How to Study for an Advanded Placement Exam

The Advanced Placement (AP) Exam helps high school students earn college credit, placement or both by studying a university-level subject and taking an end of course exam. AP Exams are held in May each year. There is no passing grade on the AP Exam, but most colleges require a grade of 3, 4 or 5 (out of a scale of 1-5) on the test in order to award college credit. Each college has its own policy regarding AP credit, so you'll need to check with the colleges you are applying to in order to know if your AP exam scores qualify for college credit, place you into a more advanced course, or simply help you with your application. Here are basic tips to study for the AP exams from a former College Board (maker of the test) staff member.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Course notes from the entire year
• Computer
• Textbook

1. Start early. The biggest mistakes most students make is to wait until the week before the exams to study for them. Because the AP exams encompass an entire year's worth of material, you need to begin very early. March isn't too early to start studying!

2. Each week, go back through your notes and study one week's worth of lessons. Review your textbook, class notes, and tests. Look through the material. If any area gave you trouble, go back and review that twice as frequently or meet with your teacher to review the material.

3. Practice your writing skills. Bring essays to your school's writing lab, a tutor, favorite teacher, or peer who writes well and ask for help. Because many AP exams include a free response or essay portion, strong essay writing skills are essential.

4. Visit The College Board's website. This is the non profit organization that creates the test and provides teachers with training so that they can teach AP classes. Look for their tips and hints online. They want you to be successful, but you need to go to their website and look for the information.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't wait too long - start studying early for this challenging test.
• Even if you do not score a 3 or above on the AP exams, having an AP course on your high school transcript is looked upon favorably by many admissions officers.
• Subjects such as European History, American History, and other history course often include free response essays that draw from other disciplines, such as music, art, and literature, so be sure to review notes on those subjects too.

Resources

• The College Board, makers of the AP test and source of official information on the AP exams.
• Study guide to AP Calculus - crack the test!
• Study for the AP History Exam

[smartygirl7]

on 9/7/2009 Ap Euro is incredibly hard. I don't understand the reading unless I focus really hard. But I needed this article since I failed my latest essay.

[dlcass]

on 2/17/2009 Excellent article. Students need all the help they can get for these tough tests.