AP (advanced placement) exams begin tomorrow on 2 May. The first two courses on the agenda are AP Government on Monday and AP Human Geography on Thursday. For some, this is their first AP exam, so studying tips from previous AP students will be extremely helpful.

Studying for any exam is important, but it is arguably even more crucial to do so for AP exams. This is because, unlike most classes, an AP exam is cumulative, so you have to remember, and be tested on, things that you may have learned during the first two or three weeks of school. This is the most difficult part of an advanced placement exam: remembering things you, in most cases, wouldn’t even have to think about by the end of the school year.

“Personally what helps me is going in order from the first to the final unit,” said Claire Morris, freshman. “I spend a short amount of time doing a small review for each, then go back at the end and look into the details.”

In order to properly remember everything over the course of around ten months of content, you can’t just go through and think it will stick. Review of each unit is crucial, as going through the unit individually will help you remember specific topics you may have forgotten. But, it is also important to go over what you missed in those reviews, sort of like a review of your review. This will be sure to help the content stick in your mind so you’ll do well on the exam.

“The time you start studying for an AP exam really depends on the class and how confident you feel in the elements of the test,” said Alizeh Ali, sophomore. “For AP World I started studying during spring break, but for AP HUG I’m taking it a bit lighter.”

Each advanced placement course is different. Certain classes are easier for some students, but those same classes could be extremely difficult for others. How you study is a really personalized thing that depends on how you, as a student, learn best and retain things to memory. The end of the school year is the time to plan out how much time you need to study for each final, so as long as you do that, AP exams aren’t as hard as they seem.