By Adam Joseph
Staff Writer
Ah, spring. The time of blossoming flowers, weekend beach trips and (hopefully) sunny weather. As the saying goes, “hope springs eternal”. . . but so do AP tests.
Enthusiastic easy class-taker senior Isaac Feleay said, “I’ve never once taken an AP test and I could not be happier about my decision not to!” However, for those of you overly academically inclined seniors, juniors or even sophomores, AP tests are starting to become a reality. Even if you took one or more last year, it’s good to have a refresher on what to do to better prepare for these upcoming exams.
The first piece of advice is that everything you need to succeed is there. Believe it or not, your teacher has been providing the information needed to get that coveted five all year, hopefully. By reviewing notes from class or previous textbook readings, you should be able to gather all you need to succeed. And if that hasn’t been working for you, there’s always AP Classroom. Made by the people who designed the test, AP Classroom has designated study guides for every single AP test offered.
The second piece of advice is to increase your testing stamina. It sounds bizarre. But if you tend to get distracted in a regular 55-minute class period test, then buckle up: these tests tend to run around three hours, with only about 10 minutes of break time. Even the most academically rigorous students have to refrain from ripping out their hair after their second straight hour of essay writing.
The third—and most important—piece of advice is detaching yourself from the 1-5 score. A lot of people weigh their success on passing the AP test. But that’s just inherently wrong. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t aim for a 5, but go into the test with the goal of just doing your best. If you do pass, then good for you! But if you don’t, then you gave it your all. People try to make AP tests the “end-all, be-all” of academic success. In the end, it is just one test.
