Tips for AP Gov, AP Environmental Science, and AP Calc ABAnswered
I have A's in all my classes, but this May I will be taking my first AP exams. Do you guys have any tips for these exams?? Any tips are appreciated!!
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While I can't speak about gov or environmental science, I'm currently taking AP calc BC and my teacher is focusing a ton on preparing us for the exam. Every day, we spend half of our class solving practice problems from past AB and BC exams, by ourselves and in groups. We switch between the short answer and free-response questions every couple of days. This has been incredibly beneficial to me and I know many other students who took the class with the same teacher and scored 5s. I would suggest doing practice problems from past tests at least every other day, either one FRQ or 5 multiple choice questions each time, and then checking the answers online and working through any you got incorrect. This will really help familiarize you with the format. Occasionally he sends us home with practice AB multiple-choice exams to make sure we stay sharp on that content since there is also an AB subscore on the BC exam. As it gets closer to the exam date, I would also suggest doing full-length practice AB and BC exams.
In addition to practice problems, my teacher also charted out the topics of each FRQ from the past 10 years. There are 2-3 from AB and 3-4 from BC each year. For example, question 6 is always about sequences and series, and there's always a question about parametric or polar equations. Identifying these types of questions and knowing exactly what to expect can make the FRQs a ton easier. Here are links to all the past BC and AB exams
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-calculus-bc/exam/past-exam-questions
Hi! I took AP World Geo last year, and I'm in AP US History now. Last year was my first ever AP exam and like you, I was worried about it too. AP classes are hard classes and their tests are pretty hard too. My advice, would be obviously, do not procrastinate studying, do not push it off till the last week. Last year, when I would study for tests, I would study the new topic my class was focused on, then I would look back on my notes from previous units. I would advise you to look over notes from previous units as much as possible. It will help refresh your knowledge on topics you may have learned about at the beginning of the class. Also, NEVER throw away work! Completed worksheets, notes, quizzes, even tests will be great assets to you when you study! I wish you the best of luck on your exams, and I hope my tips where helpful!
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Thanks!! My calc ab teacher is also having us do past exam questions for homework, and she puts those questions on exams and quizzes. One thing I'm worried about is time. Do you know approximately how much time we have for FRQs and MCQs?