Tips and Tricks for Preparing for Your AP Psych Exam

There are SO many things you can do to help you review for your AP Psych Exam, and it can be hard to know where to start. Never fear! Here are some links and general tips, including some important "Do's" and "Don'ts" to help you out.

What NOT to Do:
The following strategies have been shown by researchers to be ineffective (people using them don't do much better than people who hadn't studied at all), so DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THEM.

• Re-reading your textbook. Skimming over previously read passages of your text is a terrible way to study, in part because 1.) it is time-consuming, 2.) you don't actually retain any more info after doing this, and 3.) (even worse) it fosters the "illusion of mastery,"  which leads to WORSE performance. For example, you may think you "know" something just because you think to yourself, "oh, sure, that seems familiar," when actually you aren't able to answer questions about it correctly. Of course, this tip assumes you read the textbook the first time. Also, note that there is nothing wrong with looking up a specific topic that you don't understand in order to get a question clarified or answered. Just avoid passive re-reading of whole chapters (or the whole book).
• Highlighting stuff in your notes. While it sure makes stuff look pretty, there is little processing going on when you highlight terms or ideas in your notes. Since memory is the product of thinking about something, you're better off doing something that forces you to think about the material.

What works?

• Distributed Practice. You may remember this being called "the spacing effect" in your textbook. Spacing out study of your material, rather than planning one giant cram session, leads to better memory. In fact spacing is most powerful once a little "forgetting" has set in. So, study a topic until you feel you've "got it," then come back to it in a day or two and quiz yourself. This strategy can also be a time-saver, since less overall time is needed to achieve the same result as cramming. However, it takes more planning, which is the hard part.
• Retrieval Practice or Self-Testing. There is NO BETTER way to prepare yourself for a test than to practice pulling information from memory. There are LOTS of online tools to help you do this, and I've included some of them below.
• Use what you've learned this year about memory! If you are continuously stumbling over the same term, researcher name, or list of things you need to recall, use encoding strategies to help you! Mnemonics, acronyms, chunking, and DEEP PROCESSING/ELABORATIVE REHEARSAL (thinking about connections between course concepts and what you already know.

So...where do I start?

1. Take a practice test. This will help you identify areas of strength and weakness and provide you with feedback about how "far" you have to go yet to achieve mastery. If you haven't already taken advantage of a weekend practice exam, here are some options to get you started:
• There are online full-length practice tests available for free.
• Don't have time for a full-length one? This one gives you 25 new questions each time.
• Others will provide you with some free content, but charge for full-length versions.
• The College Board also has publicly released two previously given tests, and you could print these for your own practice: the 1999 Released Exam and the 1994 Released Exam. Granted, these are pretty old, but they still aren't bad for practice purposes.
2. Narrow your focus and make a plan. If you found out that you rock at Abnormal Psychology, but are not exactly comfortable with Developmental Psych, use that to plan your study sessions! 
• Write in "Study Time" on your calendar, and the topic you plan to work on each day.
• Plan to review your weakest areas more than once. You may need to go back and watch a video about a topic that is particularly confusing before testing yourself on it again. Some more tricky topics are explained here, too. 
• Brush up on the vocab for a topic by using Quizlet flashcards.
• Then, try out some practice multiple choice questions on a topic that has been troublesome. 
3. In the last couple of days before the test, plan time for "polishing." 
• Review Famous Psychologists to help practice many different areas of the course. Can you identify how these people are similar to each other? Different? 
• Use the "combine sets" feature on Quizlet to study multiple topic areas at once.
• Study with a friend: take turns quizzing each other on major course topics (using flashcards or term lists).

Want a helpful list of the NEED-TO-KNOW terms for the AP Psych Exam? This list won't probably get you a 5, but it will make sure you've got the absolute basics down.

Reviewing Key People and Bio for the AP Psych Exam

Today, many of you expressed interest in getting more practice with key people/names in psychology, as well as Biological Psychology. To help you with your studies, I'm going to point out a couple of resources that can help.

• First, the Quizlet sets below on Famous Psychologists and Biological Bases of Behavior are a good place to start.
• Want to test your understanding of Bio? Try these practice questions: join.quizizz.com and enter game code 624469.
• People Quizizz: join.quizizz.com and enter game code 176976.
• If you never really understood what an action potential is, try viewing some of the Bio crash course videos below. Be sure to test yourself afterwards, though.

