AP season is here. Stress is piling up, after school activities are at their peak, and all you want to do is lay outside and enjoy the warmth. If it’s your first time taking an AP test (or even your 3rd time), you’re probably left with the same lingering thought in your mind: How can I memorize all of this information all at once while taking care of my sleep schedule, other classes, and after school activities? The simple answer for you is, you can’t, and you shouldn’t. It’s important to prioritize your studying, but prioritizing your sleep and health comes before anything else. It’s absolutely impossible to memorize every bit of information in an AP course, especially if you’re enrolled in multiple. Now that you’ve established that mental health comes first in this process, I’ll give you some tips for studying for the tests.

The first thing you need to realize is that memorizing every word your teacher has lectured this year won't necessarily help you. It’s important to decipher what information is important, and which information is less significant, which won’t be asked on the test. Looking at the AP classroom, you can see how much of each unit is distributed on the exam. Although it is important to review, don’t spend too much time on units that are only weighted as 6-9% of the test. Focus on the big topics you have in your notes or the events that your teacher spent the most time covering in class

Keep a steady schedule. If you spend 30 minutes a day reviewing, I guarantee you will be able to better comprehend the material, rather than staying up until 4am the night before, trying to cram everything in. 

Practice. Practice over and over until you feel confident. Using methods like active recall and utilizing the study materials given by the teacher/internet will train your brain into performing for the test. Think of your AP test as a race. If you just watch track clips, or watch people run, sure, you’ll know how it looks to run, but when it’s time for you to run, you won’t perform as well. You never got the endurance, the stamina, and the method of running that the other athletes have. Just like a race, an AP test requires deep knowledge of the topics, topics that are essential for you to practice. 

Create a study schedule. If your teachers didn’t already give you one, it’s helpful to plan out what units you can practice each day. You can add different methods of studying according to your needs.

Speaking of needs, my next tip is to learn the best way that works for you. Personally, I am a verbal learner, who works best when I hear an idea from the teacher. I know that when I discuss the class lesson with a friend or teacher, and I speak on what I remember, it helps jog my memory. Explaining things to other people shows me that I have a complex understanding of the topic.  While I understand that this works for me, I know it doesn’t work for everyone. If you know that you remember something once you read it, keep reading up until the test.

The last tip I have is to take care of yourself. Make sure you eat a healthy breakfast, get a good night’s sleep, take a deep breath, and relax.

Materials for common AP tests 

AP Biology

https://www.albert.io/blog/ap-biology-practice-tests/

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoGgviqq4847VchRdUdvbDPzsp9ResrjD&si=_g-UTdorYGmHqjDX

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDy82lOtuETQLUugnFLYHRJdQ-xN3JO4_&si=c3jtJUsGIQtZA0NE

AP Calculus AB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9BexaOCxoo&list=PLoGgviqq4844keKrijbR_EPKRNIW6hahV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLCyPMbf6iI&list=PL6iwkLfBjZiw2H9tmA1vW9a93_eJy6bLb

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/ap-calculus-ab

AP Calculus BC

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/ap-calculus-bc

AP Chemistry

https://www.albert.io/ap-chemistry?utm_source=blog&utm_campaign=category-header

AP English Language and Composition

www.youtube.com/@CoachHallWrites

AP History Classes 

www.youtube.com/@heimlershistory