Looking for a ton of AP Calculus tips and tricks?
Then you've come to the right video.
In this video, we're going to go over 13 AP Calculus multiple choice
and free response tips and tricks to help you score a four or five.
By the end of this video, you're going to have a better understanding of what it
takes to excel on your AP Calculus exam.
Before we get started, this video is brought to you by Albert.
We provide thousands of practice questions along with detailed
explanations to help you master difficult subjects like AP Calculus.
So, if you want to level up your studying, click the link in the
video description to create a free account and start studying today.
Without further ado, though, let's get into these tips.
Tip number one is to make a calendar.
AP Calculus is not going to study itself.
And so it's really important that you start to dedicate some time in your
calendar ahead of the exam so that you can get adequate practice and
repetitions into the sorts of questions that you're going to see come test day.
You can start with just as little as 30 minutes every single day, and then
gradually build up your endurance to an hour or an hour and a half or so leading
up to the final weeks to the exam.
The important thing here though, is that you're not stacking everything
to just the last few days before the exam, because that sort of stress
and environment for yourself is not going to yield you with the results
that you want to score a four or five.
Tip number two is to mimic your testing environment.
We recommend that you get out of desk and you completely clear it
and make it seem like you are taking the test every single time that you
are beginning your practice section.
The principle of encoding specificity states that when we are learning,
our brain is actually encoding the environment that we are learning
these different principles in.
This means that we are more likely to recall certain pieces of information when
we are in various similar environments.
So, by creating an environment at home that closely mimics your actual testing
environment, you'll feel more comfortable and less stressed come test day.
So try to limit the number of study sessions that are too different
from one another, and try to stick to having a dedicated place for
all of your AP calc studying.
Tip number three is to build up your hand muscles.
AP Calculus requires a lot of handwriting, especially when it
comes to the free response section.
And so you don't want your hand to get cramped and to cost you
valuable minutes come testing.
To build up your stamina, you might find it helpful to either work through past AP
Calculus previously released exams or to just work through some journaling every
day so that you can build up your stamina to writing for extended periods of time.
Tip number four is to practice using your calculator.
Your calculator can be your friend in both the multiple choice section as well
as the free response section, because there is a component on both sides of
the exam that allows you to use it.
So, it's really important that you learn all the different functions
that your calculator has, so you can save as much test time as possible.
Tip number five is to learn the language of the exam.
The College Board likes to use certain verbs that they call task verbs.
And it's really important that you understand and what each of
these task verbs are asking of you.
For example, you might be asked to approximate something and in that
situation, you're not going to have to neccessarily give a very precise answer.
Instead, you'll have to round a different decimal values
or to make certain estimates.
You may also be asked to do something like calculating or writing and expression.
This is where you're going to evaluate an expression and actually solve an equation.
It's really getting at the root of what is the value of this,
or how would you compute this.
Tip six is to break down the free response questions.
There's a ton of different parts to each AP calc free response.
And so it can be helpful for you to underline the key parts that you are
answering as you're answering them.
This will reduce the amount of time that you are spending simply
reading the question or rereading the question because you got confused
by all the different distractors.
This will also make it easier for you to separate the pertinent
information from the distractors.
Tip number seven is to pay attention to the details.
AP Calculus test takers, often miss things like units in their answer responses.
They also miss things like the constant C on integral questions.
Another common mistake is rounding numbers.
And so, it's really important that you read the directions for
what it's asking you and give what they're actually asking you.
While free response questions can be rounded to three decimals places
rounding a little bit earlier than that can lead to significantly different
outcomes in your free response question.
So, it's really important that when you are ready to round that you are
also at the point in which you're at the final part of the question.
Tip number eight is to double check your answers.
You can use the fundamental theorem of calculus to work
backwards on your solution concept.
If everything checks out, then you should be able to get back
to your original start point.
And so, it helps you practice and solidify your understanding of the
fundamental theorem of calculus as well.
Tip number nine is to make your own practice questions.
A great way to have some fun, and also challenge yourself in a different way is
to take an existing question and change some of the numbers or the variables or
the units and then see if you can still solve that particular new question.
Or what you can also do is in a study group, you can trade with a
friend and have him or her solve your problem while you solve their
problem and then discuss the results as to what both of you can mop with.
The reality is that calculus is a super fluid subject.
And so, the possibilities are endless when it comes to different
questions that you can come up with.
Tip number 10 relates to the last one a little bit, which
is to reuse practice questions.
If you don't quite remember how you solved a particular question or didn't
solve a particular question in the past, then it can be helpful to try it again.
This is especially helpful when you're looking at and targeting
areas that you have struggled with in your past practice sessions.
Tip number 11 is to keep your skills fresh.
Even if you did really well on a particular concept, when it came to
your unit testing class, it's really important that you are refreshing your
memory on your mastery of that skill throughout the course of the school year.
By doing so, you're going to make sure that that one time that you took
that test really well was not a fluke.
And then you actually have truly mastered that particular concept.
As important as it is to work on your weaknesses, it's also important
that you fortify your strengths in areas that you already excel in.
Tip number 12 is to vary your resources.
Mutli sensory learning has been proven to improve academic performance.
And what that entails is to use all sorts of resources in your preparation efforts.
This means reviewing things, not just like practice questions, but also looking
over things like your class notes, your textbook, additional videos and resources
on YouTube, whatever will allow you to get additional ways of exposure of learning
a particular concept or principle.
You can also seek different sources for help beyond your teacher by asking
a classmate to explain something to you, or to work through a particular
question with the study group.
And our final AP Calculus tip is to know when to ask for help.
Aside from asking your teacher for help, there are a ton of other
places that you can find assistance when it comes to AP Calculus.
For example, you can use online communities like quora to post your
question and have different people answer or help you solve a particular question.
You might also find help in different student communities like on Reddit.
If you prefer something a little bit more personal, you can always
explore something like one-on-one tutoring, either online or in person.
And lastly, like we've mentioned several times in this video, it's all
as helpful to form a study group that you can meet with consistently to help
you prepare for the AP Calculus exam.
There you have it.
13 AP Calculus tips and tricks to help you score a four or five on this year's exam.
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