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OKAY, simple rules for this forum, write the ap test u have taken, ur score, its structure (easy essays, difficult mc, blah, blah), and any tips or strategies for the test or how to prepare. I will start:


AP BIOLOGY: 4: Essays were difficult but multiple choice was handleable. I suggest reviewing early and making sure you know the classification, which bit me hard in that stupid essay question

By FutureDoc on Monday, February 03, 2003 - 07:08 am: Edit

I waslucky on the AP Bio test, because I was very familiar with the genome, and handled the couple of essays pretty well. Even though i didn't know any classification (too complicated...too much), I knew everything else and scored a 5. I recommend using Cliffs AP Bio, and just review it and take a few real practice tests.

Also, for AP US, I scored a 5. I took the Apex learning course, and took notes during the lecture. I did no other preperation and scored a 5! I don't recommend Cliffs AP Us, because it does not review! I here that REA's book is very good...

By needs ap help on Monday, February 03, 2003 - 10:55 pm: Edit

Keep them coming, this place could be a gold mine in april b4 the ap's!! Thanx!

By T on Monday, February 03, 2003 - 11:23 pm: Edit

REA Is clutch for APUS IMO and PR Is good for AP US Govt -- Any recs for AP Comp Gov or Micro?

By please write on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 07:49 pm: Edit

hasnt anyone taken ap tests that wants to contribute to this board???? thanx!

By hehe on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 04:31 pm: Edit

Government and Politics (U.S.)- 5

Very easy m/c, lots of analyzing graphs and tables (was surprised)
Essays... if you know how to b.s. about diversity and can rush... you've got it made

Other advice: Take some Ritalin.

By dont know crap on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 07:45 pm: Edit

wats ritalin?

By aplang on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 08:17 pm: Edit

does anyone have any experience with english language AP and what is u actually need to know, is it just rhetorical devices?? my teacher hardly ever speaks of the ap test, so can someone who did good on it, or knows a thing or 2 bout it give me the run-down of what the heck is on the ACTUAL AP test! thanx

By Christine on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 11:44 pm: Edit

I studied the day before for my AP Bio test and scored a 3. I really do recommend getting the AP Cliffs for Bio, I hear it's really good. I plan on retaking it. Make sure you memorize those different groups like fungi and chordata and whatever. I think the essays messed me up though, bad handwriting seems to indicate bad students :D

By Q on Friday, February 07, 2003 - 09:40 am: Edit

AP Chem - 5 - I studied this on my own, but getting the Cliff AP guide is good. Make sure you're familiar with precipitate reactions

Calc BC - 5 - No special preparationg, just used textbook.

By username on Friday, February 07, 2003 - 02:19 pm: Edit

Calc BC 5-easy, understand the material, you will get a 5
Chem 4-a little harder than BC, but not that difficult
Stat 5-konw the t-, Z-, and Chi tests, you will be in a good shape
Microecon 5-a BIG joke

By noneya on Friday, February 07, 2003 - 06:30 pm: Edit

AP PHYSICS C MECHANICS: Difficult

By 76 on Friday, February 07, 2003 - 08:59 pm: Edit

how's euro?

By Euro on Friday, February 07, 2003 - 11:56 pm: Edit

European History- 5 I did well throughout the year and really enjoyed learning about it because my teacher was great. He taught history as a story, trying to make the historical figures into people to whom we could relate... Anyway, I read the Princeton Review book and looked over my notes for possible essay topics, starting about 2 weeks before the test... We also received a mock AP exam one week before the test...

And like Aplang, I was wondering... does anyone know about Eng Lang and Composition?


Let's keep all the advice coming!!


Thanks

By easy on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 02:36 am: Edit

for ap us history, get either the rea book or the princeton review book, i used them both and they, along with my great teacher, helped me get a solid 5

By anyone? on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 12:00 pm: Edit

eng lang and comp?

By wannaknowmore on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 01:17 pm: Edit

bumper

By wannaknowmore on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 03:01 pm: Edit

c'mon guys.. there have to be people who have taken more APs and have advice here... share the wealth

By where da english on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 05:22 pm: Edit

ap language please!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By where da english on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 05:23 pm: Edit

what the heck is the ap eng language test testing anyway????????

By helpusall on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 07:16 pm: Edit

PLEEEEEEEEEEEASSSSSEE HEEEEELLLLLPPPPPPPP

By er on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 08:38 pm: Edit

english english english.... AND OTHERS

out of the hundreds of people who take APs, no one wants to help... what jerks!

By Dori on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 11:56 pm: Edit

well i'm currently in AP english language, but our semester1 final was the 1996 AP exam....i can tell you about that if you want...(btw, i got a 3, and i didn't prep AT ALL, and i only wrote 2 or 3 essays out of the 20+ assigned during the semester, lol)

By fdjadkfj on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 12:02 am: Edit

DORI could u please tell me about what was on the 1996 exams? what words were used? (i.e. metaphor, simile....); what types of things were stressed!!! THANKS ALOT!!!

