Are you taking an AP course this year or wanting to learn more about them? In this article, we will be talking about AP courses, what they are, and how to do well in them.
First of all, what is an AP course? It’s a college-level course that is offered in high school to help you gain college credits early on in your college career. They are harder than regular high school courses and involve more work. However, the difficulty varies from course to course- AP Chemistry is not the same difficulty as AP Psychology.
Another essential thing to add is that in an AP course, at least at my school, it is strongly recommended that you take the AP Exam because this is how you will get college credit and save money on courses in college. You must get a 3 or higher to be considered for college credit/pass the exam, however, some schools do not accept 3s and only take scores of 4s and 5s (The scores you can get range from 1-5).
So, how should you treat an AP class? Well, you should mind the assignments you are getting and keep track of them each day as they pile up very quickly. I’m taking 4 APs this year, and it is true for me. Do them when they are first assigned to get them out of the way then this way, you do not have to worry about them later when you are tired. Also, make sure you are putting some time away each day to study for each AP class.
You want to review the material consistently so that it’s fresh in your mind and you’re not cramming a whole bunch last minute before your test. A good way to review is to take quizzes to see what you do and don’t know. A useful resource for this is AP Classroom. It has real AP-style questions similar to what you will see on the exam in May and they help me personally in improving my skills. Your teachers can assign these, or you can ask them to assign them on this AP Classroom website on the College Board’s website.
Do not be scared by all of this, though! AP classes are completely doable and I was able to do well in one last year. If you put in the time and effort, as well as asking questions when you need help, you will do amazing and get that college credit on the exam in May!