Mid-Year Check-in: Are Your AP Classes on Track?

The AP exams will take place May 1-12. Right now, in January, that may feel like a long way off, but now is a great time to check in and make sure you are on the right track so that you have time to make a plan if you find that you aren’t. Here are some key things to consider:

Is your class going to cover all of the material before the test?

In January you should be a little over half way through the curriculum. If you go to the AP Student page for your subject and scroll down, there is an “About the Units” section. Each unit can be expanded to give you a list of key topics and what percentage of the exam is on that unit’s material. Looking here can give you a good sense of how much of the material you have covered and how much you have left.

If you have access to AP Classroom, every course has AP Daily Videos. Your class might not cover material in exactly the same order or at exactly the same pace as the AP Daily Videos, but comparing what your AP Daily Videos have covered and what your class has covered can give you a good sense of whether your class is on track.

Is your class showing you to expect on the test?

The main focus of an AP class should be on the content, but there are important things to learn about the tests themselves as well. Do you know what format your tests will follow? Does your class practice writing AP style essays or solving past free response questions? Are you learning which fiddly details might be easy to overlook on a multiple choice question?

If you are worried that a class isn’t on track, step one should usually be to talk to your teacher. Likely, your teacher has a plan but if you are concerned, then it would be worth making a self study plan to make sure you are on track to do as well as you possibly can on the exam. Our Private AP Tutors are subject matter experts who can help you get from where you are now to where you need to be by May.

Are you on track?

Ok, great, your class is on track to cover the material. Now it’s time for a little bit of self reflection. How has the year been going so far? Have you mastered the material as your class covered it, or have you just been scraping by? Are there any topics from last fall where the test didn’t go as well as you had hoped it would? Or where you crammed the night before and managed to do ok on the test but aren’t sure you would pass a similar test if you had to take it today? If things have been going well, then you are on track and can reasonably wait until April to start reviewing. If things haven’t been going well, now is a great time to start addressing that. And an Applerouth Tutor could support you in your class this spring, help you review or relearn any material from last fall that never clicked, and help you make sure you are as prepared as possible for the AP test.