Emma Sutherland | Writer
May 13, 2025
Let me take you back: It’s August, 80 degrees on a sunny morning. You just received your schedule for the upcoming school year, and it is full of AP classes. You think to yourself, “I’m going to have such a good GPA at the end of this school year” while filled with motivation and bliss. Unfortunately, you quickly realize it wouldn’t be that easy. In retrospect, all those AP classes were going to only boost your GPA in the 4.5+ category and, news flash, these classes are college level courses for a reason. After 8 months of countless DBQs, LEQs, and never ending unit multiple choice tests, the final test is here: the AP exam.
Unfortunately for students in today’s generation, it is now common to scroll on TikTok for three hours before opening your Chromebook to complete your eight AP Language questions regarding former President JFK’s rhetorical strategies in his inaugural speech. With procrastination and Chat GPT taking over many students’ study habits, it seems like the AP exams are going to be a low blow. However, spending $70 to take an exam and spending eight months grinding out homework is far too much money and time spent to fail, which is exactly why there are a few main components on how to “cram” for your exam.
The first factor in passing your exam with a five is knowing your key terms like the back of your hand. Remember the Quizlet from Unit 2 key terms that you haven’t opened since September? Well it is time to dig it out of the archives and re-memorize it. An amazing studying technique is to review these terms with physical flashcards, just the task of writing out definitions will help your brain take the extra mile towards memorization. Once you have made your flashcards, study them in your free time. TIDE time at school is a great thirty minutes to completely review these key concepts. Kendall Fish, a junior at SCHS who is currently taking AP United States History, claimed “studying my flashcards reminds me of the main events in every time period and helps me be able to use them as evidence in all of my LEQs.” Kendall portrays how important it is to know these terms, as they benefit her argument in long essay questions. Therefore, having an understanding of each unit’s key factors and being able to name them off the top of your head will benefit you greatly in any SAQ, LEQ, or DBQ. Furthermore, being able to demonstrate a clear understanding of key moments throughout your course units will benefit you throughout the entirety of the exam.
The next factor to acing your exam is demonstrating an understanding of the course’s timeline. Whether it’s AP European History or AP Government, a timeline in the order of events of every ounce of the curriculum you have been taught will deepen your understanding while also building connections between different units. Junior Ashton Nelson, another student taking multiple AP classes at SCHS, claimed, “making a timeline for my APUSH class helped me on my mock AP exam, and definitely helped me pass the AP Euro exam I took last year.” Nelson demonstrates the crucial need for having a clear understanding of the order of events in your AP class. Along with this, it is known that being able to display comprehension beyond each unit can earn the “sophistication” point within every essay. In that case, take a blank sheet of paper and review your notes starting from the beginning of the year. By making a physical timeline, you jog your memory of some of the past concepts you may have forgotten. Along with this, seeing all the curriculum laid out on a piece of paper in front of you will help to make broad connections that can help you on both the multiple choice aspect of the exam as well as any essay.
While cramming every unit or time period into your brain to try and remember everything seems scary, it is incredibly doable. It is important to remember that you have been in this class for roughly eight months now, with your teachers preparing you solely for the exam. Therefore, one of the most important aspects of studying for this exam is to relax and get good sleep every night. Cramming four hours of knowledge and then getting two hours of sleep will not benefit you in any way. So take it easy on yourself, study for 1-2 hours everyday leading up to your exam, and make sure to get that extra hour of sleep.
While these weeks of AP exams are incredibly stressful for students, remember to give yourself some grace. All there is to do now is study and do your absolute best to remain calm. In that case, make and review your flashcards, make and review your timeline, and get some extra hours of sleep. Using these strategies will only benefit you on your exams.
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