After a long year of hard work, AP exams for the 2024/2025 school year are finally approaching. AP exams are standardized tests for Advanced Placement classes administered by the college board. These exams are the same for all classes across all schools and are scored on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being the lowest score and 5 the highest. The exams assess the mastery and skills that students have learned throughout the year in their designated AP classes. In order to pass these exams, students must earn a score of 3 or higher.
The AP exams are set to begin on May 5th with AP Bio and AP Latin and end on May 23rd with AP Seminar. Similar to any final or big exam, the weeks leading up to AP exams can be extremely stressful for students. Therefore, it is often advised by teachers that students begin studying early on. Different students have different ways of preparing for these exams and this article will address some effective studying tactics students at Hingham High are using.
When beginning to study for a big exam, it can be overwhelming, and students often do not know where to begin. Therefore, it is usually suggested by teachers to begin with creating a planner that allocates a certain amount of time to studying each day. Additionally, these planners often designate separate lessons and review topics to certain days. Therefore, creating a planner offers students a simple way to organize their studying and make the process more approachable. For example, junior Kaitlyn Manning is in the process of preparing for the AP Lang exam. Kaitlyn explained, “When I first thought of starting to study for the exam, I often felt a little overwhelmed and unaware of how to start. However, my teacher, Ms. Jope, suggested to me and my classmates that we create a planner to get our studying organized. I decided to take her advice, and it really helped to lower my stress levels as I had a plan on what I would be doing each day.”
Additionally, when it comes to actually studying many students prefer to not only learn and memorize the information required for their exam but also utilize practice resources offered online. These practice questions can be found on google, the bluebook app, and more and can be of great use to ensure that you understand the material thoroughly. For example, Junior Ella O’Neill explains “I have used online practice materials to prepare for my AP Statistics exam and it has helped me to feel more confident that I understand and can apply the material I have learned throughout the year.”
Overall, there are several different studying strategies. However, if you are feeling overwhelmed or stuck try out the strategies above to help you get started and feel more confident!
