There are three main pieces of advice I would give to prospective students.
1. Don't let what you learned in seminar hold you back. This is a completely different class and process, so be open to learning new research techniques and ways to write your paper. Understand that the goals of seminar and research are very different, so do not apply the process from seminar to research.
2. Choose a topic you LOVE! If you don't do something you're interested in, you won't be motivated to work on your research. Research is really unique, in that you learn more than you ever thought you could about a specific topic, so ensure that the topic is something you want to learn about.
3. Do not base your research off the kind the other students in the class are doing. I was nervous because just about everyone else was doing a survey so I thought maybe my method or topic was an incorrect choice. However, through my research I learned this was not the case, and my research actually went smoother and easier because I wasn't doing a survey.
~ Audrey Rice, Class of 2019
Compared to AP Seminar, AP Research was vastly different. In AP Seminar it was a lot of group work that required projects on very specific topics, in AP Research it was a single project which I alone was responsible for. Personally, I would argue that AP Research was easier than AP Seminar for the simple reason that I alone could work on a project that I was interested in. I had some fears as to what I would research, would it be good enough, and was I capable. However, looking back on what able I was able to accomplish, I know my fears were misguided. If I had the chance to give my past self any advice, it would be that I could do it. I would tell myself not only could you do it, you'll do so much more.
~Ryan Burke, Class of 2019
One thing that I would have told my past self about the class is not to get caught researching what is obvious. I would encourage myself to research different disciplines than what I had already researched in Seminar. Instead of looking at a more scientific subject, I would let myself know that studying the arts may be more aligned to what I am passionate about, since looking at dance from a more artistic point of view didn't arise as a possible topic for me until we were already well into the research process. I would also encourage myself to use the time wisely. Instead of just sticking to all the set deadlines and being content with that, I would push myself to try and get ahead if given the time, so that the end of the process would be more editing and reflecting than collecting data and writing my paper.
~Kelsey Hutchison, Class of 2019
Understand that this class is completely dependent what you are interested in and making sure that you choose something that is interesting and fun for you to look into is extremely important. Switching from Seminar to Research is very different because in Research you get to choose WHATEVER you want, and that kind of freedom feels strange.
Despite this though, choose something that will keep you entertained throughout the year to learn about because this project is for nobody else but you in the end. In terms of the difficulty of the class compared to Seminar, it's not that big of a difference. This class is nothing you haven't done before in terms of work such as writing essays, peer reviewing, writing annotated bibliographies, or blogging, but what makes it different is that this is your work and you can individualize it to your liking; which goes against everything we've been taught the last three years of high school.
Rather than trying to pick a topic or write essays that you think will please your teacher, make your choices off of what you want most.
The way that taking AP Research can be described is like being thrown into a completely foreign land and you have two options: (1) you can either sit there doing nothing and die, or (2) you can get your a** up and explore until you figure out what is going on and what you want to do.
Of course at first you'll be confused and thrown off by the fact that the class is completely independent, but DO NOT let it stop you from taking advantage of that independence and having a school period five days a week in which you get to learn and study a topic that is unique to you.
~Ethan Soto, Class of 2019
Do not be anxious! As hard as it was for me to avoid overthinking every step, especially for a class such as AP Research which I invested so much in, I needed to understand that you make the class harder in your mind than it actually is. The difficulty of the class is significantly more than AP Seminar; however, the results your reap are proportional to the challenge. I thought that AP Research was just focused on surveys, but I soon learned that the horizon of research, particularly in the field of the Humanities, is far more reaching than I had previously conceived from AP Seminar.
I have taken in total now 15 AP classes, and I can confidently say that I have the most appreciation for the skills I learned in AP Research. It is the closest to a university class out of all the AP classes offered at the high school. That said, the class, primarily at the beginning, will feel like uncharted territory. This feeling does not go away, but you learn how to adapt to the unfamiliarity and make your research your own through trial and error. That process is quintessential for learning. Despite my unnecessary worrying about my paper and the class throughout the year, I recognize now that I took advantage of a special opportunity to expand my knowledge within Humanities, specifically in history and philosophy. I could not gone this in depth in any other AP class at Upland High School.
I am excited to continue my research at university in the fall, and I encourage all prospective AP Research students to have faith that their hard work in this class will pay off. No matter the AP Score I receive in July, my research will continually be a product that I am proud to call my own.
~ Jack McKinnon, Class of 2019
AP Research is on a completely different level than AP Seminar. In good ways and bad ways, as is with almost every academic endeavor in life. Research is much more personal compared to Seminar. You choose your topic and you choose what pathways you get to explore. No one is going to hand you a topic, nor is anyone going to confine you with articles. You learn within the context of your interests and that is one of the best parts of the class.
But the class is difficult. Not because you have to write 4K to 5K words. Not because you have to present a 20 minute presentation on what you researched. But because you have to commit to the class. You are given one year to write 4K words. And one year seems like a while. But in reality, you are given one year to look for academic sources; to build a method; to test your method; to write about your results; and to create a presentation. You are given every available resource that could be given to you, but the most difficult part of the class is exhausting every resource and expelling effort every place that it needs to be.
But it's worth it. Research has its own rewards. You get to really experience what collegiate level research and writing require, and at the end of it all, you get to feel the pride in the work that you spent months hammering out. I thought Research was going to be easy, and then I thought it was going to be too hard. It was neither. Yes, it is difficult. You write three or four drafts and you present four or five times just to get everything right. But you can do it. One of the important things that Chiang teaches in the class, is that research comes in pieces and steps, not all together at once.
~Cindy Nguyen, Class of 2019