Looking for a way to really bum you out? Go to one of you AP mock tests and learn just how much you don’t know about the class you have been sitting in these past seven months.

I mean, you could surprise yourself and actually find that you are prepared, maybe even more so, than you thought. But, this happens rarely.

Mock tests are what I like to call a rude awakening. A good portion of people leave their test on a bright and sunny Saturday morning feeling defeated, but they don’t have to. Instead of a defeatist attitude, try to turn your frown upside down and go study.

It is the harsh reality of AP tests; one that many students choose to ignore, myself included.

I know, as all students know, that you cannot ever rely solely on the teacher to teach you everything you need to know about your class. It is simply impossible, and if you draw an unfortunate hand, and get a teacher that knows as much about the subject as you do, you really have to rely on yourself for the information.

One of the absolute, without a doubt best ways to cram the information is to watch videos on Youtube. If you have a WHAP, APUSH, Biology II, Chemistry II AP or Psychology AP test, go to the “Crash Course” channel. It has plenty of in-depth videos that can be a useful for a refresher of main events*.

Other helpful video channels are “Bozeman Science” for AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, and Statistics and Graphing**, Adam Norris’s channel for the complete overview of AP US History, “whsaptheory” for Music Theory AP, “Economicsfun” for AP Economics, a blog of videos from Stillwater High School for AP Calculus***, and Tom Richey’s channel for AP European History.
If watching videos is not your cup of tea, perhaps you could try out teacher websites. Human Geography AP has a lot of different teacher websites, including Mrs. Gehle’s website, which has a breakdown of the different units and various resources that go along with each one.

Another great way to study would be to find various practice AP tests and/or questions. College Board’s website has every single AP test with their specific course requirements and past AP tests to practice on. George Ranch has also recently purchased a new online study program that has practice questions for AP classes ranging from easy, medium, to hard. It’s called Learnerator, and I can attest to the fact that it is helpful in identifying your weak points in the class. The variety of questions help you grasp the feel of the questions and what you are going to see on the test.

Finally, if you haven’t ordered a review book yet, you need to get one now. Especially if you are not sure that you have a firm grasp on the subject matter. Books like Crash Course (not affiliated with the Youtube channel) condense the subject and gloss over the necessary points for the AP test. It also gives good tips on what specific topics you should be focusing on.

I’m not saying that if you follow all of these steps, you will make a 5, but if you choose one or two of these study guide tips, you may feel more prepared for your test.

I wish you all the best of luck, and I hope this was helpful. (You will get this if you watch the Bozeman videos for Biology).

*These videos go in chronological order and will take a lot of time to go through. I suggest that you plan for watching these videos one to two weeks in advance.

**I’m not one hundred percent sure that this goes into the depth needed for AP Statistics, but it may go over the basics.

***I do not know if this resource is better for BC or AB, but it seems like it goes into depth about the different lessons of Calculus.