In today's video, we're going to go over seven steps that you can take to tackle
your AP Environmental Science exam.
By the end of this video, you're going to have a game plan that will help
you score a four or a five on your APES exam as long as you stick to it.
Before we get started, this video is brought to you by Albert which
provides hundreds of practice questions for all of your AP prep needs.
So, if you haven't already created your free account, use the link in the video
description below to get started today.
Without further do, though, let's get into today's tips on how to prepare
for your AP Environmental Science exam.
The first step that you need to take when it comes to preparing for your APES
exam is to make sure that you take time to take a full length diagnostic test.
This is going to take you at least three hours to complete.
So make sure that you plan accordingly.
The purpose of this diagnostic test is for you to get exposure and
familiarity with the different sorts of sections, as well as questions
that you can come to expect when you actually take your real APES exam.
To access some practice tests, you can use some of the past release free
response sections on the College Board's AP central site, or you can reference a
review resource such as Albert or your review book that might have a full and
practice test for you to check out.
The key thing here is that you are mimicking the actual test environment,
so you want to make sure that you are entirely focused as you're doing
this diagnostic test and that you're allotting the same amount of time
that you would have on test day as you're taking this diagnostic test.
Step number two is to prioritize your study time.
This will take you about one to two hours to do.
The purpose of this step is for you to look at your diagnostic tests and review
what you got wrong and what you got right.
Then from there, figure out where your weaknesses were and try to
isolate for which topic areas your weaknesses mostly were in.
From there, you'll be able to figure out which topics you have
to spend a little bit more time on when it comes to your review.
Make sure that as you review your free responses, that you are paying
attention to those fine details in the scoring guidelines provided to you.
Sometimes the College Board will give you points for XYZ, but not for ABC.
So, you're going to want to make sure that you are double checking the APES
scoring guidelines very carefully as you review your example responses.
By understanding where your weaknesses are from your diagnostic tests, you
can make better use of your study time so that you're not just trying
to review everything you learned in AP Environmental Science when you have
only a few hours to study for the exam.
If you focus in on those weaknesses, then you can significantly increase your
chances at scoring a three, a four or five on your AP Environmental Science exam.
Albert can be a great resource for that.
So, be sure to check us out if you never have the floor to isolate for that
sort of topic or unit level practice.
The next step, when it comes to preparing for your AP Environmental Science exam is
to make a study calendar and stick to it.
This is only going to take you about 20 minutes or so, but the purpose of this is
to count down the number of days you have until your AP Environmental Science exam.
And then to plan out how many study days you're going to be able to
incorporate into your calendar.
We recommend that you try to review at least 30 minutes a day,
as much as possible leading up to the months before the exam.
The reason why is because by chunking it into these very bite-sized study
sessions, it'll make it feel much more manageable for you to review everything
that you've learned over the course of the school year in AP Environmental Science.
It might also be helpful for you to find a friend and to have a study day
together in terms of when you meet regularly on a weekly or bi-weekly
basis to study for your APES exams.
Before we head into step number four in our study plan, if you're finding
this video helpful, do us a favor and hit that like button below.
By doing so, you'll help this video get discovered by more AP
students to help them prepare for their environmental science exam.
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AP review content like this.
Step number four when it comes to preparing for your AP
Environmental Science exam is to brush up on tough concepts.
This will take you two to five hours and what we recommend you do here
is that you reference a multitude of resources for you to get different
perspectives about the different important topics in AP Environmental Science.
Kwanga.net is one of the best resources when it comes to finding
more teacher slides, classroom notes, or just general study materials when
it comes to AP Environmental Science.
You might find use as well from checking out YouTube videos like
Bozeman Science or Crash Course's AP Environmental Science review resources.
Whatever you do to freshen up on these tough concepts in this step, the important
thing is that you are applying what you identified in step number two of what
your weaknesses were, and truly trying to work through those weaknesses to not
make those same mistakes come test day.
Step number five is to make sure that you are honing your skills with
lots and lots of practice questions.
The reality of the AP Environmental Science exam is that more than
half of your exam score comes from the multiple choice section.
So this means that you have to get really familiar with the way that the
College Board presents questions for you.
So that none of the questions that you see in the multiple choice section come
as a surprise to you come test day.
To do this, we recommend that you have a handy review resource, whether
that's online or in an old score view book that breaks things down
by the different units of the exam.
By having a resource like this, you'll be able to focus in on the areas
that you are struggling with most.
A resource like Albert can be super helpful here because we break things
down by every single unit when it comes to AP Environmental Science.
So, for example, if you're struggling with unit three on populations, you
can just practice on populations related practice questions.
Step number six is to make sure that you are taking at least one
more full length practice exam.
So this is going to take you at least three hours.
And the reason for this is that after you've done all of this intensive
review for AP Environmental Science, you want to see how you've grown
from that first diagnostic test.
As you take this second practice test, make sure that you're being super mindful
as to how you're pacing in this test.
Remember when it comes to the multiple choice section, you're going to have about
a minute and 12 seconds to answer every single question that's presented to you.
And when it comes to the free response section, you're going to have about
23 minutes to complete each of those.
As you can probably tell by now, practice makes perfect.
So by applying the practice that we've done in a deliberate way,
as we prepare in this second time around, we're able to better position
ourselves to score that four or five.
As you grade this practice test, ask yourself some questions
like which questions did you spend way too much time on?
Or which questions did you find super easy?
By asking these sorts of reflecting questions for yourself, you'll be able
to better identify where to allocate the remaining study time that you may have
before your AP Environmental Science exam.
You're also going to want to make sure that you have a good system for
identifying which questions you weren't sure about as you worked through the
practice test, so that you have enough time at the end of your multiple choice
section to go back and reflect on those questions and give it a second try.
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is the key when it comes to feeling
confident and prepared on test day.
The final step when it comes to preparing for AP Environmental
Science is to make sure that you are relaxing the day before the exam.
This should take you at least five hours or so and the main thing here
is just to make sure that you are not being super intensive in your
day before the exam final prep.
Instead, just do some light review of some topics that you commonly get
wrong and then spend the rest of the time, either hanging out with some
friends, reading a book or doing something that's just not remotely
related to AP Environmental Science.
Ultimately, you've already done all the prep work that you need to do
if you follow the prior six steps.
And so this time is for you to emotionally and mentally recharge
before the actual test day.
There you have it, seven steps to help you study for your AP
Environmental Science exam.
If you found this video helpful, do us a favor and hit that like button below
and also consider subscribing if you found this sort of content helpful.
We're going to have follow on videos where we do more in depth breakdowns
of different tips and tricks that you can take for the multiple choice
and free response sections of your AP Environmental Science exam.
If you haven't already, make sure that you sign up for your free
account on Albert using the link in the video description below.
With it, you'll get access to a couple of our practice questions
and detailed explanations to help you prepare for your APES exam.
And if you're a teacher happening to watch this video, be sure to check out
our pilot program using the link in the video description below as well.
By doing so, you'll be able to try a sell for free for 30 days with your school.
That's it for this time.
In our next video, we're going to break down some more AP
Environmental Science study tips.
So be sure to check that video out.
In the meantime, though, check out these videos that YouTube thinks you might like.