5 Fantastic Tips for AP Students
Disclosure: In our articles, we independently choose products and services to feature that we think you'll find useful. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking one of our links, we may earn a small commission.Taking an AP class can be tough and getting ready for the exam can be even harder. With these five tips, you can help make exam day a little less stressful for your teen.
Tip 1: Bring Snacks and a Beverage
Bringing snacks and a beverage will help your teen relax during the break between sections on the AP exams. Obviously, you should check school policy first. Some schools restrict bags in the testing facility, and therefore might not let you bring your snacks inside.
Tip 2: Look Up a Map of the School
When you take the AP exam, you might not take the exams at your school. Only a select number of schools are qualified by the college board to offer the exams. Because of this, you will likely be in a new and unknown setting when you take your exams, which is less than ideal.
In order to solve this, have your kid call the school and figure out which room the AP exams that he/she will take are going to be. Then either go to the school in person or look up a map of the school. Have your teen look at the map. Key things to look for are water fountains, bathrooms, and the room that your teen is going to take the exams in.
While this won’t exactly make the setting feel comfortable, it will at least help it to feel more familiar. It will also help in knowing quickly where to get water, and in knowing where to go to the bathroom (which reduces the embarrassment of having to ask).
Tip 3: Bring Extra Batteries
If you are going to take an exam that requires a calculator, be sure to bring extra batteries. You cannot count on your testing center having an extra calculator or extra batteries. If, however, you don’t bring extras, and your calculator dies, be sure to ask if they have one that you can use.
Tip 4: Bring Multiple Pens
Most AP courses, teachers, and facilitators will remind you to bring multiple #2 pencils, and they will often have extra ones at the testing facility. However, they will not remind you to bring more than one pen.
The pencil is used for the multiple-choice section of the exam, but AP exams also have a written portion. Most exams require that you write in pen for the FRQs (with the math exams being the exception).
If your teen’s pen runs out of ink, the testing facility will likely not have an extra one to give him/her (as they already had to give pens to those that forgot to bring them). Have your teen bring more than one. Also, buy pens that are erasable, as this will allow your teen to correct your answers without making a huge mess.
Beware: The ink in some erasable pens will disappear under heat (like in mailing conditions).
Tip 5: Know the Length of the Exam
Knowing how long the exam is, will help your teen in getting prepped for the exam, and it also helps to know when you can pick your teen up from the school. Some exams are barely over 2 hours, while others are closer to (or over) 4 hours.
It also helps to know what time the exam starts. Each year, thousands of students miss the exam time, and are locked out of the testing facility. Get there ahead of time. You never know when there might be a car accident, or the need to refill the gas in the car.
I recommend getting there at least 30 minutes before the exam starts, as the front office of the school will have to verify that you do indeed have an exam before letting you in.
If you found this article helpful, be sure to check out other articles on planandorganize.com. There are many other topics covered, and you might find something that can help you!
Kyle is a staff writer at Plan and Organize™ as well as our marketing coordinator. An undergraduate student at the University of Florida, Kyle enjoys writing about business, education, DIY, history, astronomy, and other science topics. In his free time, Kyle enjoys chess, astronomy, bird-watching and sci-fi.
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