My Experience with Advanced Placement Courses and Exams
03 Oct 2020The mood of the week so far has been, well, “academic”. First off, I had to choose my term 1 project this Tuesday, and I willingly chose to study Perelman’s proof (parts 1 | 2 | 3) of the Poincaré Conjecture; secondly, I willingly used part of my Friday to learn about the Euler-Lagrange equation (albeit a version for dummies, thank you, Morgan); so it would only be normal for me to finish this week by talking about APs.
The Rationale for Taking APs
AP, as you might already know, stands for Advanced Placement. It was originally conceived as an idea for high school students to jump ahead and learn material from first-year university courses without leaving the comfort zone of high school, but currently, so many people take it that it is barely considered “advanced”.
The first tip I can give you is: never ever be peer pressured into taking APs. This was never a competition about the number of APs you are taking, nor should it ever be a race to get the most 5s. You should always be taking subjects that you like, or are useful for you to have a preliminary grasp of the material before re-learning it in university.
But you might be asking, “you took 12 APs, why are you telling us not to take that many APs?” There are a few reasons: for one, I am used to being constantly stressed; secondly, I am able to take those courses comfortably; and thirdly, I have experienced the pains of having an overwhelming number of APs, and I do not wish for you to repeat it.
The Pitfalls of Too Much Work
An AP course usually requires a lot more work than a regular high school course. Most often, only paying attention in class and doing your homework will not be enough.
As the material is university-level, sometimes the class will also be taught univeristy-style. Preparing for the class by doing pre-readings is almost mandatory, and taking notes will be integral to scoring well on your tests. In extreme cases, sometimes entire sections of the syllabus will not be covered in class, due to the lack of time.
If you want to be prepared for university, AP courses are definitely a more than appropriate way to experience the culture and the material that you will soon encounter, without too many consequences. It is certainly a good way to challenge both your knowledge and your time management.
However, too many APs and you will end up falling behind in every course that you are taking. Prioritize your work, and realize that time is limited. Enjoy high school while you still can, because university is going to get a lot harder once you get in.
I would also reccommend a limit of 5 AP courses per year. If university students are reccommended to cap their course loads at 5 courses per term, and 6 is already stretching it, I see no reason for a high school student to take more than 5 APs, since it is, by then, a less than accurate representation of both university life and your academic capabilities.
Taking APs as University Credit
Some universities allow students to get certain first-year credit if they have attained a good enough score in AP; some even mandate it. I will reccommend you to only take the credit for the courses that are not in your major (i.e. electives, requirements), and leave the credit that is related to your major. I am a firm believer, like many others, that to solidify your understanding, material should be learnt more than once. Moreover, courses in university are often taught in a different manner than AP courses, that it would be useful to get a different perspective of the same material.
However, if you need to get certain requirements out of the way, certainly. But as I said before, I do not reccommend taking AP courses just to escape a certain university requirements.
Course Overview
In this section, I would like to go through the 12 APs that I have taken, and provide a little bit of background information and a small description of my experience in those courses. They will be sorted by subject.
Note: after writing this, I realized it was way too long. But there’s nothing else after this section, so if you aren’t inclined to read all this, it’s fine!
English Language and Composition
Lang is a course about the practical uses of English language. For most of the class, you will be studying speeches, public letters, and other forms of writing that are very commonly used. This is still a good course to take even if you do not plan to become a language arts major, since it also enhances your skills in constructing solid arguments and writing coherent essays.
The exam consists of a multiple choice section and 3 essays (40 minutes each). The three essays are, in order, a synthesis essay, which requires you to construct an argument and take a stance based on the multiple sources that they provided; a rhetorical analysis, which asks you how does the author/speaker convince their audience of their point; and an argumentative essay, which asks you to take a stance on a topic and construct an argument without any given material.
I would personally say that the rhetorical analysis is the most difficult of the three, because it does not only ask “what”, but also “how”. However, if you are a slow reader, the synthesis essay might also be a source of trouble.
English Literature and Composition
Lit is the other branch of English in AP. It is mostly a study of prose and poetry, old and new. Unless you are pretty into the beauty of the language, I do not reccommend taking this course over Lang because of the high amounts of reading and workload associated.
The exam is similar to Lang, with a multiple choice section and 3 essays, 40 minutes each. The three essays are, in order, a poetry analysis, where you are given a poem and asked to analyze its literary merit; a short prose analysis, where you are given a short story or an excerpt from a drama and asked to analyze its literary techniques; and an analysis of a longer work, where you are not provided with any material asked to examine a theme and use any supporting texts of your choice.
The exam is just difficult, and that I believe a lot of preparation is required of the student. I clearly did not prepare enough, and rightfully deserve my 3.
Microeconomics
Micro is the branch of economics that is more like math/statistics than social sciences, as compared to Macro. The class is mostly about charts and graphs, and the theories that drive demand and supply.
The exam involves a multiple choice section and a written section of 3 free response questions, where you are asked to apply the theories on the data that you are given, draw graphs and calculate certain amounts (without a calculator).
