The season of AP tests has arrived, and De Soto High School students are coping with the crazy stress of cramming a year’s worth of information into their brains while also dealing with finals, graduation and other year-end activities. I have been cramming for my own AP tests this week, sleeping on top of my textbook trying to absorb information, watching review videos on YouTube while brushing my teeth and letting all my responsibilities (like important journalism deadlines) fall to the wayside. I asked two expert AP testers, juniors Elizabeth Seidel and Abigail Stutzman for their test-taking advice. Seidel is taking on three AP tests, AP Language and Composition, AP US History and AP Calculus, while Stuzuman is taking all of these tests in addition to AP physics. They had several tips for acing AP tests while still managing to catch some z’s the night before the exam.

Buy a Book

Seidel prefers to prepare for tests using study review books.

“Buy a book, then you’ll feel guilty if you don’t study, so you’ll at least open the book,”Seidel said. “If I spent twenty bucks on this book, then I have to use it.”

Seidel recommends the Five steps to a Five and Princeton Review AP review series.

Time Management is Key

Stutzman stressed the importance of a schedule when studying for AP tests.

“I cram the night before the test and don’t study anything else,” Stutzman said. “The three days before the test I’ll chunk up all the different units we did throughout the year and study those.”

Seidel paces herself turning the time intensive exams.

“I’m not very good at timing myself so I try to chunk out the different amounts of time. I’ll look at the clock and decide when I need to be done with each section of the test,” Seidel said.

Develop Good Study Habits

Success on the AP exam also depends on developing good study habits throughout the school year. Both Stutzman and Seidel have developed time management skills in order to cope with their busy schedules and AP class workload.

“I generally got better at time management this year,” Stutzman said. “I got a planner and started writing down everything. It sounds kind of silly, but it’s really helpful.”

Stutzman also works to prioritize her homework

“You learn how to decide what to do  just well enough to get by so you can spend more time studying for tests and essays and stuff like that,” Stutzman said.

Take Time for Yourself

For Stutzman, the most important thing to do before an AP exam is sleep.

“Put down your studying stuff and go to bed,” Stutzman said. “I realized at some point that the worst that can happen is that I’ll have to retake the test in college. Once you realize that you are more important than the class credit, then you’re good.”