AP Exam Studying Tips

Now that it’s late April, AP Exams are almost upon us. While a time of stress, they are

also a time of great opportunity. Taking and passing an AP exam can potentially give a student college credit later on in their academic careers. Because of this, many study as hard as they can to take advantage of this great opportunity. However, many go about this process in the wrong way, and through inefficient methods, both waste their time and their chance at saving time and money in college. Here are some tips to make the most of the short time until the exams occur.

First, take advantage of AP Classroom. This is the most useful resource for the AP exams, as it was made specifically by the CollegeBoard. The teachers made it

specifically tailored to the AP Exams for which the classes are, so it is, objectively, the

best resource. The short videos on key concepts for each unit of a course explain topicsclearly with examples from actual AP Exam practice questions. Also, the website has plenty of practice tests and questions that students can use. Once the teachers open them up, the students can take practice tests and see practice questions with explanations and answers. This also helps to reinforce key concepts, as it is only through practice that one can master their craft.

Secondly, another tip is to use active learning. Reading notes or your textbook to study is incredibly time-consuming and inefficient, and not a good way to study. Some better ways are to do practice questions and utilize flashcards in spaced intervals. Doing practice questions helps people get a baseline understanding of what level of knowledge they have, and gives someone a different angle from which they can understand the information. This increases retention and understanding. Also, using flashcards in spaced intervals on apps like anki are very beneficial in memory. Based on Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve, reviewing information in increasing intervals over time solidifies memories far better than the traditional methods of rereading notes and the textbook does.

Lastly, make sure to plan out and schedule all of your studying. Approaching each day without a plan is probably the worst thing you can do for yourself. Preparing to study will allow you to control what you study and when, so that you can make sure you review everything that you are struggling on. This also reduces the stress and anxiety of not knowing what to do, which puts you in a good mindset to start studying. Also, it saves decision-making time each day when you don’t know what to study. Those are 3 tips to aid in your studying for the 2022 AP exams. I wish you the best of luck in your academic pursuits!

Sources:

https://www.collegeboard.org/

https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/59/Active-Learning.pdf

https://www.intelligent.com/create-a-study-plan/