As the end of each school year rolls around, so does AP testing. At Homestead High School, due to the trimester schedule, many students need to learn how to manage their third trimester classes as well as prepare for the intense AP tests they will take.
Many students are juggling the stress of their classes and of earning a passing grade on their AP tests.
Students Blake Mayne and Emma Yaghnam, juniors, feel personal pressure as they prepare for their upcoming tests.
Mayne has created plan he believes will help him during this hectic week. Plans like these are what help students succeed on their tests and in their classes.
“Half of my study night will be for my classes, [and] I still have tests this week, and then for the other half, I’m going to do my AP classes,” Mayne said.
Yaghnam, also has a strategy when it comes to her AP Government test.
“I started very early on studying for my first AP test, so I feel very good around the time management,” Yaghnam said.
When preparing for for AP tests, there are times when it’s hard for students to know if their study tools are working and their tactics will help them to get a 5 on that test. Yaghnam admits to a simple mistake while studying for AP Government: at first, she tried to study every single term and concept when, really, the bigger ideas can truly deepen the understanding of the material.
“I feel like I was trying to focus on everything and not the bigger ideas that were for the test. I tried to focus on every vocabulary [word] I didn’t know, even though I didn’t need to know all of them,” Yaghnam said.
AP United States History teacher Mr. Nicholas Schueller offers students a consistent tip as they prepare from a teacher’s point of view. He also advises students to, instead of picking the small things, look at the broader materials given that are extremely beneficial.
“The biggest thing that I know a lot of kids don’t do as much as they should is reading the textbook. The textbook just gives you one practice reading. A lot of the tests, DBQ, Multiple Choice, are reading comprehension stuff,” Schueller said.