Famous Psychologists to Know



Biological Bases of Behavior



Crash Course: The Chemical Mind



Crash Course: Meet Your Maker (Brain Anatomy)

Tips and Tricks for Preparing for Your AP Psych Exam

There are SO many things you can do to help you review for your AP Psych Exam, and it can be hard to know where to start. Never fear! Here are some links and general tips, including some important "Do's" and "Don'ts" to help you out.

What NOT to Do:
The following strategies have been shown by researchers to be ineffective (people using them don't do much better than people who hadn't studied at all), so DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THEM.

• Re-reading your textbook. Skimming over previously read passages of your text is a terrible way to study, in part because 1.) it is time-consuming, 2.) you don't actually retain any more info after doing this, and 3.) (even worse) it fosters the "illusion of mastery,"  which leads to WORSE performance. For example, you may think you "know" something just because you think to yourself, "oh, sure, that seems familiar," when actually you aren't able to answer questions about it correctly. Of course, this tip assumes you read the textbook the first time. Also, note that there is nothing wrong with looking up a specific topic that you don't understand in order to get a question clarified or answered. Just avoid passive re-reading of whole chapters (or the whole book).
• Highlighting stuff in your notes. While it sure makes stuff look pretty, there is little processing going on when you highlight terms or ideas in your notes. Since memory is the product of thinking about something, you're better off doing something that forces you to think about the material.

What works?

• Distributed Practice. You may remember this being called "the spacing effect" in your textbook. Spacing out study of your material, rather than planning one giant cram session, leads to better memory. In fact spacing is most powerful once a little "forgetting" has set in. So, study a topic until you feel you've "got it," then come back to it in a day or two and quiz yourself. This strategy can also be a time-saver, since less overall time is needed to achieve the same result as cramming. However, it takes more planning, which is the hard part.
• Retrieval Practice or Self-Testing. There is NO BETTER way to prepare yourself for a test than to practice pulling information from memory. There are LOTS of online tools to help you do this, and I've included some of them below.
• Use what you've learned this year about memory! If you are continuously stumbling over the same term, researcher name, or list of things you need to recall, use encoding strategies to help you! Mnemonics, acronyms, chunking, and DEEP PROCESSING/ELABORATIVE REHEARSAL (thinking about connections between course concepts and what you already know.

So...where do I start?

1. Take a practice test. This will help you identify areas of strength and weakness and provide you with feedback about how "far" you have to go yet to achieve mastery. If you haven't already taken advantage of a weekend practice exam, here are some options to get you started:
• There are online full-length practice tests available for free.
• Don't have time for a full-length one? This one gives you 25 new questions each time.
• Others will provide you with some free content, but charge for full-length versions.
• The College Board also has publicly released two previously given tests, and you could print these for your own practice: the 1999 Released Exam and the 1994 Released Exam. Granted, these are pretty old, but they still aren't bad for practice purposes.
2. Narrow your focus and make a plan. If you found out that you rock at Abnormal Psychology, but are not exactly comfortable with Developmental Psych, use that to plan your study sessions! 
• Write in "Study Time" on your calendar, and the topic you plan to work on each day.
• Plan to review your weakest areas more than once. You may need to go back and watch a video about a topic that is particularly confusing before testing yourself on it again. Some more tricky topics are explained here, too. 
• Brush up on the vocab for a topic by using Quizlet flashcards.
• Then, try out some practice multiple choice questions on a topic that has been troublesome. 
3. In the last couple of days before the test, plan time for "polishing." 
• Review Famous Psychologists to help practice many different areas of the course. Can you identify how these people are similar to each other? Different? 
• Use the "combine sets" feature on Quizlet to study multiple topic areas at once.
• Study with a friend: take turns quizzing each other on major course topics (using flashcards or term lists).

Want a helpful list of the NEED-TO-KNOW terms for the AP Psych Exam? This list won't probably get you a 5, but it will make sure you've got the absolute basics down.

AP Exam Review: There's An App for That

Looking for a user-friendly, mobile solution for your AP Exam Review? Spending a lot of time on the bus or waiting out rain delays in spring athletics?