For me, this is the easier of the two economics, since I feel like the graphs make the theories more clear-cut, that there are way less ambiguity than Macro.
Macroeconomics
Macro is the exact opposite. It studies a lot more of the societal impacts of fluctuating demands and supply, and because it is applied to the actual world, there are a lot more factors to consider, and things are less straightforward.
The exam is functionally identical to that of Micro, with multiple choice and 3 free responses, but this time with more writing and explanation of the effects that a single action has on the economy.
Again, I am good with numbers, not descriptions, and I did not do as well on Macro as I did on Micro. It feels very subjective to me, but I guess that is also a very subjective, biased opinion.
Calculus BC
Calculus is split into two branches: AB & BC. AB covers the standard differential and integral calculus and their applications; BC covers that and more. Venturing into series and their relationship with functions, you can see more of the syllabus here.
The exam is split into four sections: two of which are multiple choice and two of which are written responses, and each type of questions has a calulator and a non-calculator section.
Most people will think that BC is a really hard course, but I think it is only because of the pace. While AB gets to cover differentiation and integration over an entire year, BC students have to fit that in half a year, as to leave time for the BC-exclusive material.
Physics 1
There are a total of four physics courses, and the starting point for all of them is Physics 1. This course covers the fundamentals of high school physics, and serves as a great introduction to almost all areas of physics used in modern day, from Newtonian mechanics to circuits and waves.
The exam is a multiple choice section followed by 5 free response questions. There are way less calculations than you expect, and it involves a lot of explanation of phenomenon using the known laws of physics.
I personally prefer calculations and derivations, but the breadth of the course material makes up for the undesirable exam. In the end, Physics 1 is still the course that truly transformed me into hoping to become a physics major.
Physics 2
Physics 2, together with the aforementioned Physics 1, are the algebra-based physics courses that AP provides. This course covers the physics beyond Newtonian mechanics, and delves into fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, modern physics (special relativity), etc.
The exam is similar to Physics 1, in the sense that it involves a multiple choice and a written section, but this time the written section has one less question.
Honestly, this course does not cover enough material, in my opinion, as compared to Physics 1.
Physics C: Mechanics
The ultimate challenge in AP Physics is split into two courses. Mechanics, as its name suggests, deals with Newtonian mechanics, and covers everything from dynamics to rotational to energy. This course is calculus based, so it is reccommended to be taken after you have gained an understanding of differential and integral calculus.
The exam is half-length, at 1.5 hours, involving a multiple choice section and 3 written questions. Time will be very tight, as questions often require you to submit answers as a mathematical expression, accompanied with the occasional writing.
I would say that Physics C is the hardest course out of all the APs, due to the sheer amount of material that you have to know for a half-length exam.
Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism
E&M is the bane of most students’ existence. If Mechanics was considered difficult, then E&M is even worse. Covering from electrostatics, to circuits, to electromagnetism, E&M is a series of hard-to-visualize concepts with really specific rules with calculus slapped onto it.
The exam is identical to Mechanics, and is traditionally taken immediately after it. Your brain will mostly be fried after the two exams.
(For notes to Physics C, click here)
Chemistry
Chem is the most popular AP science, usually with at least twice the amount of students as all the Physics C and Biology combined. It is not as intensive as the other two (and if you are going into UK universities, you will have to study a lot more), but it does provide a good enough basis, covering a wide variety of chemistry areas.
The exam is also multiple choice and then written, with the written part requiring less detail than that of Bio (see below). The questions include quite the number of data interpretation and analysis, and also explaining known phenomena.
Biology
Bio is another candidate for being the most difficult AP course, due to the sheer amount of material that one has to study and memorize. The notes that I took for this course is unfortunately not measures in pages, or thickness, but rather by the number of binders I filled and the total weight of the notes.
The exam is again, multiple choice and written. The written section goes beyond regurgitating knowledge, but also requires data analysis, which links back to theories and mechanisms that you learnt in class. A lot of dots need to be connected, and the time limit surely also doesn’t help.
Although I did say it is more than regurgitation, I did, however, study 16 hours over the weekend before the exam on Monday morning, and successfully produced a 5.
Computer Science A
Comp Sci A is a course that teaches the basics of Java. Other than that, it teaches nothing. I am not too big of a fan of this course due to the lack of depth of the syllabus, but I will take what I can take, since it is, in the end, a course about programming.
The exam is, as I repeat for the twelfth time, part multiple choice and part written. The written section requires you to write code based on a context that includes way too many words. And when I say “writing code”, I mean physically writing code with pen and paper.
The exam format is honestly the biggest deterrent for me, since in no way in real life will I ever write code without a computer.
Conclusion
I came out of my 12 AP exams with a total of 6 5s, 5 4s, and a single 3, spread out over my final 3 years in high school. Is it helpful? Certainly. Is it really needed? Not at all. We will all one day learn that knowledge if we are devoted enough to that subject, AP or not.
If you have actually read all that stuff, I congratulate you, because even I fall asleep when I am asked to do long readings such as this article.