Tools to Make Sure your AP Classes Are On Track

Resources to make sure your AP classes are providing you with all the content and resources you need.

With AP exams less than two months away, now is a great time to make sure your AP class is where it should be at this point in the year.

Most teachers do a great job on staying on schedule, but sometimes classes get behind or don’t adapt to changes in the curriculum. That’s why it’s always a good idea to double check. Taking the time to do this will help you ensure that you’re equipped with the right information come exam time, even if your class schedule got disrupted due to the pandemic.

By the beginning of March, your class should ideally be on the last unit or two for your course. The following resources can help fill in any gaps in case your AP class is not on schedule.

Check your progress on the AP Student site.

The College Board’s AP Student site is a useful resource for checking in on your/your class’s progress. If you click your subject(s) in the list it will give you a list of the units covered on the corresponding test. Clicking through to the course page and scrolling down, you will find an “About the Units” section. This section gives you a more detailed topic list, which can also serve as a great checklist when you are reviewing.

Practice with official questions from previous tests.

Once you are on the page(s) for your AP course(s), click over to the “About the Exam” tab and scroll down to the “Exam Preparation” section. Here you will find last year’s free-response questions and a link to an archive of additional free-response questions from previous years, along with scoring guidelines and sample solutions.

Practicing with these official questions and taking the time to thoughtfully go through your solutions with the scoring guidelines and/or comparing them with the sample solutions is an effective way to make sure you optimize the points you earn for your answers.

If you haven’t, get to know AP Classroom.

Some AP teachers use AP Classroom constantly. Others barely use it at all. If you aren’t familiar with it yet, it is worth checking out. Exactly what resources are available varies by course, but you should be able to find additional practice questions and video lessons. These video lessons are useful for reviewing, learning material your class hasn’t gotten to yet, or getting another perspective on a topic you don’t quite understand.

Taking these steps is a great way to calibrate what you’ve learned in your AP course against what you’ll need to know for the AP Exam, and it’s an excellent way to kick off your study plan. If you’re looking for my study advice, check out our tips article here.