By CuriousOne on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 07:40 pm: Edit

the best prep for AP Gov according to my teacher and other kids I know who have taken the test is Barron's (as opposed to PR, Kaplan, REA, etc.)...I haven't taken the actual AP exam yet but we took an old one that had been released as a midterm, and that was easier than Barron's and harder than PR by a mile...actually it was harder than REA too which is surprising because REA is usually the most difficult of all of them.

Anyone have suggestions for the AP Comp Sci A exam, esp for those who are taking the test without having taken the class?

By dxiw on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 07:50 pm: Edit

A ia a joke. AB is much much harder, if would just recommend programming a lot and solving problems. I made a 4 on the A and literally took it cold, I slept most of the time in class too. I made a 3 on AB however, much harder. Taking again this year, would have had a 5 but I erased my free response and right when I went to rewrite it, they called time..

AB Calc is also easy, I scored a 4 and only answered 2 free response questions cause I got tired.

By Mr0range (Mr0range) on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 08:51 pm: Edit

AP Comparitive Politics - 5
I remember the MC was not too bad, mostly just facts that could be memorized from a review book

Essays - it helped that our teacher gave us lots of articles to read, some of the questions would have been difficult to write about after just having read the textbook

By shannonb on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 10:58 pm: Edit

Ap Euro- 5
Read Princeton Review the day before, what a godsend!

By thegeneral on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 11:11 pm: Edit

u had to have known something shannonb...am i correct? u probably had a good teacher or somethin', if no, could u please share with me what EXACTLY u did, WITH THE PR book, to get a 5 (did u just read it..take notes...)

By dying here on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 04:46 pm: Edit

anyone else take ANY ap classes and got tips?????

By Jk9903 on Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 10:55 pm: Edit

AP US History - 5 - basically had no teacher and class was a joke, but if you can write very well, it doesn't matter. MC were weird questions that didn't really make too much sense (like names of Mexican dock workers), but the answers can be figured out by just reasoning.

AP Chemistry - 5 - Easy. The problems were a joke and so were the essays. We did no labs the whole, so I had a little harder time on the lab question, and some of the MC were a little obscure (precipitate and salt colors). I had to take the test twice too, because the first time the proctors messed up, and my test got invalidated...

AP Biology - 5 - Easy. My class didn't finish half of the textbook, but then again, we had an insanely hard class, with routine tests being 120 MC and 4 full essays with multiple parts in 2 periods. Would explain why 5 years ago my teacher was named the 2nd best in the country for getting 5's...Know classification. They put it in A LOT.

AP Physics B is my first year Physics class - any advice to scoring well? We're really behind :-/.

Also, my school only offers an AP Calc AB class, but I'm studying independently for the BC test. Any books or advice you guys can recommend, please? :-).

Thanks!

By me on Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 11:28 pm: Edit

AP US History- 5- I used flashcards that i made myself throughout the course for each test, so for the midterm, final, and the AP test, I had a huge stack of people, places, events, dates, that i reviewed and memorized. It may see like a lot of work, but it got me a good grade in the course, a 5 on the AP, and i didnt have to cram. Of course, this only works if you have a good teacher who knows the exam.

By Jason817 (Jason817) on Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 11:41 pm: Edit

Jk9903:

You are obviously a very smart person. How do you use reasoning to answer the MC's on the ap us history exam?

By Jk9903 on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 12:46 am: Edit

I don't know, but for me, if I didn't know something, if something just seemed like a dumb answer, then it was probably wrong. Also, use chronology clues to see where events fall in relation to one another. The US test also isn't as general and the AP World History class/test (which I'm in this year - lot more material than US), so memorizing straight facts will definitely give you a decent score, and also, for instance, some general trends help, like xenophobia after WWI, etc. Also, if you are a good writer, you are guaranteed a really high score on each essay. Your technique will make up if you're lacking a little fact to back up your essay.

By Jason817 (Jason817) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 01:04 am: Edit

cool thanks. And about Chem AP. How did you find that easy? I am looking through past tests and I think that its hard as hell. What exactly did you do to prepare?

By Jk9903 on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 01:15 am: Edit

I didn't prepare for it using those books. IMHO, every book I looked at was nothing like the AP test at all, the questions were too dissimilar and easy.

I was in a class of 5, and we didn't do any labs until the middle of April. Luckily, last year was just a calorimetry lab that I had done Soph. year, the year before.

I had a pretty bad teacher, but starting from the very beginning of the year, every test on every chapter was past AP problems, and our midterm was an AP test, and we did practice before the test. The only thing that really requires a good looking at is past equation predictions. Starting in February, my teacher gave us 10 past equations to memorize, and we had a simple quiz on them. The next week, the quiz could be taken from last week's, and the current week's, and etc. It really illustrates trends in the products formed, and helped a great deal.

