Hints for doing well on your AP Exam

Hints for doing Hints for doing well on your AP well on your AP

ExamExam

START STUDYING NOW!!

• Review your Objective questions

• Go over your completed Labs

• Use all of the Review materials provided for you.

PACE YOURSELF•You have 45 seconds/MC

Question•Answer first the Questions you

know•You do not have to answer all

the questions in fact trying to answer all the questions will probably hurt your score!

•Blank Answers are not counted against you!•New 2011 - Wrong answers do not count against you•Do not Rush! - Rushing results in careless errors

The Three-Pass System

•APES covers a broad range of topics. There is no way even with our extensive review, that you will know everything about every topic in Environmental Science

•As you read each question decide is an easy, medium or hard question

•First Pass - Do the easiest questions first - many questions will be straight forward and require little effort.

•Second pass - save the medium questions.

•Medium questions are either time-consuming or require you to analyze all the answer choices

•Third Pass - Skip the Hard questions if they make no sense to you

•Watch out for those bubbles!

•Remember you do not have to answer all the questions to do well on this exam

POE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION

•This is the most important technique to use on the multiple choice section of the exam.

•Even if you don’t know the answer right-off-the bat, you will most likely know that two three of the choices that are not correct!

AGGRESSIVE GUESSING

• Lets look at an example - Imagine you have three problems. On each question with have managed to eliminate two answer choices.

• Statistically you are bound to get one right.

•Aggressive guessing can add as many as 10 -15 points to your total score!

MNEMONICS• Environmental Science is all about names• Chemicals - Processes - Theories - Cause &

Effect• Example - Some of the major air pollutants

we have studied include Sulfur oxides, Particulates, lead, ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon oxides

• SPLONC -Some Pollution Lands On Nature Constantly

• Learn goofy mnemonics and you will never forget the science!

IDENTIFY QUESTION TYPES

• About 20% of the MC Questions fall under the category of ; EXCEPT - NOT - LEAST

• The best way of going about these questions is using POE Process of Elimination

• Even if you know nothing about the content - you should at least understand what the question is asking.

DO NOT STAY UP LATE STUDYING THE NIGHT BEFORE THE EXAM!

A clear, rested mind is the most important thing you can take to the AP Exam.

Dress comfortably and make sure to bring plenty of sharpened pencils and

good erasers.

An AP Breakfast begins at 6:50 in Room 318. Be

there on time, get some food, and relax.

Read questions completely before

answering.

Think before you bubble.

Don’t make careless mistakes.

If you have time left over, double-check your

answers.

Do not waste time on multiple choice

questions that are extremely difficult.

Use the PASS System

Free Response Questions

Read each question twice and outline and brainstorm what you want want to cover in the question

On average you will need to write one or two paragraphsFor each part of the question.

Distribute the 90 minutes equally on the four essay

questions(22 minutes each).

Do not make the mistake of wasting a large percent

of your time on one question, and then not having enough time to answer the other three.

Take a few moments to think and organize your

thoughts before you start to answer the essay

question.

Then: Get right to the point.

When answering the essay questions, stay on the topics that are being

asked.

Do not add extraneous information that does not

pertain to the question being asked.

No points are taken off for wrong or incorrect

information, but simply writing a lot will not

necessarily earn points.

You must answer the question being asked.

It is not uncommon to see an answer that fills two to three pages but does not

earn any points.

Students must demonstrate knowledge

and understanding.

Students will not receive points for restating the

question.

Embellishing and embroidering the question and then writing it down as an answer will receive

no credit.

Outline form and bullets are not acceptable,

answers must be written in prose style.

Use underlining, especially if you are a poor writer, but be sure to give

a full explanation.

Just listing things will earn zero points.

Do not be too fragmentary in your explanations, everything should fit together logically into

complete answer.

Make sure you tie all the “pieces” of your answer

together.

Don’t fabricate information, it is a waste of time

and will not earn any points.

Write very clearly and

large enough for the reader to read

your words.

Eliminate “fluff.” You don’t need fancy introductions or

conclusions on your essays.

Be a point sponge! Write down what you

know best, first.

Think when you are answering the essay

questions; you have more information in your head

than you realize.

Add detail and examples.

If you are going to write down several points, write down the best

ones first.

Often graders will just grade the first one or

two and ignore the rest.

If you use diagrams, label and explain

them.

A diagram without an explanation gets

zero 0 points.

Students must demonstrate a deep understanding of the subject whether it’s a

biogeochemical cycle or a solar panel.

Just throwing out terms, vocabulary and factoids is not

enough.

Practice your math!

Every AP Environmental Science student should be comfortable working with percentages, decimals,

rounding, fractions, algebra, exponents, and

scientific notation.

Be careful when you interpret charts and

graphs.

Many students draw erroneous conclusions

because the have misinterpreted a graph or

chart.

If the question asks you to show your work, write out all the steps clearly so the reader/grader can clearly

see your work.

Many students lose points because they do their

math calculations in their heads or on a sheet of paper other that the

answer sheet.

Make sure, whenever possible, to support your

statements with examples.

Good examples will let the reader/grader know that you understand what you

are talking about.

Often, examples are required to earn some of the points available on a

question.

How the Test is Scored• Raw Score for Section 1

(#correct)• Composite Score for Section 1

Raw Score x .9278• Raw Score for Section 2 Total Points for Essay 1,2,3,4 (40 Points)• Composite Score for Section 2

Raw Score X 1.5 (Highest FR Composite Score 60)

• Combined Total 150 Points

What Does This Mean for You?

•AP Grade Conversion Chart•Final Score Range / AP Grade 1. 0-61 2. 62-74 3. 75-86 4. 87-106 5. 107-150

The College Board creates a formula (which changes slightly every year) to convert raw scores into composite scores grouped into broad AP grade categories. The weights for the multiple-choice sections are determined by the Chief Reader, who uses a process called equating. This process compares the current year's exam performance on selected multiple-choice questions to that of a previous year, establishing a level of achievement for the current year's group and a degree of difficulty for the current exam. This data is combined with historical trends and the reader's professional evaluation to determine the weights and tables.

Composite Score / AP Grade / Percentage of students at this grade (2003)70 - 90 / 5 (extremely well qualified) / 8.4%54 - 69 / 4 (well qualified) / 23.7%45 - 53 / 3 (qualified) / 18.9% 29 - 44 / 2 (possibly qualified) / 18.7%0 - 28 / 1 (no recommendation) / 30.3%

Go in with a positive Go in with a positive attitude.attitude.

You have the knowledge You have the knowledge to do a great job on this to do a great job on this

test!test!