As the weeks wind down to the largely anticipated AP exam, some teachers take on different methods of preparing for the exam.
Some classes prepare for the AP exam more than others and the way in which teachers go about their review differs among classes. In my experience, I have had a teacher who did a phenomenal job preparing her students for the AP exam, but people with the other teacher for the same class often complained about how their teacher did not prepare them well.
Others believe that it is not the job of the teacher to help study for the AP exam, which I find to be absolutely ridiculous, but they believe that studying and reviewing should be solely left to the students.
In some classes, teachers make review quizzes for each unit starting from the beginning like I had for my AP NSL exam. If the effort is put in when it is needed, many teachers do their best to prepare their students for the exam.
Teachers encourage their students to get the AP review book earlier rather than later, so they are not only reading the review book the night before the exam. One of the best ways to get students to actually read the review book is what Jennifer Bauer did for her AP Psychology students. She had her students get a review book weeks before the exam and gave review quizzes based off the information and examples given in the book. “I’m very appreciative of in-class AP review because if teachers didn’t review, there probably wouldn’t be any reviewing at all,” senior Justin Pykosh said.
Some teachers feel it is necessary to continue teaching material days before the final AP exam. Some students have complained about not having enough time to review material for the exam. For AP Economics, the students are still learning material for macroeconomics days before the exam and do not have a chance to review for the microeconomics exam a few days later.
“We have no time to study for AP Micro which was first semester due to the week taken away for exams. This is a challenge because we have to self study everything we learned first semester while studying for AP Macro at the same time. Thankfully Mr.McTammany has prepared us very well for the exams and most of his students get four’s and five’s,” senior Jake Gross said.
All teachers should require their students to have an AP review book and participate in in-class reviews.