Even though she had to rush in kinetics and electrochem at the end, we were so exposed to AP level problems that last year's test was pretty routine.

By Jason817 (Jason817) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 01:20 am: Edit

wow. great job. so would you recommend that I print out past AP problems (MC's, essays, reactions)?

Thnx for the help by the way.

By Jk9903 on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 01:36 am: Edit

Definitely, that's the only way to truly gauge the difficuly of every exam. If only past MC were available for EVERY AP test...(Any help with Calc BC, World History, or Physics B, anyone?? Advice on what to know for the Spanish Language test would also be greatly appreciated!)

My Chem and Bio classes were pretty difficult, especially my Bio, so I didn't even study for their AP tests or SAT II's, and I got a 800 on Bio-M and a 790 on Chem.

So, instead, I tried to study for the History exam, and found out that all the crap I had learned all year was useless - they tested pretty trivial facts that seemed insignificant in the amount of time spent in the classroom.

Good luck :-).

By Jason817 (Jason817) on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 01:54 am: Edit

K thnx. As for world history, are you taking that now?? I thought schools taught that before Us history. You seem to not use prep books at all but that is how I study. I guess if you are interested, this phyiscs B/C prep book was recommended by teachers and students at my school. Great reviews too.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375762272/qid=1045723833/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-2318698-8006453?v=glance&s=books

You are really knowledgable let me tell you, and you will have no problems getting 5's on these tests. Dont worry.

By Jk9903 on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 02:00 am: Edit

thanks a lot for the rec, I did use a prep book for US, and I thought it helped. good luck to you too.

By donde estan los geniusesos on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 01:07 am: Edit

no mas? no more?

By test_taker on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 03:00 am: Edit

Jk9903 can you please tell me what earned you a 5 on the AP Bio exam and an 800 on the SAT!! What did your teacher do to prepare you so well. I am studying for that now and the book is huge and it has sooo much information. How could you study without a prep book?? Please tell me about your class and what you did to prep.

By test_taker on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 03:05 am: Edit

Oh ya and one more question. For classification, do you have to know the official name or just the common name. For example, would they expect you to know chlorophyta or is green algae ok?

By Majinjou1 (Majinjou1) on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 12:13 pm: Edit

AP Statistics anyone? Let me know what you need to know about it and that's really emphasized on the test. Thanks

By Jk9903 on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 04:48 pm: Edit

My Bio tests were insane - so even the people who got D's in the class (with usually a 10 point curve given to them, and around 2-3 points for the top kid) got a 4 on the test. He's never had anyone fail in around 20 years. Hence, taking past AP MC tests and me and around 2 other ppl getting like 1 wrong.

You could say we knew the material.

And as for classification, common name is fine, just know characteristics that are distinct to each phyla (chordata, anthropoda, annelida, etc). For instance, on last year's test there were no distinction between the types of algae, but a type of flow chart where you had to follow the characteristics of the animal to the correct phyla.

Good luck :-).

By geometer on Saturday, February 22, 2003 - 01:53 pm: Edit

as a sophomore last year i took AP Euro Hist and got a 4

the mc was fairly easy though i skipped about 15 which probably kept me from a 5

the dbq was pretty easy about the effect of the industrial revolution on the english city of manchester

and the essays weren't super hard. I chose to answer the essays regarding absolutism in the 18th century and the social changes during the inter war years.

I'm currently in AP US history. Is the exam for US history harder or easier than the exam for Euro?

By helpus on Saturday, February 22, 2003 - 01:56 pm: Edit

also got a question about us history: if you knew every trend and concept of American history could u do good, without knowing too many facts???

By ? on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 12:13 am: Edit

?

By Perso (Perso) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 07:56 pm: Edit

mhm... i'm taking 3 ap classes this year, could use a lot of help on all of them, my teachers just aren't exposing us to enough of anything.
i would really appreciate some input, as in what to expect, what material we need to know, how to write the essays, etc. much thanks


ap language and composition
ap u.s. history
ap european history

By Incognito (Incognito) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 08:00 pm: Edit

ap u.s. history:
REA is the best prep book. Memorize tons of facts and learn how to write an "effective" essay (whatever the **** that means)...

By Heatwave345 (Heatwave345) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 08:14 pm: Edit

This Year i'm taking Calc. BC and Chem.

Calc. BC
hoping for a 5, anyone understand vectors???

Chemistry
hoping for a 3 to save face, the teacher is not the best.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 09:02 pm: Edit

You can order a book with every calculus free response question from every AP exam (both AB and BC)for the past 15 years, with solutions. Go to www.moems.org (scroll down to "calculus books".)

