Advanced Placement Curricula Biased Guides

Preface

Of the 14 AP curricula I took during high school, I got 5s on all of them. Taking this opportunity, I’ll share my opinions as a math-comp sci student, along with some study suggestions. Please note that some tests may have been revised, so the advice might not be up-to-date.

Biased Criticisms

AP Calc BC（2023）

The GOAT of AP courses! The most useful math course.

Test preparation: a good teacher, do past exams

AP Stats（2024）

I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING about statistics. Will retake this course in college.

Test preparation: read books if you have a bad teacher, HELM (Helping Engineers Learn Mathematics) is recommended.

AP CSA（2024）

WHO LEARNS JAVA? WHO LEARNS JAVA? WHO LEARNS JAVA?

Test preparation: go learn Rust instead

AP CSP（2025）

A course where you will work on a project in Rust. 🦀🦀🦀

Test preparation: learn Rust

AP Chem（2023）

There are a lot of key points—enough to feel like learning is hell.

Test preparation: do past exams

AP Bio（2024）

Many key points, but feel less overwhelming when arranged by topics.

Test preparation: draw mind maps for each chapter

AP Psy（2025）

Many scattered key points, even after drawing mind maps. It is more like vocabulary than key points. Learn psy terms and you will score well. I recommend taking stats and bio before psy as many topics are related.

Test preparation: draw mind maps, reinforce vocab using flashcards

AP Physics 1（2023）

I have learnt it before taking the course, so I suffered retaking it.

Test preparation: learn Chinese High School physics

AP Physics 2（2024）

A course I thought there were a few key points. However, it actually covers electricity, magnatism, thermodynamics, nuclear physics, and modern physics.

Test preparation: do past exams, prepare for Physics Bowl

AP Mechanics（2024）

Physics 1 Pro.

学习方法：刷题、学好物理 1 和 calc Test preparation: do past exams, learn physics 1 and calc well

AP Electricity & Magnetism（2024）

Physics 1 PRO MAX+++.

Test preparation: do past exams, prepare for Physics Bowl

AP Seminar（2024）

RUN!!!.jpg

STEM students may want to avoid this course since it focuses more on humanities and social sciences. Finding some STEM mates to take this course with you would be great, but my experience was bad because I was the only STEM nerd.

Test preparation: suicide on the way chasing DDLs

Test preparation: for EOC Part A, read more and think more. Remember some templates for the third question. It would be easy. For Part B, know that your essay’s main idea does not need to be related to the 4 passages. More interesting and unusual arguments give you higher scores. While skimming the passages, mark the arguments you may use as evidence. Plan your essay ahead and prove your main idea using the evidence you found, and you will have a high score. When practicing, think of as many different main arguments as you can to cultivate divergent thinking.

AP Research（2025）

AP Scam. Diagnosed with AP Capstone Depression.

Test preparation: null

AP Microecon（2023）

Did I take this course?

Test preparation: econ intuition and common sense