AP Exams

[HorsePrincess]

I'm a high school sophomore and getting ready to take the AP Biology exam in May, and I was curious to see if anyone else on here is preparing for those kinds of exams or has taken one. I'm not sure if I'm preparing well enough; I have a book that I've been studying, but is that enough? I really want to pass it; I hope to go through vet school, and I think this would really help me with that.

~*HorsePrincess*~

 

[deepshadow]

Well I am in montesorri and I have done our comprehensive assesment tests and today we did national reference test and today was also last day of testing!

Just talking about a different test!

 

[Saxsoon]

I am a sophmore too, but we are only allowed to take the AP exam in World History. I wish we could since Biology is so easy.

 

[MissGalinda]

Ooooh! I'll have to take that next year. I'm just a little ol' freshmen, but I'll be taking AP Biology next year

 

[silvrstrfx]

Sorry, adult breezing through and happened to see AP exams lol... mind you, hs wasn't that long ago for me --- I just graduated from college last year

I went to a school with over 70 AP classes to choose from so they were a big thing for us. We all went around thinking we had to take as many as possible. To tell you the truth, these accelerated classes don't really do all that much for you. When you finally get into the college of your choice and start looking at grad schools and whatnot, you realize even the most introductory college class (say, Biology 101) gives you 10x what you would learn in an AP class. Well, obviously, it is college. So even though people go: "Oh I'm going to get AP credits and not have to take that class in college" --- if you're really serious about going to grad school, you will be taking those introductory classes again. Matter of fact, most of the prerequisites to get into med schools and such, require that you take the introductory classes at a 4 year university.

That being said, taking APs is a good idea to help you get more of an edge when you do take those classes in college. Most high school classes are a joke and don't prepare you for anything. If nothing else, studying for APs might reinforce better study habits which are really the things you have to have when everyone else around you wants to go to parties.

Besides studying from the books, I'd recommend getting together with friends to study (if you can actually study that way, many can't). But most of all, flashcards. Just go over and over them until you repeat them in your sleep lol. All Science classes are just memorization really. Anyways, best of luck to you! And don't worry too much about getting a 5 --- when you actually get to college, it really doesn't matter that much!

 

[Nanoer]

still in 8th grade.. lol next year is gonna stink

 

[Loves Disney]

still in 8th grade.. lol next year is gonna stink

Actually, freshman year at high school is the start of four exciting years to come. You should be excited and happy! With that said, I CAN'T WAIT to get out of this place! (it actually isn't that bad lol) If you are going to a high school rather than vocational school, make sure to pick your courses wisely! You don't want your senior year filled with the required classes you didn't want to take as a freshman. It is best to get those courses done and over with so that as a senior, you have more freedom with the classes you really want.

On topic, I am currently getting ready for the AP English Language exam as well as the SATs and the ACTs. I want to be sure I can get into the college I want. I will also be taking the AP English Literature exam

 

[Saxsoon]

Yeah and the 8-10 extra added points to your semester average don't hurt a lot either. Right now I have a GPA of 98.3 and am 24th in a class of over 700 kids.

 

[Nanoer]

whatt did you do????????? become bill gates??? how do you get a GPA of 98.3???

i'm going to take full IB(east coast has no clue what i'm talking about lol) and do my P.E. and health class that i need to graduate in summer school.. i'd rather take three weeks of health class in the summer than a whole school year of it

 

[Saxsoon]

That's nothing. Too friends of mine have GPA's over 100. What happens is with every IB or AP class, lets say you get and average of 92 in that class for the semester. It then becomes a 100 semester average. That is PRE-AP.
AP gets you ten points.

I am just wondering Nano, with you going into IB, do you plan on leaving the country to study. Because there are a lot of schools in the U.S. that don't accept IB as of late. I would love to be proven wrong though.

 

[blizzard]

Hi,

Sorry to poke my nose into the kids board, but I saw this topic and was interested. Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents.

I do college interviews for MIT, so I keep in touch with the admissions process. They look favourably on things like AP and IB courses. When they evaluate, they consider "context". This means that if these courses are available and you don't take them (without a good reason) it looks worse than if you take them and don't finish first in the class. Don't miss out on the opportunity to stretch yourself a bit, in the quest to have a higher GPA. (If your GPA is very important for things like scholarships, consider enrolling in some college courses to supplement your high school education)

If anyone has questions about MIT or the admissions process, or would like some advice on courses, etc., please feel free to PM me. If I can't help, hopefully I can steer you in the right direction.

