What You Need to Know About the AP Exam

By Madison Gillespie, Sports Editor
March 20, 2018

The process for signing up and preparing for AP Exams have already begun.

   I know this process too well, as I have taken two exams now over my past four here at Susquehannock.

   Taking the first exam can be very stressful, as not many students know not what to expect besides what their teachers tell them.

   I can assure you that the test is very similar to the practice tests that you take in class with the multiple choice questions and the short answer/essay questions.

   However, these practices cannot predict everything that will be on the exam, as they change every year.

    Here are a few tips for taking the exams that have made studying easier and life less stressful for me.

  1. First thing is first-do not panic over the exam.

  The main reason that I say this is because on my first exam I panicked. I was stressed mainly over the fact that I would not be able to get the college credits. While getting the college credits is nice, if you get enough, you could graduate early like some students, it is not the end of the world if you do not get the credits. Just treat this like any other standardized test you have taken.

  1.  Only go over what you need to.

   This is important to spacing out studying time for the test. I recommend taking a practice test to determine the areas where you need the most help. These tests can be found online or in the back of most AP prep books. Once you determine the areas you need to work on, study those areas first. From there, brush up on your best topics and retake the practice test, but make sure it’s different than the one you took before.

  1.   Study with a group.

    Studying with a group can be a large help with covering the content that you do not know or understand. Having a friend show you the content might help you understand it in terms that will be easy for you to remember. Studying with a group can make going over the content fun and interesting. When I studied with a group of my friends, I felt that I learned content that I would have never understood on my own.

  Taking your first AP exam can be a scary. If you just take things slowly, you will do fine on the exam.