By Themoose07 (Themoose07) on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 05:12 pm: Edit

AP Eng Language- 5
The test is basically just being able to analyze sentences in passages, trying to determine meanings of phrases, etc. The multiple choice was difficult, but the essays were mostly BS about analyzing tone and syntax and diction, and one was an opinion question that you didn't have to have any specific knowledge about. The thing about the essays that you must remember is that there's no format that they're looking for. You need to write how you think the prompt is best addressed! If it's one paragraph, so be it- as long as the paragraph completely explains your thoughts.

AP Psychology- 4
I thought it was a difficult test. Many of the laws were covered on the MC and the essays. One of the essay questions, if I recall correctly, was to trace a child's development using schema and protoypes... all in all, if you've prepared well in class, you should be fine.

US History- 3
This grade shocked me, because I didn't do the second FRQ and did a really crappy DBQ. The multiple choice was pretty easy though, it wasn't as heavy on dates and such as I thought it would be.

Stats- 3
This was a really hard test. Make SURE you know how to do the Z-tests and T-tests and such on the calculator- they are a MUST, but make sure you know when to apply them! It gets tricky on the test, you think you know when to use which test but on that day I couldn't really remember. The free responses were also beastly.

Biology- 2
Since we only had a teacher for 2/3 of the year, didn't do any of the labs, and basically did nothing in the class, I was happy with my 2.

Calculus BC - 1, (AB Subscore - 3)
Calculus was hard. So hard, in fact, that I lost interest in it. I didn't appreciate the challenge, and didn't rise to the occasion. I probably got about 10% of the questions right, but that's a 3 on the AB part- go figure.

French Language - 1
I was really in over my head on this test. I wouldn't have taken it at all but my district forced us to (they pay for them all) so I took it to avoid a letter grade reduction. However, the native French speakers at my school got 4's... must be tough.

Hope this helped someone!

By Archie (Archie) on Saturday, March 15, 2003 - 11:14 pm: Edit

I have read 3 Ap European History Test books (arco, Princeton Review, Barrons). Is this enough to score a 4 on the test? Is there anything else I should do to prepare?

By Kalitiha (Kalitiha) on Sunday, March 16, 2003 - 02:09 pm: Edit

AP European History--5. Easy multiple choice, two essays and one DBQ. Review your details, but mostly you just need to pay attention in class.

AP Biology--5. Okay multiple choice, got lucky on the essays because the information was from second semester. I didn't think they were that hard, but I was very surprised to get a 5.

AP English Language and Composition--5. This test was amazingly easy for me, I could have passed it without taking the class.

AP United States History--4. Probably easy, but I couldn't stand the text and didn't really study. The good thing about this test is you know the time period your DBQ will be about.

AP Chemistry--3. I sucked at chem., and didn't study as much as I should have. I did well on the net ionic equations, got killed on the lab essay, probably okay on the Multiple Choice.

By Rossi (Rossi) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 12:25 pm: Edit

is there anyway i can have access to past 5 or
10 years sat II biology exams

By Eurostar (Eurostar) on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 - 04:11 am: Edit

AP European History -5- I can see this exam being difficult if you don't have a good teacher or the will power to get through the material. Don't get stuck in the situation of not going over the 20th century because your teacher didn't get there. For this exam, you most likely will need to review on your own. I recommend reading Princeton Review once, doing the APCD (available from CollegeBoard), and doing the practice tests in the REA. That's what I did, and I got a 5. Don't try to remember random facts. Remember, it's just a really *REALLY* long story, so contextualize EVERYTHING.

AP Spanish Language -5- Easy, easy, EASY! And you know how it's easy, doing Barron's, that's how. Seriously, get Barron's, get through its plethora of practice questions and you'll be all set for the exam. Oh, and record yourself speaking a couple of times because it's fun.

By Nocalguy (Nocalguy) on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 05:51 pm: Edit

US History AP: 5 Easy MC's, Easy Essays
Chemistry AP: 5 Medium MCs, Easy Essays
English Language AP: 5 Hard Mcs (have to work really fast) Easy Essays

By Theater (Theater) on Friday, March 21, 2003 - 11:26 am: Edit

Does anyone now how important the MC are versus the essay/ free response for the US history and the Chem AP

By Nocalguy (Nocalguy) on Friday, March 21, 2003 - 04:28 pm: Edit

They're all about the same. Essays are usually worth the same or slightly more (i.e. 50-55%) of the score.

By Prep04 (Prep04) on Friday, March 21, 2003 - 07:29 pm: Edit

for AP bio how much chem (molecules etc) is actually tested? should we know chem for bio reference or should we know it because they'll test us on it?

By Starrynight86 (Starrynight86) on Saturday, May 03, 2003 - 04:58 pm: Edit

Hey
Has anyone taken the AP US history test this year (2003) yet? If so, can you please tell me what the DBQ was about? such as the time period, era etc... Please respond quickly;)