As we are approaching the end of the school year, the AP Exam test creeps closer and closer. As of now, we are less than two months away from the exams that will determine if we deserve college credit for the classes we have worked so hard to do well in. Do not allow yourself to let senioritis or just a desire to be done with school prevent you from doing your best during the exams. In this article, I have cultivated a list of tips for studding to prepare for the big exams.

Remember that you CAN do this and best of luck Cavs!

Start Studying Now

I am sure you have started to hear your AP teachers already start to harp on you to begin studding for the exam but they are entirely right. By studying now you will be able to retain more information for longer and have no reason to cram close to the exam. While a very small population of people are able to be successful cramming and retain eight plus units of content in two days, do not find your self having to use it as a last resort. I know it seems not helpful or a waste of time, however, our teachers know what they are talking about and starting to study a few months out is what makes students most successful. And by starting now, there are many different schedules you can use in order to take time to review more in depth for the exam.

Utilize College Board

In AP classes, teachers typically will form “classrooms” on the College Board website whether or not it is utilized for the class depends on the teacher. However that doesn’t mean that it is not helpful for studying. In case you did not know, College Board is the company that makes the exams meaning that they know what is on the exams and have the ways to relay information to students via their website. On College Board you can access many different resources such as daily content videos, unit review videos, past FRQs along with student examples, how they were graded and the rubric and past MCQs. It might be a bit overwhelming to start using this website to study however it is where you will get everything regarding an AP Class straight from the horse’s mouth.

Unit Review Videos

I guarantee that there are thousands of teachers who have posted lessons or unit review videos on YouTube regarding any AP Class. You can even find some from College Board that are not on the website. While you do need to be cautious on who you are sourcing information from and how dated the content is, there are thousands of content makers on the platform who break down the content and all in different ways. If you are not sure which videos to start looking at, simply ask your teacher for recommendations. Your teachers most likely have been scouring the internet since they found out they would be teaching said AP Class for helpful videos to share with their students.

Work Books

In case you would like a means of studying that is tangible and that you can annotate, there are hundreds of different workbooks that you can find and they are relatively inexpensive; typically ranging from $10 to $30. Most come out with updated editions every year and can be purchased from the company directly or from websites like Amazon. Most include unit chapters with mini quizzes after a section, practice exams and even extra content that can be found online on the company’s website. The main two companies I have herd of and been recommended is AMSCO and KAPLAN. I have used both and I would say that I personally preferred KAPLAN. In my experience, AMSCO goes into incredible detail and provides many different practice exams however there is no answer key and reading it can be very dry and overwhelming. KAPLAN is very good at simplifying concepts and is great at vocabulary but lacks that fine detail that can be found in an AMSCO book. If you still are deciding which to pick I would always ask what your teacher recommends, it is very likely that they have a copy of both or have one they prefer.

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Talk to Your Teachers

The AP teachers of CCHS has been looking for countless different resources for their students to study. Do not forget that they can be your most useful resource to finding further help. They most likely know your learning style and know different tools that take longer to find. They also have access to one of your most useful resources, past tests. While it is school policy that they are not to go home or be near any phone, many teachers are willing to set aside class time or schedule time after school so that their students can look at how they have scored on previous tests. In addition to that they may know of programs that the school is willing to pay to provide to you. For example I know that for AP Statistics there is a program that a student can sign up for and have it be paid for by CCHS. Our teachers know what they are doing and are happy to do what they can to help you succeed not just in their class but on the AP Exam.