AP testing – the May tradition in which high school students across the country experience the urge to curl into the fetal position, hug their childhood stuffed animals, and softly cry themselves to sleep. Its one of the most daunting parts of high school, particularly for juniors, but a few simple tricks can keep the panic at bay:
1. Start Early
That procrastinator’s guilt? It’s going to eat you up inside sooner or later. One of the best ways to minimize stress is to accomplish just a little bit of review every day. After all, nothing guarantees a mental breakdown like memorizing the world’s history in a single night.
Force yourself to start early and ease yourself in: make use of the commercial breaks during your favorite TV show. Look over a practice problem while waiting for your morning coffee. Or, my personal favorite, put sticky-note vocab words on your fridge and only let yourself grab a snack if you answer them. (Cruel? Yes. …but effective).
2. Break Content into Chunks
No matter what AP test you are taking, there is going to be an overwhelmingly large amount of information on it. By dividing up your study load, though, you can compartmentalize and prioritize different tests far more easily. Instead of looking at the entire AP Bio textbook and thinking to yourself, “That is supposed to fit into my brain?” take it on in sections. Chapters 1-6 down by Sunday; chapters 7-10 mastered by the end of the following week.
3. Find a Study Group
Bouncing material back and forth off of your peers can be extremely beneficial. It can serve to fill in the blanks that you have in your own comprehension as well as open you up to alternative ways of approaching concepts. Not to mention, having a study-buddy takes away the whole locking-yourself-in-your-room-like-an-unfriendly-hermit thing…
…so, there’s that.
4. Go to review sessions
If you are so lucky as to have a teacher who is willing to offer up their personal time to reiterate subjects to a bunch of punk teenagers: take advantage of it! It is not uncommon for them to offer their sparkling golden nuggets of AP advice during these after-school meet-ups, and you will be able to have your questions answered on the spot by someone who really knows what they’re doing.
5. Reward yourself
AP studying is certainly a time to hunker down, but that doesn’t mean you should be going three weeks without seeing the sun. Take breaks between long periods of work: walk your dog, go on a run, have lunch with some friends. As important as it is to focus, it’s also important to maintain sanity. Your personal wellbeing should always come first.
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