AP Class Resources

Someone on the Internet consolidated this list and sent it to me. So so helpful! GOOD LUCK everyone!

Art History Smarthistory: a multimedia web-book about art and art history Course-notes Barrons pdfs Biology AP Biology Exam Guide Chapter Review Giant Review Sheet Calculus AB & BC Cheatsheet (AB & BC) Stuff You MUST Know Cold for AP Calc (AB) If you see that, do this (AB) Chemistry AP Chemistry Notes Podcasts Quick Review Comparative Government and Politics Government Comparisons Cramsheet Study Sheet Computer Science Review: Part 1, Part 2 English Language Rhetorical Strategies AP Language Review Environmental Science Vocab to Know Tips APES Review European History STUDY GUIDES Exam Review Sheets French Language Cram packet Human Geography Course-notes Macroeconomics Every Graph You Need To Know (YouTube) Cram packet Microeconomics Cue cards Study guide

Physics B & C Cram sheet (B) Equations (C Mech) Equations (C Mech) Unit Notes (C Mech) Unit Notes © Unit Notes © Equations © Psychology Crib notes Cram packet Quizlet sets Statistics Cram packet Inference Procedures AP Stats formulas U.S. Government Cheat Sheet Review Materials U.S. History Cram Packet: part 1, part 2 The Giant AHAP Review Unit study guides Quizlet sets Quick Review The Comprehensive AP US History Study Guide World History Cram Packets and Review Sheets Cram packets by era Course-notes Mr. Hubbs History Reviews Released MC and review books Kiwiasian’s site ‒ released MC exams, review books in pdf Chilldude’s collection ‒ released MC exams, review books, textbooks in pdf

I just found a completely random website that an ap world history teacher made for his students that summarizes EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER and makes it easier to understand. He refers to it as AP world history Wiki. God bless that man’s soul.

Heres the link

http://apworldhistorywiki.wikispaces.com/AP+World+History+2

When I took Calculus I online I would have video lectures by my professor. So i would take notes on those. The best part of video lectures is that you can pause and rewind, so I did plenty of that. Meaning if there was a 20 minute lecture video it might take me an hour to get through the whole thing just to make sure I get down everything I wanted to and stopped to practice the examples. I see no point in rushing through the lecture just to get it down because then you’ll probably have to watch it again! I would up the playback speed up to 1.5x but the stopping did obviously make it end up taking longer than the total time of the video (though it would have taken even longer if I didn’t speed it up). This allowed me to take one clean, neat set of notes rather than rushing through and then having to rewrite them later. The only reason I rewrite my notes in normal semesters is because I can’t read my mid-class handwriting otherwise.

So once I had that I would go do my homework. At first I tried reading the textbook but that ended up taking so long and it wasn’t all that helpful to me anyway (I don’t generally find math textbooks helpful). So I would have my notes and my book on hand while doing the homework. If I got stuck on a limit, derivative, or integral, I would type it into Symbolab where it would give me a full solution. From there I would try to figure out what I did wrong. It’s very easy to start using Symbolab to get the answers and not as a supplement, so just as a reminder, it will not be helpful to you on exams if you just look up the answers for your homework. Use the tools as they were intended. I also found a Riemann Sum Calculator, too, which ought to be used similarly.

In a condensed semester there’s not enough time to do extra practice outside of the homework but in a regular semester I would recommend doing extra practice if you have time. Get a notebook to do your homework in and fill it up with practice. If you’re not struggling with anything maybe try to do one extra problem for each type you’ve encountered each day just to stay sharp. If you find that you’re solid on pretty much everything but are struggling on one specific type of problem, just do several of that type to practice until you understand what you were doing wrong and correct it. If you still can’t get it you can always consult the internet or ask your professor.

One additional thing I did was fill up a mini Moleskine with condensed versions of my notes. Since it’s so portable I could bring it with me anywhere and just glance at it when I had an extra moment to remind myself of the material. This was especially useful for rules I had to memorize. You don’t necessarily have to make them the day of the class you take the notes, but I wouldn’t put it off more than a week because it can get to be too much after some time. If you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say “mini Moleskine”, check out my post on it here and you can see an example of it here.

General Tips

Know how to read a period table. 

Print out a periodic table for your own use. Place it somewhere in your binder for easy access. 

Know how to determine the number of valence electrons for an atom from the periodic table. Oxidation numbers? Yeah, those too.

Know certain elements mass number by heart so you don’t have to constantly look back to see what the mass of hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), etc. is

Know periodic trends like increase in electronegativity, etc.

Read the material before class starts. This makes it easier for you to follow through lecture and ask questions about things you are not clear about.

Take good lecture notes. If your teacher posts his/her lectures online, I would advice you to print these out before class, read through them and take notes on them. 

Read your lecture notes once again after class to keep the stuff fresh in your mind. 