 

[HorsePrincess]

Wow, Saxsoon, 24th out of 700 students is awesome! I forget how small my school is until I see things like that; we had our first graduating class last year, and there were only 10 of them! I'm in a class with 20 people; how do you remember all those people? Our entire school has less then that!

I'm a little confused about the whole GPA thing; do you mean you have an average of 98.3? I thought 5.0 was a good GPA. Anyway, I don't think our school adjusts our grades depending on if we take the AP stuff offered, unfortunatly. Sure wish they did...I am so competative about my grades! It's a long story, trust me.

I just hope that doing the AP Bio test will help me in the long run, 'cause I want to go through vet school and I figured doing all the extra science and math things offered would help me to get a bit of an edge when I go to apply.

~*HorsePrincess*~

 

[PlutoEpcot]

I am a freshman right now in high school right now and we can't take AP classes until 11th grade. It really stinks because I really want to take as many AP classes as u can and I will have to take most of them in my Senior year because you only can take AP History when you are a Junior. The onlt AP class that you will never be able to talk me into taking is Ap Calculus.......YUCK!!

 

[Nanoer]

That's nothing. Too friends of mine have GPA's over 100. What happens is with every IB or AP class, lets say you get and average of 92 in that class for the semester. It then becomes a 100 semester average. That is PRE-AP.
AP gets you ten points.

I am just wondering Nano, with you going into IB, do you plan on leaving the country to study. Because there are a lot of schools in the U.S. that don't accept IB as of late. I would love to be proven wrong though.

well i still have 2 and a half years to decide IB doesn't start actually till 11th grade btw the highest GPA is 4.0(non-weighted as if i know what that means) all and a A is only one point more not ten

so AP and Pre-IB for me lol

 

[Saxsoon]

They do the ranking by what I gave you (98.43856). The thing is, I believe I have a 4.0 in that aspect. And nano, you can still get the points in Pre-IB, you get 8 added points for it.

Also those friends I mentioned, band with two 100's brings DOWN their Average. I feel so dumb next to them.

 

[HorsePrincess]

Well, the biology test is being given next Monday at 8 o'clock in the morning and will take three hours. I've been studying my head off and will continue to do so through the weekend. I'll probably just go home after the exam, I've heard that it gives you a headache by the time you're through. Good luck to anyone else taking the AP exams this week or next!

~*HorsePrincess*~

 

[Loves Disney]

I just took the English Language and Comp. AP exam on Monday. There were about 7 of us. We all went in with high spirits and optimistic enthusiasm. By the time we came out, we looked like walking zombies!! Hair was a mess from constantly running fingers through it and after staring at a test for 4 1/2 hours, we didn't exactly leave all perky! We left in silence dragging our feet and trying to hold our heads up!

The test was "okay". I would say about 2/3 on the difficult side and 1/3 on the easy side. The first two 1/2 hours were multiple choice. We had 54 questions. It was the kind of thing where you read a passage and then answer the questions. The only difficult part there was the passage. I didn't mind it so much because I read a lot of those kinds of things. The passages were either written by classic authors or where older. It became necessary to read the passage at least two times to understand it (the language could have been difficult to understand) The other two hours were essay writing. We had to write three essays after reading a passage. It was VERY important to read EXACTLY what the question was asking, the wording was kind of tricky lol.

I am very glad that exam is over. But now I have SATs and ACTs to look forward too as well as the English Literature and Comp. AP exam lol. All these standardized tests! AH! lol.

I would say that studying for something like this is near to impossible lol. You just don't know what to study for. lol

 

[HallGirl]

Good luck! I took 4 AP classes when I was in high school (2 history, 1 psychology, and English lit). Believe me, it pays off. Of course, it does depend on how good the AP program is at your school. It was really great at my school, so I actually got out of 15 college credits, which makes me a semester ahead. The college I go to requires you to have 130 credits to graduate and I don't think a lot of people can finish that in 4 years, so this way I can probably finish a semester early. Most schools take a 4 or 5, and even if you take the class again in college, it will be really easy. I took a physics class in hs (not AP) and in college and my hs class was actually harder (at least i thought so). Anyway, good luck again!

 

[Saxsoon]

Well, I took the AP World History exam, and I realized after that I put unfactual info in two of the essays. Like wrong name or group.

Also we have a good school for AP, we are like in the early 800's for the country. It was in some magazine.