Study Tips for AP Exams
AP Test Preparation
At Ivy Bound, we help students prepare for their AP (Advanced Placement) tests, but students can also help themselves. Those who attend school until mid-June will likely have teachers who cannot get through the whole textbook in time. Independently, students can use a decent AP guide to learn the content that’s not covered before the May round of AP exams.
Teaching to the Test
If the teacher only covers the first half of the biology textbook, you have to learn the other half. To make matters more challenging, some high school teachers have disdain for the normal textbook. They teach their own way, using their own handouts. For good or bad, they progress through the material their own way, but unfortunately, this style of teaching may not come close to what the AP is testing. Does that keep you from doing well on the exam? If you’re not going to study on your own, then yes.
Additional Study Time
If you’re willing to study on your own time using an AP prep guide or work with a tutor, you can do well on the AP test without an AP-oriented teacher. Students don’t need to be enrolled in a class labeled "advanced placement" or an honors course to do really well on the AP test. Simply learn the material!
When to Start Preparation
Our target date for students to begin AP study is March. This allows for two months of review and additional preparation. Beginning in March, use your time to go over concepts covered in the classroom, then tackle what hasn’t been addressed. On test day, you may be asked something the teacher didn’t have a chance to cover. If you’re prepared for these problems, putting in that extra study time will be worth it.
5 to 7 weeks with a once-a-week tutor should suffice for the student whose in-school teacher has covered almost all the topics. If that teacher has been wayward, then we recommend 2x a week or even 3x a week. Students who recognize their teacher is not "teaching to the test" might enlist a tutor earlier, in January or even December, and then have a calm 1x a week run-up with a tutor to the May APs.
