How early should I start studying for AP Exams?

SELF Studying for the AP EXAMS HELP?@#!!?

• Hello, I attent a private school in Canada and currently our school stopped offering AP classes as it will be transitioning to an IB school in the next couple of years. However, I will not be able to take any IB courses since it takes a few year for the school to implement the system. I am currently going into grade 11. I intend to apply to the ivy league schools in grade 12. My councillor suggests that I write the AP exams at the end of grade 11 despite the course not offered at school as this will show universities that I am motivated, hardworking, etc.. A student from my school last year self studied for 6 AP courses getting higher than 3 on all of them and got into Columbia and UPenn. My questions for you are: What AP exams should I take (top 6, not necessarily the easiest 6 AP exams to self study for)? I am strong in math and enjoy sciences. In grade 11 I will be taking pre-calculus so would I be able to simultaneously self study for one of the calculus AP's. I am also decent at french but I understand theres a culture component and am not sure how to prepare for that. How should I prepare? Will I need the textbooks for each subject and what are the textbooks? I understand there are review books but will those sufficient for receiving a good score on the tests. I hope I am able to score a 4 or 5 on all the tests I take which is going to be extremely difficult I understand. Thanks!

• Answer:

  Actually, AP exams are just mostly for you to receive credit when you do get into college, so admissions officers won't actually care which ones you take and they won't favor any one AP exam over the other. Besides, seeing what score you got on your AP exams is nowhere near as important as seeing your GPA/SAT test scores. Of course, you don't want to bomb your tests either, because you can get credit for it. Since you said that you're good in math and science, you could try the AP sciences, but they are much harder to self study because the AP sciences courses do have lab components. Also, what you learn in pre-calculus applies somewhat to calculus, however it only prepares you for the foundations of calculus; learning calculus is a lot different from what you have previously learned, so self-studying may be hard depending on how well you can grasp new concepts. As for the cultural part of the French exam, you should be familiar with French media, such as music and film; traditions; and values, attitudes, and beliefs. Buying review books should help prepare you and give you a better idea on what the test will test you on. That being said, I think it's best that you look over each course to get a better idea of what you think you'll have a better chance of being able to self study for: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/subjects.html I would recommend sticking to review books because textbooks are way more expensive and review books tell you exactly what you need to know for the exam, while textbooks are much longer and you'll have a harder time figuring out what you need to study for. I believe that buying several different review books from different companies and then practicing on the practice tests inside the books is faster and more effective than reading a whole textbook. However, the con of only using review books is that review books are for review. Review books are mostly written for those who have background of the material, so for certain subjects such as math, a textbook may cover the material more thoroughly and make it easier to grasp than a review book. Here are some websites that tell you how you should self-study: http://www.baronbanner.com/2009/09/23/the-college-coalition-how-to-self-study-an-ap-course/ http://www.course-notes.org/blog/smile4theazn/Advice_and_Tips_for_Self_Studying_for_AP_Exams