How to Find the Best AP Practice Tests

Why should you use AP practice tests?

One of the biggest reasons to use AP tests is that they get you comfortable with the exam pattern. Only knowledge can take you far in these exams. You need additional skills to transmit that knowledge in the way the College Board wants you to. For example, you may think you know all of the history material, but if you’ve never seen an AP question before, you may be confused on test day simply because the way the questions are asked isn’t familiar to you. Confusing for.

Ways AP Practice Tests Can Boost Your Exam Preparation

• By viewing the practice tests, you become familiar with the AP format and style of questions. While you begin your AP preparation by looking at practice, AP tests will teach you how to ask, free-response, and multiple-choice questions. This knowledge will help you to understand the pattern of questions asked in the exam. You must also read the latest official instructions for different sections. Familiarizing yourself with the latest exam instructions will save you time on test day because you will be clear about what tasks you will be asked to complete.
• These tests help you pinpoint deficiencies in your skills and knowledge. Once you have a good level of functional knowledge on the subject, looking at the AP test and finding out the questions that you get wrong will make you aware of your weak points so that you can focus more on the topics related to them. .
• Practice tests help you track your progress over time. If you take these tests and write practice essays every few days or weeks, you can track your progress and know whether you have improved. For example, let’s say you used to get three straight marks a month ago, and now you almost always get four; It means you are on the right track and your study strategies are working. However, if your progress is stalled below your target score, then your study methods are not helping you improve your score and some changes are needed. You need to ask yourself questions like ‘Are you focusing on learning material when you should be focusing on exam skills or vice versa?’ ‘Are you struggling with time management?’ And so on.

High Quality Practice Tests and Where to Find Them?

We hope that the above discussion will help you understand the importance of AP practice tests. Now that you’re confident in using them, the question is how to find best practice tests. What defines a good quality practice test, and where to find one?

What defines high-quality practice testing?

Best practice tests are those that share the maximum similarity with the official AP tests in terms of sections, question types, distribution of topics, and question wording. These are considered the best as they will replicate the exam experience to the maximum extent possible.

All the questions should come with answer key. It is necessary; Otherwise, how will you know that you have marked the correct answers? It’s also good to have an explanation for the answers. Unfortunately, the most authoritative source, the College Board, usually doesn’t provide explanations for answers to anything other than free-response questions.

Where to find the best AP practice tests?

The best and most accurate AP tests can be found on the College Board website. As they prepare real test papers, their practice tests will be similar to the real test papers. You will also be able to find past AP tests on the College Board’s official website, as they periodically release complete test papers. Note that the format of the old exams may be out of date, but that does not mean that it is not useful material. You can still use them if you know how the current exam is different from those exams and which sections you need to skip. On the College Board website, the following are some other sources where you can find good quality AP practice tests:

Sample Questions from the Syllabus and Examination Handbook

Each AP course has a booklet with practice questions for each test section. Students can use this booklet to get familiar with the exam pattern and latest exam instructions. To access the brochure, go to the College Board website, click on your desired exam from the list of AP courses, go to the “Course Overview” page, and find the link to “AP Course and Exam Description.”

Complete Ongoing AP Exams

Complete, previously released exams are very hard to find, but they are available! Unfortunately, you probably won’t be able to find any officially released tests on the College Board website except by Googling. The main reason may be that the College Board also sells copies of past official exams; Therefore, they do not make it easy to find free copies of official final exams online.

Let’s say you want free access to complete exams. In that case, the best thing to do is to Google the name of your desired exam with the words “previously released College Board materials” or “previously released college board exam papers in their entirety”. Google search can also help you find recently completed exams uploaded by schools or teachers.

I Completed the College Board Practice Tests—Now What?

If you’ve taken almost all the official practice tests you can and have enough time left over for more, you’ll want to find good quality unofficial sources of AP practice tests. Of course, practice tests are included in most AP prep books. Some even have full practice exams in the back. However, unfortunately, not all of them are of good quality.

So, it would be best to have a look at the book before buying it. You can compare the practice questions in these books to the official College Board practice questions to see if they will be helpful. You can also check out reviews of practice tests in these preparation books and try to find out what other students who have used them have to say about them. If most students report that the practice tests from a specific preparation book have helped them prepare for the exam, then it’s a good idea to check out that book.

You can also check the questions in your textbook. If it’s specifically designed for AP courses, it’s likely that the questions in the back of the book or at the end of the chapters will match up well with the actual College Board material.

conclusion

By keeping the tips mentioned above in mind, you can build up a strong library of good quality practice tests to prepare for your AP exams. Remember that these tests are essential study tools which, if used properly, can help you score high.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Why should practice tests be similar to the real test?

Answer: Not only will practice tests similar to the actual test help you become most familiar with the actual test format that will make you feel most comfortable on test day, but they will also give a better idea of ​​how good you will be. Able to perform in the actual test. If practice tests fail to provide real test experience then they will not be beneficial.

Q2. Is it okay if I skip taking practice AP exams altogether?

A: Preparing for the AP exam without solving a single exercise AP exam is like preparing for a bicycle race by only reading about bicycles without actually riding a bicycle. There’s no doubt that the extra knowledge will be exhilarating, but riding a bike will leave you better prepared.

Q3. Can AP Exams Be Practiced to Identify Weak Points?

Answer: Yes, they can. For example, if you have consistent difficulty answering questions on photosynthesis or listening to language, you may need to focus more on these areas. Similarly, suppose you are doing exceptionally well in MCQs but you don’t have short answers. In that case, you will know that you have to put extra efforts in practicing those questions.