#AP classes later

[asap-n0-rocky]

Made a tierlist of some of my favorite characters ranking them form most good to most evil. Most likely not the final version but what do y’all think of the rankings so far?

[entityarts]

To anyone that’s taking ap test this and next week I wish you loads of luck. Especially if you’re taking AP Lang and Comp, and most definitely if you’re taking APUSH. Please do better than me on APUSH. Do better than me in any history class in general. I do not like history at all (thankfully this is the last ap history class I’ll take cause I’m taking regular senior year 😎).

[lunebits]

ap class tips

for those in ap classes who are struggling. also for those who aren't really. whatever.

just as an intro to my qualifications:

i go to a stem high school (will be graduating next sem!) where all the classes are already advanced as is (our ap classes are also taught differently!) i've taken a total of 10 ap classes during my time, and while that isn't as much as others, i'd say i have a pretty good spread of ap classes i took!

general ap class tips

remember that the ultimate goal for you taking this course is to take the exam and get a 4/5 (reach for that 5!). yes, the grade is important, but that score at the end after that exam might save anywhere from $600-$1200+ in college. so focus your energy on that exam once the exams are encroaching!

make friends in your ap classes. trauma bonding is real (/j) so making friends that will help you study or might save you when you accidentally forgot is key.

and while they all say "study a bit every night!" that's hard to do. the rule of thumb here for every class will be in the categorized sections, so don't worry (i gotchu!!)

ap math (calc ab/bc, stat, physics, chem, etc.)

i personally didn't take physics or chem bc i didn't want to, but i did take bc and got a 5 (yes, i'm so proud)!

rule of thumb for studying at home: do your homework everyday and actually take the time to understand what the hell you're doing. understand what the process is behind solving the problem. be able to pull out the variables. practice, practice, practice. also, this is one of those subjects where it's actually worth it to study it at home everyday.

ANOTHER RULE: practice tests. these math exams are about stamina and speed. if you can solve a problem, great! but now here comes 20 more screaming your name. but, if you can get the timing down before your exam, that's even better. so go waste your saturday afternoon at that mock exam if you need to. another saturday will come in time anyway. ask your teacher for mock exams. get that practice workbook. whatever it takes. get the timing in your hand.

just as a quote from my teacher, "life is about choices, and we are all busy people." don't waste your time doing something that'll waste your time. even if you can't remember it, that's okay. just keep moving and score more points somewhere else. and also, do the easy route. only memorize the easy route.

math is about patterns. patterns rule math. extract that pattern out of that problem, memorize it, and you'll be just fine.

FRQS WILL HURT YOUR BRAIN AND THAT'S OKAY! collegeboard has a very specific way it wants you to answer these questions. the best way to learn the format is to do so many frqs your hands hurt. because in any exam that involves math, you genuinely need to do better on the frqs. they'll land you more points. yes, the mcq might get you that 5, but the frqs become the basic 3 or 4 that you need. your teacher will hopefully teach you the format, but if they don't, the collegeboard ap website has all the past frqs they've ever made.

YOU WILL BE OKAY. I PROMISE. make sure that if you cry, you understand your disappointment then move on to a larger action plan.

ap histories/humanities (art history, u.s history, euro, world, etc.)

i've taken all the histories that my school offers (apush, euro, apwh, apah, etc.)

rule of thumb: don't study at home unless there's a test coming up or you're bad at putting stuff in order.

GET YOUR WRITING SKILLS DOWN PAT. this is the thing that'll get you the most points. that mcq section is a killer, but doing 3-6 (looking at you apah exam) right after might just kill you. so please, get your stamina up. just write. just keep writing.

timeline shit for history. because when it comes down to it, knowing the sequence of events and knowing the events themselves are more important than dates or whatever.

if you're worried about coherency in your writing, jot down a small pre-writing list.

memorize every single rubric. luckily, the dbq/leq rubric is the same across apush, apwh, and euro. you'll get away with just memorizing the two. the apah rubric is a little different, and the ap lit rubric is a little different. just memorize them as best you can.

when writing, cater to your reader. make things easy to spot and easy to grade. they'll give you a higher score if they can clearly see where things are.

just practice mcqs. all the stimulus will have something you can pull out of it (unless it's like apah where you're meant to memorize the works). but every question will have an answer that's in the passage. practice finding that answer. (this one is still really hard)

all these tests are tests of stamina. and sometimes, they're on the same goddamn day because collegeboard hates love us. just keep going. grab a snack. rest your eyes, go.

essays are the bane of everyone’s existence in ap courses because you’re on this strict rubric and have this mythical complexity/sophistication point that you need to give your hopes and dreams of achieving. BUT. but. you’ll be okay. especially for exams like the ap lit/apah exam, you get to come in knowing at least a bit of the exam (for ap lit, a good part of the frq weight. for apah, 90% of the test). TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT!! know a novel inside and out. know the works inside and out. you’ll be okay. stretch your hands, breathe, write.

ap sciences (bio, physics, chem, psych, econ)

i've personally taken bio and both econs, but these are all concept based, so the same general tips apply.

rule of thumb: if you don't understand it in class, you need to study it at home asap. seriously. because you sure as hell won’t be able to put it together during class the next day. whats good though is that there’s so many resources online (esp videos!!) for all the ap sciences that it’s actually crazy.

read your textbook. science is great with a textbook in your hand. you don't even need to read the whole thing. just skim through it to add information to your class notes. most times that works.

because the questions are concept based, the mcq/frqs are a little hard to get used to. SO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS: don’t ignore your responsibilities and learn what these questions look like.

