The rooms are empty, the papers are fresh and printed out, the pencils are sharpened, and students are crunching their final study time.
AP Testing begins on May 6, and students are studying hard to master all the content they have learned this school year before the final test. Students have shared their studying tips and final thoughts before the most important time of the year.
For freshmen in particular, this new experience seems nerve-racking as even the class content has been different from their other classes.
“It’s definitely a step up from all my other classes,” freshman Serena Bassous said. “It’s not easy, but I wouldn’t say it’s hard.”
Bassous identifies one main aspect of her AP class which she finds the hardest to master.
“It’s more memorizing [than understanding],” said Bassous. “Some units were harder for me.”
Students of all grades seem to find this aspect consistent in all AP classes, especially the social studies sector.
“[AP World History is] definitely more challenging than AP [Human Geography], as I had to broaden my mind,” sophomore Emily Wolkind said. “You kind of have to rack your brain and just really memorize a lot of things.”
Students are studying for the test in many different ways, and freshmen are still figuring out which methods work best for them.
“I’ll make a little review on one of the topics and I feel like it helps more than trying to sit down and study for three hours straight,” Bassous said.
Seniors show their familiarity on studying for AP tests as they know the specific ways and factors to practice before their big day.
“I think it’s definitely useful to know what was going on [earlier units], and not get lost too early,” senior and salutatorian Anjali Gorti said. “Practice timing. I know I definitely stressed on time for a couple of [exams].”
Sophomores are using their experiences from freshman year AP tests, and are trying their past methods again this year.
“AP classroom definitely helps, and Heimler videos; he does a bunch of reviews,” Wolkind said. “I went through all my assignments and did all the notes and then we did a practice test, and study groups definitely helps – talking with your friends about [the content].”
With Gorti’s experience on taking so many APs throughout her years in high school, she is able to provide one main piece of advice to first-time test-takers or those still unfamiliar with AP testing.
“Don’t stress as much about them because, at the end of the day, there’s a giant curve on them. So you shouldn’t be super stressed that you’re going to get specific questions wrong,” Gorti said.
