Why Content Mastery Alone Won't Get You a High Score
Many students taking an AP course at their school will assume that working hard in class will translate to a high score on the AP exam in the spring. However, many AP classes focus on content and spend little time preparing for the end-of-year test. For example, classes may cover a lot of essay writing but never look at any multiple-choice practice questions. Students need to do well on all sections of the test to achieve a high score, which will only come with practicing test-style questions over time. While it may seem that AP exam preparation will automatically be built into a related course, this often isn’t the case.
What AP Exam Prep Skills Actually Look Like
1. Time Management
Students need to consider time management in terms of the AP exam and in terms of their AP exam prep. The earlier they start practicing questions, the more confident they will feel on test day. AP exams are not tests that can be crammed for the night before, so practicing early and often is crucial. By using AP material on the College Board website and in AP exam prep books, students will have plenty of material to practice. Students also need a plan for how to use their time on test day. The AP Literature exam, for example, gives students ****two hours ****to complete three essays. The difficulty and time needed on each individual essay can vary student to student. Some may be able to divide their time evenly between the essays, while others may need to budget more of their time to work through the poetry open-response question. Knowing how quickly they can write each of these essays is crucial to avoid panic on test day. While the format of AP exams varies by topic, the need for time management does not.
2. Strategic Guessing
AP multiple choice questions aren’t like other exams that students take in school. On a school math test, students typically have to show their work, but on AP multiple choice, they just have to fill in the correct letter, making educated guessing as crucial as other exam skills. AP questions are designed to be difficult, so being able to eliminate a couple of answers can go a long way in leading students to the right answer. It also makes questions more manageable. Students don’t have to know everything at once and hop to the right answer; they can get rid of the answer that is the “most wrong” and continue eliminating from there. Time management also comes into play here — students may want to spend their time on the material they know best and guess on or skim questions that they struggle with, making sure they get easier questions correct rather than sinking time into questions they don’t understand.
3. Question Analysis
In addition to being able to make educated guesses, students will also want to practice analyzing AP questions during their AP exam prep. Unlike the texts students may read, the questions on the exam shouldn’t be up for interpretation. The test writers are looking for students to display particular skills, and there will be one concrete answer for each question, even if other answer choices are similar. Being able to fully comprehend reading questions before considering the answer choices can help direct students to the correct answer choice.
4. Free-Response Strategy
Students will need a solid strategy for open-response questions. While the questions differ with each year, the format will remain the same. Practicing writing under a strict time constraint will make test day much easier. In school, students are often writing untimed, at-home essays that can be edited over time. When writing a timed essay, students are aiming for effectiveness, not perfection. Taking too much time to rewrite or edit can be detrimental to finishing open response questions in time on an AP exam.
5. Self-Assessment
During their AP exam prep, students will need to self-evaluate as they work. When they complete multiple-choice questions, they should evaluate why they got questions wrong. Did they read the question incorrectly? Was there content they needed to review? Keeping track of mistakes can show students patterns in their AP prep, which will further help them target what they need to improve. They should re-read their open response answers, considering how to strengthen or expand what they’ve written.
Getting to Work
Students should start preparing for these exams as soon as possible to attain a high score. They can self-study, take part in AP exam prep classes, or work in a study group or with a tutor. Concentration and consistency over time will lead to success.
.webp)
