Six Tips to Help You Prepare for Your AP Exams

Six+Tips+to+Help+You+Prepare+for+Your+AP+Exams

Maia Daly, Staff Writer

With AP Exam registration having closed March 1st, it’s time to start looking forward to those two busy weeks in May. So to help you out, here are some tips on study habits to do in order to prepare for the Exams.

  1. Start now. Yes starting now is an important thing to do. These tests may be two and a half months away, but studying a little every week and generally building up the time you spend on studying will make this whole process a lot less painful. Plus the information will stay with you better if you spend more time on it.
  2. Study a little everyday. Beginning with a baseline of fifteen minutes per subject per day and then adding five more minutes every week will get you to a solid understanding of what you need to know for the tests and then you will not need to cram and stress yourself out more.
  3. Get a review book. Whether it’s from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble at the mall, or from going down to the Guidance Office and choosing one from their selection, getting a review book is a smart thing to do. These books are written by authors who have immense knowledge of not only the subject at hand but also how the tests are run and set up. The books will give you more inside knowledge and a set way to study if you don’t know where to start.
  4. Make a study group or go to study sessions with your teachers. Choose a group of classmates that are in your class and taking the AP Exam and get together to review and quiz one another. You’ll help each other out and have people you can go to if it all seems too stressful. Study sessions with teachers are incredible, they can answer your questions and explain what you need to know, and don’t need to remember. Most teachers will offer these in the last couple of weeks before the exams and it’s important that if you don’t know when they’re offered, you ask. Like stated before, most teachers will offer these sessions but may not talk about them a lot and so you may have to do some digging.
  5. Make sure to eat healthy foods and drink plenty of water. When studying for the exams, don’t do it on an empty stomach, you won’t focus as well and then it’s simply wasted time. Having some fruit, veggies, or almonds before studying will keep you energized and, unlike junk food, will not rush through your system making you hungry faster. Another important part of studying is making sure you have water on hand and are drinking it throughout studying, this will prevent mid-studying headaches and keep you more alert.
  6. Don’t forget about the exams. Making sure you’re studying a little everyday in the weeks leading up to the exams and writing down reminders in your planner will help you to not forget. If you simply sign up for the exams now and then doing nothing for the next two months till the two weeks before, then you will not only be stressed out but also stuck with making sure you know a courses worth of work in two weeks time, on top of everything else in your life. Don’t stress yourself out, you’ve got this.

 

If you’re planning on doing the AP Exams, take them seriously. These tests that cost $65 and take up to 4 hours of a day in May can save you an entire semester of a class in college and can allow you more time to do what you want and get done with college sooner.* Good luck and get studying!

Schedule of Exams 2017:

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/exam/dates_fees/index.html

*If you get a 3 or above for most schools, then you can get out of general education credits classes.