New... at AP

A lot of studying. AP classes are a lot more intense and time consuming than your regular classes. Don't go in with a "I don't need to study" attitude, but rather go in confident in your abilities to study and learn.

yeah. if you start with an attitude of not needing to study you will be greatly supprised. just expect hard work and study hard. the difference between AP and other classes is that AP focuses on the test so you will see alot of things you wouldn't see in a regular class and you will skip over other things. just make sure that you are keeping up with the workload and the information. it is far more important that you know and understand the material than that you have alot of notes or something.

what, correct me if i'm wrong, but collages would rather have a student who did not do well in the class but scored high on the AP test than the other way around.

I do believe that is correct Ferris. Colleges can understand bad teachers, and are impressed if you can succeed despite them. And we're always here to help if you need it sid.

It honestly depends on the college. Previously, colleges just looked at your gpa and stuff and based EVERYTHING on that. However, the past few years have seen more and more admissions offices looking at the transcript itself and basing their decision on that. A student with a 3.4 gpa and B's in AP classes can beat out a student with a 4.0 gpa and all A's.

It depends on your teacher, too. Some teachers are all "read the book, ask me questions tomorrow," and others are "lets dissect the words written here," some are "screw the book," and then you get the ones who do a combination of all three.

Some courses are more writing oriented, others mathematical, and others still prefer cognitive/verbal responses, or a combination. (i.e. some asses through reports/essay test; formulas/"show your work" tests; or participation/verbal tests, respectivly.)

In general, I must agree with everyone so far: know your material. I understand for some, studying is actually detrimental; so if that is your case, make sure you ask all the questions you have and work with the material until you understand it.

You do not need to do everything perfectly, contrary to popular belief. You are expected to make mistakes, however, you are expected to recover from these mistakes faster and with more understanding than the average student.

And Ferris is right, the problem with AP classes, are that they are only concerned with what materials will be on the tests. Therefore, you can expect to gloss over many items that those from other classes will cover, and to learn material that other pupils will not cover, or at least beat it over the head more throughly than them.

AP students are expected to be the most mature of their class, and this comes with just as many rewards as it does expectations. For example, the AP Chemistry students are allowed more freedom in the laboratory. (i.e. allowed to handle dangerous chemicals at, relatively, high concentrations) They are also expected to not misuse the equipment, nor do idiotic stunts such as 'trying to see how malleable the $200 glass tube is.' This type of misbehavior may be excepted in standard classes, but only causes an irate teacher at AP level.

Absences are a problem. AP teachers tend to do their teaching in class and save the book for after class, either as homework or an extra tool in helping their students to understand the material. It is very hard to catch up, even if you only miss a day. (Unless school-type knowledge is simple for you, and even then, some effort is required.)

AP teachers are, generally, the better teachers. They know their stuff, how to teach it, and have personalities, even if they do tend towards the eccentric.

As far as homework goes, you either have a lot, a little, or it varies. Chapters are expected to be read nightly; sometimes multiple chapters. Mandatory books for your English classes, however, tend to vary in chapter length, so ten chapters could really fall out to only be twenty pages or so. Other classes, like history, tend to have chapters be around twenty-thirty pages, and are expected to be read between the classes.

Essays tend to be common, whether they happen to be one or five pages; three or more paragraphs, however, depend on the teacher. The classes often tend to be more 'hands on' than standard. Material is covered just as quickly as honor classes, if not more so, but is generally more analytical.

Basically, be prepared to think and make a lot of connections, and put in some effort.

Also, understand that even if your grade turns out lower than you expected, you still understand the material better than a good deal of people; and yes, What's right about the GPA thing.

Greenlover17

P.S. Extra credit, believe it or not, is rather abundant in many AP class rooms, however, it is normally offered at the very beginning of the course, not near the end, when it tends to come in handy.

I'm also new at AP. I'm very strong at pulling information from the book, but not so much with learning verbal. Such as my Marine Science Test:

All Reading: 100
All Verbal(no reading at all): 60

Hope I don't have to rely on verbal learning much.

in my experience with AP, alot of it was verbal. just write down what your teacher says. later you can go back and read over it.

It depends on the teacher, but yes, most teachers will lecture. Learning how to take good notes is essential not only for AP, but for college classes as well. It may take time depending on who you are, but here are some basics of good note taking for lectures:

• write clearly - if you can't read your notes afterwards, they won't do you very good. It doesn't have to be neat, but you do have to recognize what it says

• learn/make some short-hand - writing thing like U.S. instead of united states can save you a lot of valuable time when taking notes. If you see one word coming up repeatedly, then make an acronym for it. Just make sure you make a note of it at the top of the page first, of else you'll forget what it is - trust me, it happens to the best of us

• labeling - make sure you label what it is. Whether it's the date or the topic or whatever, just make sure it's not some random piece of paper.

• collection - keep your notes in one place. Trust me - you'll want them in the same place and in some kind of order.

• outlines - sometimes teachers will give them for you, and sometimes they don't, and sometimes you can't make them, and sometimes you can. Teachers will generally have a certain lecturing technique, if you are able to decipher it, outlines may help you follow the topic more easily

• technique - find a way of taking notes that works for you. If it's writing down everything first and sorting it later, then do that. If it's having a topic the writing a paragraph, then do that. If it's doodling along with the words, by george do that. Just make sure it works for you

• writing utensils - yes, the pen/pencil you use makes a big difference. Pencils you can erase, pens won't smudge over time. Find one that writes well for you and is comfortable to hold - it's worth it in the end.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I may come back and add to the list though....

All I basically have to say is.. make sure you sleep and dont spend all night cramming. That doesnt help.. you can cram like, five minutes before a test if you think it helps, but dont have all night study sessions in Waffle House. the waiters there dont take it too kindly, i know that from experience. xD

and also, make sure you actually study the notes you write and handouts. they may infact prove beneficial, and not at all the cruel and horrible torture the teacher forces us to endure. oh nooo, it may infact be a pathway to perhaps a B. who knows? all i know is albeit their good intentions, i just know for sure the teachers are just waiting to blackmail us.

:]

this yr i'm taking my first ap course..in world history...(10th grade)
i never used to read the textbook for any of my classes, including science and SS
but after the first week of this course i realized that the teacher doesn't go over majority of the material u need to know...so reading and independent-study is a must with this course!

the first test i didn't so well.....(the highest grade in the class was like an 83 or something) I just studied the notes that she gave us, thinking it would be easy...But it wasn't!!!!

the second test, i read the textbook over the week before the test, and studied the notes...and memorized vocabulary....and it helped a lot...i managed to score in the 90s ( i think i got the highest grade in the class :))

so overall moral--- read and study the chapter in the textbook!!! It will help you a lot!!!