by Annie Augustine ’14

With AP Exams fast approaching, teachers of some AP courses offered their best advice to students that will be taking these challenging tests.

1) The week before the exam, students should review old tests and essays. Pay particular attention to teacher comments. You may also want to ask your teacher for some practice tests and essays.

2) For my specific exam, I plan to tell my students to watch the news and read newspapers in the weeks before the test. The AP Lang exam requires students to reference current events, so they’ll need to know what’s happening in the world. I’ll also review all essay types. Of course, the day before the exam will be casual to allow students to ask last minute questions in a relaxed atmosphere. I’m confident in my students, and it is my hope that my confidence in them will help them feel prepared in addition to all the hard work they’ve done.

-Beth Dibler, AP Language and Composition

The well-prepared student who plans to be successful on his or her AP exam has already been studying the material for some time now. In the week before the exam, students should be practicing test questions for about an hour a day. Practice questions can be found on-line at AP Central, in review books and will almost certainly be handed out by AP teachers. Practicing these questions helps students familiarize themselves with the test format, and helps them review content. Baking cookies helps, too.

-Laura Dinerman, AP Environmental Science

The problem for me is that in my class the student should be spending more time earlier studying. When it is one week before the exam, the student should have discovered where their weak areas are and they should practice problems in those areas. Last minute cramming isn’t very effective. The night before the exam, the best thing a student can do is get a good night’s sleep!!!!

-Tim Altaner, AP Calculus