How to Score a 5 on AP Psychology
Anyone can get a 5 on the AP Psychology exam if they know how to study correctly. Yes, even if you have limited time. That’s where CramWeek comes in. Here are our four study tips to help you score a 5 on your exam.
1. Learning the Content
The first step is a crucial one: finding a reliable source to learn the course content from. Most people refer to YouTube channels or textbooks, but we recommend our free materials (prepared by top-scoring students) that cover everything that may come up on your AP exam. Once you find something to your liking, it’s time to start learning! Whether you started studying in September or April, take your time with learning; otherwise, the revision or practice you do later on will be pointless. To enhance learning, avoid skimming and try active reading. Highlight key words, make annotations, read out loud, pace around your room, or do anything that helps your learning process. Make sure you fully understand the content before moving on.
2. Memorization and Revision
Memorizing everything AP Psychology has to offer may seem overwhelming, yet with the right approach, it gets easier. Take a pen and paper. For each unit, rewrite the important aspects of the entire unit in bullet points—keep it as brief as possible. Don’t skip names, theories, experiments, and keywords specific to units. You can also write down people or characters that mirror concepts from AP Psychology, which will help with memorization (for example, Patrick Bateman for Antisocial Personality Disorder). This approach enables you to format those long chapters in a simple, easy-to-review way. Once memorization is done, you can move on to revision. A great way to identify the areas you need to revise is to teach the content to someone else. Grab a friend, parent, sibling, or even your pet, and try to teach the content without looking at your notes. The areas you’re struggling to remember are the areas you need to go back to.
3. Practicing
Testing your knowledge is very important in exam preparation. Not only does practicing do that, but it also reveals anything you may have missed while learning and memorizing. The fastest way to practice for the AP Psychology exam is to solve practice questions. Most students refer to textbooks for question banks; luckily, if you don’t have access to a textbook, the College Board releases one public practice exam and all the past FRQ (Free Response Question) questions. Aim to solve all the released FRQs since they are the closest thing you have to questions that will come up on your AP exam. Before solving them, refer to the College Board’s grading rubric and scoring guidelines, as it’s critical to understand what they’re expecting from you in your answers. The final practice you should do is the BlueBook test preview. The College Board releases a preview of every AP exam on the BlueBook app. Familiarize yourself with watching the timer, skipping or marking questions, highlighting text, and crossing off answer choices. Being informed about what will come up on your screen will help your nerves on test day.
4. Cheat Sheet
Your final revision should be a comprehensive cheat sheet. To make this cheat sheet, write every psychologist’s name on a blank paper. Under the names, jot down their theories, what the theory/finding is, and any important keywords (all in bullet points, of course). Keep it as brief and concise as possible, because the cheat sheet shouldn’t take up more than one page—it should be something you can scan through the night before the exam.
AP Psychology is based on memorization, so keep revising and practicing. Cramming only works when it’s done actively and efficiently. Good luck!