flashcards. USE FLASHCARDS. so much of science is not only understanding concepts but applying them. to apply them, you need to know them by heart. and to know them by heart means flashcards to drill yourself.

and speaking of applying your knowledge, you need to take things slowly. approach questions with this framework: 1) read the problem + understand what concept it’s asking about. 2) pull out that information from your sexy brain. 3) solve the problem based on what you can remember. to truly understand, include a lot of examples in your notes. AND MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND WHY AND HOW THEY WORK. the why and the how are more important than the what.

misc tips 🌷

burnout is inevitable if you don’t manage your time correctly. there’s people online that can explain how to manage your energy more than me so please go watch them instead lmfao

try your best to stay on your schedule. the more you push your tasks to this arbitrary tomorrow, the more you absolutely won’t do them.

honey, you need to bring a snack and a water bottle to those exams, you get like a 10 minute break that isn’t enough for the mental taxation (without representation) that happens on those exams. they’re brutal.

the classes themselves are not as bad you think. i promise. most of the time, you’ll actually have fun. and it’s really cool to be learning at a college level. so keep at it! the moment you hate something, the moment you begin to stop trying as hard and your grades start slipping. keep finding the next thing to delude yourself into enjoying (/hj).

[idkhowtomakethis]

One of the very few perks of getting older is my parents not giving a fuck if I decide to stay home from school every once in a while

[mintaikkcorpse]

My toxic trait is that I have zero motivation bcuz I think everything will work out in the end, but my concept of "everything working out" is either I live and be miserable, or I kill myself. Either way, shit sucks

[thebluestbluewords]

happy holiday break, let’s talk class schedules

According to the Secrets of Auradon Prep tie-in book, AP runs on a rotating block schedule. Six periods per day, plus lunch. Pretty reasonable for a high school class schedule.

Homeroom once a week feels a little weird to me, but after an unofficial poll of some friends, it’s apparently not too uncommon for American high schools to only have it at the start of the week.

It’s sort of nice that the students get a study period every day, instead of having their free block/study block worked into the rotation with the rest of their classes.

In Mal’s Diary, we get another look at her schedule.

She’s in most of the same classes as the sample from before, but no chemistry class. Is Mal not interested in chemistry, or did Fairy Godmother decide it was more important for her to learn about evil fairies instead? Are there other “cultural history” type classes for other students, or did Fairy Godmother and whoever planned the class schedules for the other VKs just decide to pile on allll of the history/social studies classes for the VK to educate them in the ways of Auradon?

I think it’s funnier for me personally if Fairy Godmother received transcripts from Dragon Hall, looked at the VKs’ classes so far, and decided to say ‘fuck it’ on math and science classes, what these kids need is Auradon cultural education. Woodsmen, Fairies, Auradon History, and straight-up Goodness 101. One singular math class will take care of the rest, they’ll be fine.

[supercantaloupe]

musicology comps are officially on my horizon. and it's apparently four back to back one hour exams 😩

[crowscadence]

Why do I write my best essays when half asleep

Edit: idk what my grade is but my English teacher stopped me out of class to say how good it was so yay

[morgan-n-cheese-91]

i put on fleetwood mac radio to do a project on mash but now I'm reading an 8 page article on existentialism for hamlet

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

wuh wait what do you mean I have to people

[parallelunivrses]

hmmmm kinda wanna rewatch all of spn………… haven’t done a full rewatch since season 10 was airing I think……… is this a terrible idea….. yes. will that stop me though………

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

.

[queen-esther]

To be brutally honest, a lot of the issues with public school are because of parents. Negligent parents don’t give a shit when they get a phone call about their kid cussing out a classmate or throwing a chair, but they sure as hell care when they hear their precious baby got recess time taken away for acting up in class. Problem kids don’t care about getting sent to the office or being put in ISS, because to them, it’s a free vacation out of the classroom, and their parents don’t hold them accountable for their behavior, so they’re not scared about consequences at home, either. So then, teachers are facing pressure from “customer service mindset” admin to “handle it on their own,” which means teachers are having to constantly stop what we’re doing every five seconds to address behaviors instead of actually getting to teach the rest of the kids who do want to learn and get their work done, which ultimately puts everyone behind.

[praublem-child]

I took my meds, had a couple painkillers, finished a bottle of water, and ate some food. I am once again reminded that I have needs and that there's an actual reason why I should be taking care of them instead of ignoring them. And yes, I am referring to an assignment that I yet again spent about three hours attempting to do and failing miserably only to finish it 15 minutes after taking care of myself instead.

I'm getting real tired of not being able to figure out why I'm struggling with something until I've wasted way too much time on something. Sure my meds are an entirely different problem, I'm aware that they're a problem and I'm working on it. But I can't tell that I'm hungry, I got startled by my stomach growling before I even realized I could possibly be hungry, I didn't feel thirsty at all and only drank water because I opened it to take my meds, and I only took painkillers because I got a migraine from the meltdown after struggling over my assignment.

My entire fucking body was in a lot of pain and I didn't realize until the meds kicked in, I was probably at least partially having a meltdown because I was hungry and thirsty on top of the assignment not working out for me, and I was definitely overstimulated and overheated at the same time. I didn't noticed a single part of that until I got startled by my stomach making noise and decided to call it quits for a bit instead of continuing to cry over my inability to read and the headache hit me.

[birkble]

just finished university (submitted my last final) on a random thursday in january (aka today) now onto graduation in may & me being (hopefully) more active !

thank u for being here birkbabes 🩷🫶🫧✨

[bloomingonionbitch]

(rn i'm simultaneously Syd puking behind the dumpster and Carmy stuck - and unraveling - in the fridge).