Last Minute AP Exam Resources: IMSA Style

If you’re reading this article and are signed up for an Advanced Placement (AP) exam, you may be stressed as AP exams are upon us. Most of the time, IMSA students are inundated with school work, SIR and IMSAloquium responsibilities, club/extracurricular work, and simply living life to grasp the proximity of these CollegeBoard exams.

Since IMSA doesn’t offer any official AP courses, it is left up to the students to delegate extra study time towards self-studying most of the content in AP exams. If this scenario sounds familiar to you, keep reading to learn about some resources available that you can take advantage of to cram in some last-minute studying. 

1. Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a virtual platform that offers free courses, lessons, and practice. It has courses in math, science, computing, arts and humanities, economics, and reading and language arts. Within these subjects, there are options to explore various topics or delve into the AP pathway.

The AP pathway contains both video lectures and articles, which introduce and explain certain concepts. After certain lessons, there is an option to test your understanding by answering quiz questions related to the concepts taught. This is an excellent resource to not only learn about certain unfamiliar topics but also test your understanding by taking practice quizzes. 

2. IRC AP Text Books

While hustling around the school panicking about your AP test, don’t forget to head over to the IRC to check out any AP textbooks. The IRC has a variety of AP books varying from languages to math and computing. Most of the time there will be multiple copies of the same book, but many copies may be checked out the closer it gets to the AP exam dates. When you check out these books, they are usually yours to use for the next two to three weeks, which is the perfect amount of time for you to cram study. 

3. Fiveable Cram Sheets

A new resource that has been floating around the internet is a website called Fiveable. Fiveable contains lessons similar to Khan Academy and also provides students with a cram sheet for most subjects. The cram sheet contains the major ideas and formulas that students need to know for each chapter in a subject. This is a helpful tool if you need to learn and cram as much as possible in a short amount of time since it tells you which topics are more important than others and what chapter they are located in.

Along with the virtual lessons and cram sheets, Fiveable also offers a Discord group that students can join in order to interact and communicate with other students who are taking the same AP exams from around the world. Discord allows students to study together and ask each other questions about certain topics. 

4. Youtube Videos

A common resource students turn to in a time of stress is Youtube. Undoubtedly, Youtube is still filled with videos that explain various topics and formulas in different ways. A simple search will give you a tab filled with videos about a subject from a numerous amount of users.

Channels that I have found helpful are “The Organic Chemistry Tutor” (Math and Science), “Albert.io”(Math, History, Computing), and “Kelsey Falkowski” (History and Government). Not only do these videos offer lessons from real humans through the screen, but most of the time, they also offer practice problems that have shown up on previous AP exams. 

5. AP Courses through edX

If you have a little more time and aren’t required to cram study a subject in a couple of weeks, edX courses may be helpful to look into. edX is an online open-source that allows users to take various courses digitally to earn a certificate. It is similar to Coursera. This platform offers self-paced and free online AP courses for students.

Those taking AP Biology, Computer Science, English Language & Composition, English Literature & Composition, French Language & Culture, Italian Language & Culture, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Physics, and Spanish Language and Culture will be able to find full AP courses on these subjects on edX. 

6. You Got This!

Regardless of the method of studying you decide to utilize, whether it is a resource mentioned on this list or not, you are capable of scoring well on your AP exams. Study hard, get a good night’s sleep, and do your best!