beginning in March. If you need something for this exam PM me.</p>
<p>Computer Science:</p>
<p>For the FRQ, practice, practice, practice! Print out old FRQs at AP Central ([HTML</a> REDIRECT](<a href=“http://apcentral.collegeboard.com%5DHTML”>http://apcentral.collegeboard.com)) and practice answering them. Be sure to fully understand what the question asks and spend some time planning your answer; this saves you from having to erase/cross-out mistakes.</p>
<p>Know the GridWorld case study! 5 MC questions and 1 free-response will test GridWorld. Yes, they provide you with an appendix of the GridWorld code, but be sure you know how the various classes work and how to use their methods.</p>
<p>For both MC and FRQ, be sure that you check for out-of-bounds array indexes; know how ArrayLists work; know about Strings and substrings; and remember that primitives are passed by value and objects by reference.</p>
<p>AP Literature and Comp.</p>
<p>-Make sure you’re good at reading and understanding prose passages quickly, they’re probably the hardest of the MC. I found that the best way to do this is to take practice tests over and over again. Several have been released, and there’s always PR for some more. Make sure you know a ton of vocabulary words, because they’re bound to hit you in the face on a MC question. For the FRQ, again, make sure you can get the gist of the passage; the question they want you to answer will usually be something involving tone, imagery, diction etc. For the 3rd question, know 3-4 books down cold. Make sure they’re books of literary merit, or else you’ll most likely recieve a one. Books like A Brave New World, Catch-22, Heart of Darkness, and even some plays could be useful.</p>
<p>Comparative Government</p>
<p>Use the Ethel Woods book and study it more than a few weeks before the exam. Make a chart of a bunch of categories (ex: Head of State, Head of Government, Upper House, Lower House, Political Parties, etc) and list examples for each country. This is what I should have done because by exam day all of the countries were mixing together and I was forgetting what went with what country. KNOW all vocabulary from the course, it will really help on the FRQs.</p>
<p>Statistics
Just look over all of the topics and know how to use your calculator. Also, do all of the available free response. You don’t know just how valuable that is. Look through the PR book. It is very helpful.</p>
<p>Calculus BC
KNOW your formulas. Do your homework. Calculus comes naturally to me so it’s hard to say exactly what to do since I didn’t study for it. The only way you’re going to get better at it is to practice.</p>
<p>English Literature and Composition
Read the books that have “literary merit” and that appear on the open ended question often. WRITE. Make sure you write papers for each of the three questions, this is probably the most important thing. Also, get practice MC. The passages really are not hard, but grab a review book and get going, I used Barrons.</p>
<p>Physics C
Oh boy… this test really fluctuates year to year. One year it could be a killer and the next it could be fairly easy. Grab Barrons or I used the book by James Mooney. I think Mooney does a better job just because it’s more concise and not very confusing. Do practice MC and also do all of the FRQs. The FRQs will really help to reinforce concepts and also let you get used to what they typically test. Practice is the key. This is a hard subject and they treat the test as such.</p>
<p>Chemistry
I also just get chemistry, so it is hard to say what to do. I’d say to use Barrons as a supplement to a class and go through it as you are going through concepts to reinforce them. Then, maybe use PR at the end of the year for a quick refresher. Do the past years FRQs. This is a valuable resource since they typically test in the same manner.</p>
<p>Human Geography
Grab Barrons. Read it and know the vocabulary. Put applications to each Vocab word. FRQs are a joke typically.</p>
<p>Good Luck APers! I’m done with HS.</p>
<p>@seancarpenter
I took practice released exams for each class because they were our finals. I felt like like I did similarly on the real things. They don’t release raw percentage but it shouldn’t change much from what you would get on a previously released exam.</p>
<p>oh okay that makes sense</p>
<p>AP Gov, US
This class is very easy but it is also quite interesting, especially if you take it during a presidential election year (like I did last year). For the AP Exam, just do practice tests, and take note of questions you see over and over again. For example, there is ALWAYS a question about who draws the lines that divide up the House districts. The answer is state legislatures.</p>
<p>APUSH
Depending on your teacher, the class can range from very easy to very hard. My teacher was new, so the class was a joke…but the exam was difficult for me. You’d better be good at memorizing if you take this exam, because there’s a lot of stuff to know. Also, when your teacher says that the AP exam’s DBQ will probably be on imperialism, HE’S LYING, it’s probably on the puritans. 