You might appreciate the iScore5 App for AP Psychology.

Available for iPhone and Android, the app features game-based review and costs $4.99 to download.

Users progress through 5 different Levels, starting with basic vocabulary and proceeding to more difficult questions. 800 different AP Psychology terms are included, and questions are sorted by topic area.

Overall, this is a very comprehensive review tool. If you can complete all 5 levels I'd anticipate an amazing test performance on the actual exam come May 2!

Full disclosure: I was one of the question contributors for this app. However, my paid work for the developers is complete, so I'm not promoting this as part of some money-making scheme. I don't get paid anything if you purchase it. 

AP Exam Review Resources, Tips, and Tricks

There are SO many things you can do to help you review for your AP Psych Exam, and it can be hard to know where to start. Never fear! Here are some links and general tips, including some important "Do's" and "Don'ts" to help you out.

What NOT to Do:
The following strategies have been shown by researchers to be ineffective (people using them don't do much better than people who hadn't studied at all), so DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THEM.

• Re-reading your textbook. Skimming over previously read passages of your text is a terrible way to study, in part because 1.) it is time-consuming, 2.) you don't actually retain any more info after doing this, and 3.) (even worse) it fosters the "illusion of mastery,"  which leads to WORSE performance. For example, you may think you "know" something just because you think to yourself, "oh, sure, that seems familiar," when actually you aren't able to answer questions about it correctly. Of course, this tip assumes you read the textbook the first time. Also, note that there is nothing wrong with looking up a specific topic that you don't understand in order to get a question clarified or answered. Just avoid passive re-reading of whole chapters (or the whole book).
• Highlighting stuff in your notes. While it sure makes stuff look pretty, there is little processing going on when you highlight terms or ideas in your notes. Since memory is the product of thinking about something, you're better off doing something that forces you to think about the material.

What works?

• Distributed Practice. You may remember this being called "the spacing effect" in your textbook. Spacing out study of your material, rather than planning one giant cram session, leads to better memory. In fact spacing is most powerful once a little "forgetting" has set in. So, study a topic until you feel you've "got it," then come back to it in a day or two and quiz yourself. This strategy can also be a time-saver, since less overall time is needed to achieve the same result as cramming. However, it takes more planning, which is the hard part.
• Retrieval Practice or Self-Testing. There is NO BETTER way to prepare yourself for a test than to practice pulling information from memory. There are LOTS of online tools to help you do this, and I've included some of them below.
• Use what you've learned this year about memory! If you are continuously stumbling over the same term, researcher name, or list of things you need to recall, use encoding strategies to help you! Mnemonics, acronyms, chunking, and DEEP PROCESSING/ELABORATIVE REHEARSAL (thinking about connections between course concepts and what you already know.

So...where do I start?

1. Take a practice test. This will help you identify areas of strength and weakness and provide you with feedback about how "far" you have to go yet to achieve mastery. If you haven't already taken advantage of a weekend practice exam, here are some options to get you started:
• There are online full-length practice tests available for free.
• Others will provide you with some free content, but charge for full-length versions.
• The College Board also has publicly released two previously given tests, and you could print these for your own practice: the 1999 Released Exam and the 1994 Released Exam. Granted, these are pretty old, but they still aren't bad for practice purposes.
2. Narrow your focus and make a plan. If you found out that you rock at Abnormal Psychology, but are not exactly comfortable with Developmental Psych, use that to plan your study sessions! 
• Write in "Study Time" on your calendar, and the topic you plan to work on each day.
• Plan to review your weakest areas more than once. You may need to go back and watch a video about a topic that is particularly confusing before testing yourself on it again. Some more tricky topics are explained here, too. 
• Brush up on the vocab for a topic by using Quizlet flashcards.
• Then, try out some practice multiple choice questions on a topic that has been troublesome. 
3. In the last couple of days before the test, plan time for "polishing." 
• Review Famous Psychologists to help practice many different areas of the course. Can you identify how these people are similar to each other? Different? 
• Use the "combine sets" feature on Quizlet to study multiple topic areas at once.
• Study with a friend: take turns quizzing each other on major course topics (using flashcards or term lists).