AP exam season is back this May, but this time with a shakeup in the testing format. A majority of exams this year will be completely digital on the Bluebook app, with most science and math AP exams going hybrid. However, the exams for AP Music Theory, Research, Art, and Languages remain on paper. With all these changes, studying for AP exams becomes harder than ever so here are some study tips for AP exam season.
1. Focus on rubrics
Every Free Response Question (FRQ) on every AP exam has a rubric by which it is scored. If teachers have not already talked about how FRQs are generally graded for your AP class or if you are self-studying an AP, it is worth your time to search for past AP FRQs on Google and review scoring guidelines available on the College Board’s website for the class you are taking. Having a clear understanding of what the FRQ wants will help you understand what to write to score maximum points on these questions.
2. Take notes
Among many strategies for studying, writing notes worked the best for me when I studied for AP exams last year, and I will be doing it this year as well. By going through your notes from class and writing them down again in your own words, making sure that you understand the material and are not just copying, you engage more with the material, and it makes it easier for you to recall concepts for both the FRQ and MCQ sections.
3. Target the sections that are weighted higher per exam
Each AP exam has information available on the College Board’s website with the weightage (percent of questions from a unit on the exam) of each unit on the exam. For example, I put a specific focus on Units 9, 10, and 11 when I studied for AP Physics 2 last year, as they were weighted higher than the other four units. I ended up getting a 5 on the exam. Again, Google is your best friend and you can search “AP weightage” for your subject to understand the units that you are going to get the most questions on.
4. Personal advice from AP World History and other history APs
For sophomores taking what is likely their first AP class and AP exam this May and for people taking the history APs, here is some advice for the MCQ section: The AP World History MCQ section has 55 stimulus-based questions – questions that are based on a piece of information. In my experience, each question had two answers that made no sense, an answer that made sense but a part of it was wrong, and then the right answer. Realizing this pattern carried me through AP World History and I am confident that this can help you score great on your first AP exam.
No matter what strategy you use, only some hard work is needed. Since AP exams give you college credit, it is worth your time to try out some of these strategies or even take the time to come up with your own. This AP exam season is the start of a new era of AP exams, so good luck to everyone!