what did you think of AP biology, AP chemistry and AP english language and composition?
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AP Chemistry was THE hardest class and test both that I’ve ever taken. And I enjoyed it thoroughly. I’ve rarely had to TRY on anything academically thus far in my life, I’m used to not studying, not needing to do my homework to understand the concepts, and doing well on everything (I’m told I’m in for a rude awakening in college next year, lol) but AP Chemistry was actual WORK! The class involved CONSTANT learning, homework, working problems, many moments of utter confusion, and occasional moments of elation at finally figuring things out! The AP itself was LONG and DIFFICULT, but held no real surprises– it always covers about the same thing, especially on the free response, and if your teacher prepares you well, it should go smoothly. There are net ionic equations (if you see a hydrocarbon combusted= hydrocarbon+O2–> H2O+CO2, easy five points, jump for joy; they use a lot of the same compounds each year). There are other common types of problems, too– the acid-base titrations, the type where you have a few unknown chemicals and you have to figure out what they are by what it tells you happens when they’re mixed together (there’s a word for those, but I can’t remember it), drawing orbital diagrams for compounds, figuring out the composition of a compound using stoichiometry… all things you’ll learn in your class. I think the hardest part of it all was the titrations, though. Again, College Board will tell you what exactly the course covers: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_chem.html?chem . And, believe it or not, Wikipedia is actually a great place to get extra knowledge about Chemistry. Start by just looking up “Chemistry” and follow the links around. It’s interesting…
I would NOT recommend taking AP Bio and AP Chem at the same time. I can’t imagine having that much work and stress at one time…
I took AP Literature as a class, but I did take both the Lit and Lang tests. The difficulty of the class really depends on the teacher; at my school, Lit was always said to be easier than Lang, but I’ve heard at other places it’s different. But, the Lang kids always seemed to be doing a lot more work than we did. The Language class will cover more about forms of writing, the technicalities of it, and they read more non-fiction and essays than the Lit class. The classes are a lot of reading, a lot of vocab, and a lot of analyzing things to death, lol. If you can find out what books you’re going to be reading in class, I suggest getting them early and at least starting them before you get to them in class, so you can be a step ahead. 1984 is a common one for both Lit and Lang classes—it’s also a good one to pull from for the exam, if you need to. Crime and Punishment is another. To really do well on the Lang exam though, you need to read A LOT. I suggest reading as much as you can. For Language, you’ll need more non-fiction and essays: Thoreau is good, Thomas Paine, Sartre, maybe, Benjamin Franklin, things like that. One of the essay questions asks you to form an opinion on an issue (this last years when I took it, it was about the ethics of offering incentives for charity) and you’re supposed to use “evidence drawn from your studies, reading, personal experience, or observations.” I think they’re usually related to ethics, and it looks good if you can draw something from reading, so I suggest being familiar with different ethical standpoints. We spent a while in my Lit class covering Absurdism, for one. If you can quote religious texts, that might work too. When I took it, I used Ayn Rand’s particular brand of ethics, because it was the first thing I could call to mind; I think traditionally higher-education frowns on Ayn Rand, but she’s good for a very different view of ethics (to wit: her book of essays called “The Virtue of Selfishness”), should you ever need one, and I do recommend her. One of the other essay questions is a “synthesis” essay that works a lot like a DBQ in an AP history class, and the others are about analyzing the form of passages, the actual writing techniques more than the meaning. The multiple choice is a lot like the reading passages on the SAT or ACT, only harder, I suppose. They require more Language-specific vocabulary, which you should learn in class. There are a few sets of words on this website: http://www.flashcardexchange.com/flashcards/view/296668 to help with that. There are also a few questions over citation, which took me by surprise, so make sure you’re well-versed in that. College Board: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_englang.html?englang .
Take note of the grade distribution given for the exams on College Board: in 2006, 17% of the students taking the Chemistry test got 5s, 19.6% on Bio, and 5.4% on Language and Composition. Interesting to look at, anyway.
Good luck!
One helpful website is www.collegeboard.com, which lays out very clearly what is going to be on an exam. Your teacher should be another good source. The best way to prepare is to pay attention in class. It would also help to actually do the homework, which some students surprisingly don’t do.
Pace yourself on the exams. For example, people might take a long time reading the passages and don’t have enough time to answer the questions. Prepare for the English exam by reading more books during your free time to get used to different writing styles (including classics. By classics, I don’t mean like Greek and stuff, I mean books that are considered classics).
As for Bio, study a little bit at a time, because cramming cannot work for memorizing lots of little facts and definitions. Try this wonderful website for biology info:
http://web.mac.com/katherineward1
AP Bio I got a 5, but I don’t think my method will help you as I really practically memorized the entire textbook. The Campbell site helps.
AP Chem I got a 3, which really isn’t a good score at all so I doubt I’m in a position to suggest what I did. Frankly I didn’t learn anything or do anything throughout the entire year.
