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“My Last-Minute Advice For AP Exams To Smash Them”
Introduction
AP Exams, administered by the CollegeBoard, are on the verge of starting in just two days. On May 5, at 8 AM, AP Biology and Latin will have their exams administered, followed by European History and Microeconomics at 12 PM.
And then for the rest of the week, and for the rest of the week that follows (until May 16), more AP exams will be administered.
Soon enough, if you’re enrolled in an AP course (which I assume you probably are), you’ll take an exam too; unless you’re one of the unlucky ones that has to take it on May 5 or 6. In that case, you better hope you’re prepared, because there’s no turning back or extra studying that you can perform.
You can see all the exam dates below.
In this post, I’ll give you my advice (no one else’s) to scoring a few extra points on your AP exams with just days left to prepare.
Please Recognize
AP CollegeBoard Exams are no joke, and they all cover literally everything you’ve learned over the course of the entire year. Even the things you learned, potentially even the small and intricate details from September and October, will be on that test.
For me, it feels like September and October just happened, almost feeling like it was just last week, but it also feels like a long time ago at the same time.
The point is: it’s a lot of material, and, well when you think about it, a lot of time. But, if it’s late April or early May, there’s really no time at all.
Please understand that the most challenging of all of these exams are STEM-based ones, and if you just didn’t pay attention all year, or had a teacher that just couldn’t explain anything properly (rare, but it happens); then you’re probably screwed. Sure, I’m not saying to not have faith. You should always have faith in your mind and in your heart. However, don’t expect to go on test day, and magically score some crazy high number with virtually no backup. You’re asking to lose.
In this post, I’ll give a few basic tips, but ONLY IF YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH A MAJORITY OF THE ENTIRE COURSE MATERIAL. Otherwise, I can’t really provide much help. I did it for AP World History: Modern, and it earned me a 4 with some of the worst preparation. Not bad.
I still am yet to discover a method for a last-minute turn-around for STEM courses; but if I find it, you’ll be the first to know.
Tip #1: You Will Be Stressed
Most people tell you to not be stressed and relax your mind. Well, yeah, maybe that might work for some people. But, we’re talking about an exam that you have been waiting to take for months since you basically first enrolled in the class. You knew you would take it eventually.
If you try too hard to suppress your stress, you might just make it worse and divert all your focus towards it. No, that’s not the point. The goal here is study, and score high. That’s it. By no means is it easy. But by no means is it impossible. You are taking a college course fitted for high school students.
There’s a reason why AP Physics 1 is “Algebra-Based” and not just “AP Physics 1”. What’s the difference, you may ask? College Physics 1 (basically the same material and content, but not AP because this is college) has calculus. Not every student in AP Physics will have taken calculus by that point. Not all high school students are geniuses. Nobody really is.
Everyone tries hard, and does what they can to be better. But that’s really it. Just put in the work and you’ll get an output that’s fitted to you. If you end up with a result that you didn’t like, it’s because you didn’t work hard enough.
And therefore, if a student, who enrolled themselves in an AP class, doesn’t try hard, they will fail. They will earn a score that suits them. But what if they score high? Does that mean that they “earned” it despite putting in basically no effort compared to everyone else?
You will be stressed. That’s fine.
Tip #2: Recall The Past
Go back into the past. Go back into a space where you were almost near the start of the school year. Was there anything in particular that had you stuck? Maybe it confused you for several days, and you just couldn’t seem to get it? Over time, maybe, you ultimately passed it and just forgot it altogether. Well, it’s that time to acknowledge its existence now.
Chances are however, if you’ve done even an hour of studying, you knew to do exactly this.
But if you didn’t, then don’t stress it. I know that seems contradictory with what I just finished saying above. But, in the section above, I’m talking about test day; not your actual strategy. You need to be confident, you need to feel strong, you need to be… [title card].
Tip #3: Overview Everything
This is a strategy I deployed when it was the final days of studying for AP exams, and it yielded me so much in return. You need to go over absolutely everything you learned, ever, in the span of just a day. 1 day. That’s it.
There’s so much material over the course of the entire year, and you’re given months to learn it all. If you give yourself just a day, you’d think you’d overwhelm yourself beyond belief, but you actually don’t. Of course, I’m not saying to cover the intricate details, but rather general overviews of every unit, with some details here and there.
You can do this for all AP courses out there. It just works better with non-math related courses.
Tip #4: You MIGHT Not Need A Change
In the last few days relative to test day, most people think that they need a change, or some adaptation. If you have studied respectively over the past few weeks, or even months (please don’t do this), then you probably don’t need to change what you’re doing. Keep on studying however you’re studying, as long as it’s covering material that you 1) need improvement on, 2) don’t know, 3) or is next in the order. For example, if there are 6 units, and you’re about to start the final unit, and you have 5 days left to study, FINISH THE LAST UNIT. Please.
Don’t start scrambling your studying and then doing something different. If you remember what you’ve studied and what you’ve covered, then it works. Why change something that works? But if you don’t remember much, and you forgot it 2 days after, then you might need a really harsh change.
On the other hand, if you haven’t studied at all, or haven’t studied much, you need to study aggressively and accordingly. You need to cover units with higher weighting, and cover units with higher reward. If you’re covering a unit with low weighting, and don’t have time to cover later (or at least review), higher weighted units, you’re making a bad choice.
You may need a change. You might not.
Conclusion
Sorry if these tips weren’t really what you were expecting. I wasn’t half sure what to write either; it all kind of just happened. In the end, if you don’t know what you’re covering, or what to expect, you really can’t expect to do well – especially this late. If I ever find a tech for cramming in this little time for STEM subjects (for non-math I already have a method), then I will be sure to write it here.
