With the AP and IB testing week coming up on us very very quickly on April 25-May 17, students have been stressing and studying as hard as they can, but what are the best ways to make sure you perform to the best of your abilities on these purposely difficult tests?
The first thing you should make sure to do is make sure you have a good understanding of the overall material. You should know the important vocabulary and the main skills or ideas they want you to know. Some good ways of learning these things are to create flashcards or go over the syllabus as it tells you what you were meant to learn.
After you have a good understanding of the material, you should try to focus on your weak spots. If there are some ideas or topics that you are still struggling with, even after your original review, you might want to spend some more time on it. A good way of this type of review is to, again, create flashcards, rewrite/re-read notes, or read a summary of the topic you struggle with.
A good way to check your understanding is to do a brain dump, where you write everything you know about a topic all at one time. It helps you keep the information in your mind as you are thinking about it again and it helps you know what you should review.
Another good way to check your understanding is to take a practice test, they are available online and are very easy to find. They are usually old tests, so you can see what type of information they tend to use on the tests. They are also a good way to practice doing the test, as they are structured the same way.
As you approach the actual test date, it is important to go over the material once or twice just to make sure you understand and know your topic, but this run-through doesn’t have to be as thorough, just a quick review.
Before your test date, be sure to have all the materials you need, such as the Bluebook software if you are taking an online AP test. Make sure you get enough sleep the night before the test and make sure you eat a good breakfast or lunch, depending on your test time. Good luck!
