Concepts often connect, so reviewing the previous class’ concept can help you understand the next one. Everyday after school, review your notes from that day and the previous day’s class.Increase practice time to 45 minutes every day.Here are some tips to improve your score from 3 to 4: Practice those kinds of questions so you know how to handle them because you will most likely see one on the test. They use a lot of similar question types in their FRQs, so pay attention to patterns.įor example, every test since 2012 (with the possible exception of 2020, for which College Board has not released FRQs) has had one FRQ with a table of data asking questions like approximating derivatives with AROC, approximating integrals with Riemann sums, and interpreting the meanings of those things within the given context. Practice FRQs frequently with College Board’s previous years’ questions. Units 4, 5, 7, and 8 should be your focus. If you’re confident you can master the basics and want to shoot for a 4 or 5, you’ll want to spend much time working with contexts and word problems.

How to do well on the AP Calculus AB exam Ask the teacher for help and suggestions on how to improve they will be happy to assist you and may be able to identify specific growth areas.Two weeks before the exam, increase your study time to 1 hour per day, reviewing two units each day.Spend some time to revisit early units the material from the beginning of the year might be somewhat rusty by now.If you have access to AP Classroom, it is also a good source of FRQs. Analyze the scoring guidelines to understand what the College Board expects. Practice FRQs with the ones the College Board provides from past years’ tests.Only when you have the basics down should you spend some time on the other units. Emphasize practicing derivatives and integrals, especially chain rule and u-substitution. Get additional practice with UWorld MCQs.Make flashcards for basic derivative and integral rules and use them regularly until you have them down.Besides, teachers are much more likely to work with a student and help them improve if they give consistent effort. Try hard on your homework, even if you don’t fully get it yet that’s where you build your skills.Practice at least 30 minutes a day, every day.Here are some tips for passing an AP Calculus AB class:

For more advanced practice with these concepts, try Units 4 and 8 to apply the derivative and integral to context. Practice with UWorld questions in Topics 2.5 - 2.10 and 3.1 - 3.2 for derivatives and Unit 6 for integrals. Knowing how to differentiate and integrate various kinds of functions is key to doing well in AP Calculus. Most of the concepts in AB Calculus stem from two things: the derivative and the integral. Identify the ideal learning strategy for you: how do you best absorb information? Reading? Reading while taking notes? Watching videos? Practicing problems? A combination of these? The summer is a great time to figure this out.Khan Academy is another free resource if your learning style is geared more toward watching videos than reading. Paul’s online math notes are an excellent, free resource for getting started with calculus and reviewing some pre-calculus topics.

Study Unit 1 concepts and practice UWorld AP Calculus AB questions on limits.

Volume and surface area of common 3D shapes like cubes, spheres, cylinders, and cones also show up occasionally, but College Board will often provide formulas in a question stem when applicable.

Review formulas from geometry, like areas of circles, triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids.

Specifically, focus on functions and graphs, rational functions, limits, trigonometry, and the unit circle, factoring polynomials and completing the square, exponent and logarithm rules, and working with e and natural logarithms.

Brush up on algebra and pre-calculus concepts.

It might also be a good idea to speak with your guidance counselor about the rigor of the course.

If possible, talk to your AP Calculus AB teacher about the expectations of the class.

Review College Board’s® AP Calculus AB course and exam description.

Begin preparing the summer before the course.

What now? Here are some things you can do before the school year starts to hit the ground running: It’s spring, and you’ve signed up to take an AP Calculus AB class next year. How to prepare for an AP Calculus AB class From the moment you sign up for an AP Calculus AB course to exam day, you can take the following steps to prepare and improve your chances of getting the score you want. In this guide, we will help you with every stage of the process.

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