I’d recommend doing lots and lots of practice tests to familiarize yourself with the question style, because the way that many questions are worded can be tricky.</p>
<p>AP Chem
Personally, I loved this class. If you’re good at chemistry, you’ll find that this class requires only basic conceptual understanding with a little bit of memorization. I do know people, however, who struggled in the class because things just didn’t click for them. The exam isn’t that hard if you know your stuff, but like someone said, it helps to memorize the colors of things to avoid losing some points that are easy to gain.</p>
<p>AP Psych
I self-studied this one, so I don’t know what this class would be like, but the material is very interesting and very easy. My cousin’s a psych major, so I think I got more out of self-studying than many other self-studiers for psych usually do because I got so much supplementary information from him. This class is all memorization, but the information is very straightforward. Buy flashcards or make your own, though, because knowing your vocabulary is HUGE.</p>
<p>English Language
-READ! Analyze what you’re reading. Actively participate in class discussion. Comment early and often in your essays and be specific when you do so.</p>
<p>AP Chemistry</p>
<p>Take Chemistry (Regular or Honors) before taking this course. I did not and I had a tough time. Try to work ahead to aviod getting behind. Start prepping for AP exam AT LEAST by Winter Break. I wish I had started earlier myself. </p>
<p>AP Calculus</p>
<p>[MIT</a> OpenCourseWare | Mathematics | 18.01 Single Variable Calculus, Fall 2006 | Home](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-01Fall-2006/CourseHome/]MIT”>http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-01Fall-2006/CourseHome/)
[Banner</a>, A.: The Calculus Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Excel at Calculus.](<a href=“http://press.princeton.edu/video/banner/]Banner”>http://press.princeton.edu/video/banner/)
Watch these lectures, especially Adrian Banner’s lectures. You will get an A in the class and get a 5 on the AP exam (provided you practice from old AP exams as well).</p>
<p>AP US Government
I took the class first semester and started with Princeton Review maybe a week and a half before the test. The class itself can get really boring (lots and lots of facts thrown at you), but the test itself is not bad at all. If you know what powers everyone has and you have a pretty good handle on the vocabulary, you should be fine. Make sure you understand policymaking institutions and how different things can become law. And it never hurts to know a few court cases.</p>
<p>AP German
This test can be wicked hard if you don’t have a solid vocabulary and mastery of German grammar. Other than that, though (which really is what you should expect from any high-profile language test), it’s pretty simple. The short listening section of the multiple choice can go downhill fast if you obsess over one question you missed. If you miss a question or don’t understand something, let it go. The more you think about it, the more likely you are to miss the next question. The long listening section was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. Just make sure you take notes in the test book. You have more time than you think for the critical reading. There are a lot of selections, but there’s plenty of time. Don’t let that lull you into thinking you don’t need to move on if you aren’t sure about a question, though. In the paragraph completion, above all else on this entire test, MAKE SURE YOUR GRAMMAR IS CORRECT! That means know your genders! If you put “meinem” instead of “meiner,” it’s wrong. It’s also helpful to remember that “als” is used for past-tense and “wenn” is used for present-tense. Don’t freak out about writing an essay in another language. It’s only 200 words and they try to write the prompt so that you understand what you’re supposed to do, even if you aren’t sure of all of the vocabulary. If you’re confident enough, try to throw in some subjunctive and genitive. This is the best place on the test to show off your grammar, so don’t hesitate! If you know how to use “sei” and "h</p>
<p>Psych- so easy. Most of the test is simply common sense and vocab questions. Know your vocab and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>English Language/Composition- also so easy. Really, as long as you know how to read, the MC should be incredibly easy. Practice writing essays for the FR part of the test.</p>
<p>Calc BC- this one is tough. Personally some topics are easier for each person than others. I did amazing up until series, which I still don’t understand fully. Other people in my class got hung up on finding extrema, or other things. Just find what you struggle with and do practice problems until it makes sense. Also, don’t get behind on any topic, because everything in this class builds on previously learned material.</p>
<p>
Enough with the obvious advertising/spam. It’s pretty obvious that you’re the one selling those AP Tests and you don’t even have anything rare.</p>
<p>AP Physics C- Princeton Review; memorization
AP Calculus BC- Princeton Review; problems, problems, problems
AP Computer Science- Barrons; problems
AP Biology- Princeton Review; memorization
AP Statistics- Barrons; learn how to use your calculator
AP US History- Kaplan; memorization
AP English Literature- nada; sleep</p>
<p>AP Comparative Government: NPR/BBC/The Economist + Ethel Wood = 5</p>
<p>how should I study for AP chem over the summer…whats the best prep book?</p>