By Daniel Manetin

AP courses are likely the most demanding tasks in anyone’s academic career, and one of the primary reasons is the infamous end-of-course AP exam. With May just a week away, AP exam preparation seems daunting, and a lack of confidence is just about guaranteed. Knowing how to study and what to study for is essential for getting college credits instead of just a GPA boost, and finding that mix of review that leads to success is the best way for any student to ace their exam.

Exam prep is often already included toward the end of classes, and is built around repetition and memory. As a teacher of AP Precalculus, Mr. Hunter Rogers explained that in-class prep is usually more manageable because it is “formatted like the same way every single year… so it’s very easy to prepare for.” Along with the exam’s consistency, the varied assessments throughout the course are also designed to reflect the exam. “Our unit tests are more comprehensive or cumulative… and a lot of the formatting came from how the AP questions are structured,” Mr. Rogers noted. Having this material taken consistently throughout the year can make it much easier to recognize the same topics on the exam day.

However, this is only considering a single class; just about any student taking an AP course is taking more than one. This can make the challenge less about one test and more about managing challenging AP material as a whole. Matias Allande Morel [11] described a tight schedule of four AP classes in his schedule, leading to hours of homework every day. To counter this, Matias mentioned using study tactics like group sessions (and even tutoring, in some cases) to burn in material. “I use my other free periods to actually study for the AP exams too,” he mentioned, “and also to do my homework.” In the reality of handling multiple courses and exams, it’s more about the path that provides the greatest will to learn; As Matias put it, “Studying with friends is way more fun… it’s one of the best ways.”

Regardless of your course or core topic, when it comes to AP exams, success is built long before test day. AP courses are designed for rigor and challenge, and whether it’s getting the reps in and practicing throughout the ear or simply active studying and finding the way that works, a method is needed in the madness to come out with a great AP score. Otherwise, without finding the strategy for them, students may end up cramming the week before an AP exam: an exam you just can’t cram for.