Focus on key concepts and how to apply them. 

Do not memorize! If you don’t understand the concept well enough, memorizing will not be helpful at all. 

Learn these by heart:

formulas and names of common polyatomic ions

solubility rules (including the exceptions)

common acids and bases (including their strength). 

gas forming reactions

molecular geometry shapes

Check that your equation is balanced before anything else. Nothing screws up a stiochemetry question, and loosing easy points like unbalanced equations.

Scientific notation will screw you over if you don’t know them. 

Write the equation out! It’s easier to figure out how the reaction works when you visualize it. Especially if you’re trying to figure out which one is the oxidation agent, reduction agent, etc.

Practice makes perfect. Go through every question in your textbook + external questions. Know the question type, how to approach it, etc. The more familiar you are with the types of questions, the easier the class will be.

Be familiar with mnemonic devices. 

OILRIG = oxidation is losing electrons, reduction is gaining electrons

Know basic math such as addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, logarithms. General Chemistry is math heavy. 

Make a “cheat sheet”/ “index card of information” for yourself. Your cheat sheet should consist of formulas, numbers you might need to know (Avogadro’s number, standard pressure, etc.) and concepts.

Utilize your professor’s office hours and free tutoring services! 

Other Resources

Printable Periodic Table of Elements

How to Write a General Lab Report

Chemistry Resources by study-well

Chemistry Tutorial Videos by khan academy

Chemistry Survival Guide

So today was the first day and my APUSH teacher gave us this website, apnotes.net, and I thought, oh, cool, maybe it’ll have some extra information and just basic stuff to help with the course.

But, oh man, it’s so much more than that.

This has complete notes on each individual chapter, links to more resources, exam info, and probably my favorite part, a list of all of the presidents, up to Obama, with little notes underneath with their achievements and little facts you’ll need to know about them. 

The notes are based off of the 12th and 15th editions of The American Pageant, which I’m pretty sure is what most, if not all APUSH classes use. Even if you’re not using that book, though, the notes are still amazing. This helps with any US History course, really.

Of course, you should still take your own notes and all so you can interpret the text and your teacher’s lectures in your own way that’s easy for you to understand (plus writing stuff down makes it easier to remember), but it’s still a really great resource to have to make sure you have everything you need and that you understand everything.

APUSH is hard, so this makes things so much easier and I knew I had to share this website to anyone else who may need it this upcoming school year.

AP English Language Barron’s: (6/10) So this book starts off by asking you to annotate the passages. I’m going to be real with you…you aren’t going to have time to make meticulous annotations. None of the tests were particularly helpful, but the notes are somewhat useful if you aren’t a frequent writer/reader. Before taking the test, I memorized about 40 “hot terms” like synecdoche and apostrophe to use in my analysis essay, and got a 5. I wouldn’t say English is one of those tests you can’t study for, but it really is 50% natural writing skill and 50% practice. The best practice is to just check out old prompts from the collegeboard website. I would not recommend buying this book if you are on a budget!

AP U.S. History Barron’s: (7/10) If you are using this book while you are learning the material during class, it could be helpful because you are reading a condensed version. On the other hand, if you buy this book a week before the AP test, it’s not helpful because there is way too much reading to do. The practice tests do not capture the essence of the real test unfortunately. I would recommend buying this book at the beginning of the year.

AP Biology Barron’s: (8/10) I think I quickly skimmed this book front to back and got a 5. However, it was really Bozeman videos that helped me get through so, I would recommend buying this book at the beginning of the year, otherwise not worth it because of the online material. 

AP Statistics Barron’s: (10/10) This book is a must! The questions are a little harder than the actual exam so it really prepares you and it explains the actual reason behind the statistics instead of just telling you to plug and chug. I would recommend this book!

AP Chemistry Barron’s: (8/10) The book goes too in depth with some topics which are not major concepts that will be tested, I don’t think it is worth buying unless you are bad at chemistry (like I was). The practice problems are decent, and it’s actually kind of a fun read, but not the type of book I would be looking for the week before the AP test (Princeton Review is better for that).

AP Calculus Barron’s (7/10): Practice problems are much, much harder than the actual exam, which is good for practice but bad because it kills your self-esteem. The explanations in the chapters aren’t very helpful, so I would buy this book if you’re already pretty good at calc and are just looking for some practice problems.

AP Calculus Princeton R: (9/10) Would recommend buying at the beginning of the year, because it explains in very good details how to do everything. I did find some BC concepts missing from the chapters though. Overall, a good book that would guarantee at least a 4 on the test. The practice problems tend to be the same level as the actual exam.

AP Physics C Princeton R: (10/10) Pretty hefty book and a difficult subject to understand but if you get through the whole book with perfect understanding, there is no reason why you shouldn’t get a 5. Practice problems are very good, as are the explanations.