How to Ace The AP Calculus AB Exam
Many college students must take several math classes in their first year, regardless of their major. But fortunately, you can bypass this requirement by taking AP Calculus exams during high school.
College Board offers two versions of these calculus exams: the AP Calculus AB exam is the same as the first semester of college calculus, and the Calculus BC exam covers the second semester. In this article, we will cover how to study for the AP Calculus AB exam version.
How to Get Ready for the AP Calculus AB Exam
1. Register for the Exam
There are two ways to take AP exams. The most common one is to take a class in high school and then take the exam. The less common way is to study the class by yourself and then pay to only take the exam. The second way requires you to contact a local high school to host the exam for you. College Board has a website called AP Course Ledger where you can search for high schools near you.
Also, be sure to check out the rest of the College Board website. It has tons of free resources like study guides and practice exams to help you out!
To avoid paying the late fee, you should try to register at least by November 11, the year before. All AP exams take place in May, so you will have a whole school year to study for the exam.
2. Prepare Your Study Materials
Now that you have registered and know your test date, it is time to gather resources to study.
Even if you are a visual or auditory learner, I highly recommend getting a good calculus textbook to study from. You need something that will present the material in an ordered way with plenty of problems.
There are also plenty of great, free textbooks online. Google keywords like “best calculus textbooks for AP,” and download a free copy! Compare the textbook’s table of contents to the AP Calculus syllabus on the College Board website. This will help you study only what you need to.
You will also want to get a review book—like Kaplan or Barron’s—which you can get for free online. But you don’t have to study that just yet. Save it to study for a couple of months before May.
Also, download all the free-response questions (FRQs) available on College Board. These official exams will be key in helping you master the actual exam.
3. Studying for the Exam
Calculus is amazing! Learning derivatives and integrals are like fitting puzzle pieces together. You will also learn how equations connect with graphs. You will explore infinity through limits and integration. In short, calculus combines geometry, trigonometry, and algebra.
During the school year, go through the textbook, read the lessons, and do all the problems like you would normally study math. The best thing about self-studying is that you can go through the textbook as fast as you want. Then you can have a few weeks of rest or start diving straight into the review. Just make sure to keep checking the AP Calculus AB syllabus on the College Board website to see if you learned all the points they will test!
4. Preparing for Exam Day
During the few weeks before the exam date, start going through the review book and the practice exams. Try to get a friend or parent to proctor the practice exams for you. Taking them under real testing conditions will help your body adjust to the timing, and you will feel less tense during the actual test day.
After you finish taking a practice exam, study your mistakes. Fortunately, for the FRQ portion, there is a certain pattern that you can look for. And if you examine the correct answers, there are specific words or calculations that they require.
For example, every practice exam will most likely have at least one graph problem in the FRQ section, where you have to find the value of an integral or extrema. These types of problems will often ask you to use first and second derivatives to predict if a graph is increasing or decreasing at a certain interval. For your answer, write something like, “If g’(x) = f(x) > 0 for all x in (a, b), then g is increasing on x = [a, b].” Then, you can be sure that you got the most points for that problem.
5. Ace Your Exam Day
Got the exam jitters? Don’t worry. All you need is at least a 3 to get course credit for all your hard work!
It’s time to do your pre-exam routine! Check out the testing site a week before the test, so you don’t get lost on test day. Pack your bag the night before with pencils, ID, and snacks. Make sure you have plenty of sleep the night before and eat a good breakfast in the morning. If your exam is later in the day, review your notes once more and then go and conquer that exam. You can do it!
Final Thoughts on Acing the AP Calculus AB Exam
Whether you are taking a gap year or just want less school stress, you may be thinking of self-studying for this challenging exam. Like most things in life, this is totally doable! Since all AP exams are standardized, there are plenty of free resources in the library or online.
If you need help while you’re studying, UPchieve’s brilliant volunteer math tutors are ready and waiting to help you solve that hard calc problem!