Math can be the bane of many students’ existences. Even mentioning the words ‘AP® Calculus exam’ can send a shock of terror through any student’s heart. But don’t worry, we’ve got the tools that you’ll need to succeed. We have developed a 30-day study plan that will help you solve problems, experiment, interpret results, and support your conclusions. We’re here to sharpen your math skills and make you an AP® Calculus AB/BC pro in no time. We can’t make the AP® Calculus exam questions any easier, but we can help sharpen your math skills. This AP® study guide will give you everything you need to review, learn, and maintain for the AP® Calculus AB/BC Exam. If you stick to the daily regimen we have laid out for you here, we will sharpen your calculus skills like never before and get you that much closer to that 5 on the AP® exam.
Key Things to Remember While Using this AP® Study Guide
– From The College Board: “AP® Calculus AB is roughly equivalent to a first-semester college calculus course devoted to topics in differential and integral calculus…AP® Calculus BC is roughly equivalent to both first and second-semester college calculus courses and extends the content learned in AB to different types of equations and introduces the topic of sequences and series. The AP® course covers topics in differential and integral calculus, including concepts and skills of limits, derivatives, definite integrals, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, and series. The course teaches students to approach calculus concepts and problems when they are represented graphically, numerically, analytically, and verbally, and to make connections amongst these representations. Students learn how to use technology to help solve problems, experiment, interpret results, and support conclusion..”
– Both the AB and BC exams consist of 45 multiple choice questions, for which you have 105 minutes to complete. This will make up 50 percent of your exam score. There will also be a single long response question and two shorter response questions that will make up the Free Response section of the exam. These three questions must be completed within 1 hour and 30 minutes, respectively. They account for 50 percent of your overall score.
– This is a guide, you don’t have to follow every step if it’s not working for you. Everybody learns differently and it’s ok if some steps are not quite working for you. Change things up and mix our recommendations around. Just find whatever will work best for you.
– This may seem like an impossible statement, but make studying fun! Try not to get too stressed out when studying for the exam. True, math and calculus can seem a bit daunting, but don’t get too caught up in you work. You will be doing a lot of work over the next 30 days, but stress and freaking out never helped anyone ace a test. Nothing is so important that it should make you miserable, so enjoy and feel pride in each of your accomplishments as we move forward. We’re rooting for you too!
– On that note, stay healthy! Maintain a healthy eating and sleeping schedule. You can study all you want, but if you don’t take care of your body, you will not be doing yourself any favors on test day. A healthy mind remembers things better. Also, if you ever feel yourself getting tired following this study plan, get up and do a couple of quick stretches, or go for a short walk. Your brain will appreciate the extra blood flow.
What You Will Need
– Access to Albert.io’s AP® Calculus AB/BC homepage. The best way to study for the Calculusexam is to practice, practice, and practice. And Albert.io has the questions you need. You will be getting very familiar with these practice questions over the next month.
– A flashcard site such as Quizlet. Or you just use regular notecards. These are going to help you get all of those math terms down, so make sure that you keep on top of your daily flashcards.
– Note taking materials. These can be done on your computer, tablet, etc. but you’re also going to need plenty of paper and countless sharpened pencils. Just like the flashcards, you’re going to be taking a lot of notes and practicing those equations on a daily basis, so make sure that you’re comfortable using whichever version you choose.
– The College Board homepage for Calculus AB and/or BC. Make sure you thoroughly read the AP® Calculusinformation provided by the College Board’s website. Just like any other exam, it is necessary to understand the expectations of the people testing you. Read these materials and memorize them if you can.
– Your own Calculus Textbook or an online source of that will provide you with the same amount of detail. When it comes to studying, the more the better, so make sure you have at least one source for reference. Need some help deciding? Take a look at our examination of the best (and worst) AP® Calculus Review Books on the market now.
Optional (but helpful) Stuff:
– Any AP-style workbooks or study guides your teacher provides, or any supplemental material you find helps your study of the main materials. As we’ve stated before, the more the merrier when it comes to studying for the AP® exams.
–Albert.io has some excellent recommendations on the how to approach the AP® Calculus AB/BC exams and other great recommendations on readings, study tips, etc. Take a look at everything the site has to offer and make your own decisions on what will work best for you.
– A dictionary, which can be in print or online. Some math concepts get a little tricky, so this might help in the long run.
– You are also going to want a graphing calculator for certain questions. Look at our FRQs for help on which ones to choose.
How to Use the Study Plan
– We have designed this AP® study guide to revolve around the specific expectation laid out by the College Board for the topic of Calculus. The College Board has laid out four key themes that you will need to understand before taking the exam:
1. Functions, Graphs, and Limits
2. Derivatives
3. Integrals
4. Polynomial Approximations and Series
– NOTE: If you are planning on taking the Calculus AB exam, you do not need to study for key theme number IV. This 30-day study plan covers everything that you will need to know for both exams. For those who do not want to take that extra step into Calculus BC territory, we still recommend sticking with our study guide to the end since it will help you better understand the topics covered on the AB exam.
– That said, the phrase “practice makes perfect” is going to become your motto over the next several weeks. Probably more than any other AP® exam, studying for Calculus AB/BC is going to require doing math problems until you start dreaming in algorithms.
– You should be spending a minimum of one to two hours studying each day. All AP® exams are known for being difficult. You will need to dedicate a serious couple of hours each day if you want that 5.
– But we can’t have you overload, either. It is important that you stay happy and healthy. Never overexert yourself. Keep on top of your sleep, healthy eating, and physical fitness. This will ensure that the information you are learning will be retained.
– We have also worked in a study break every once in a while. This will help to ensure that your brain doesn’t get too cluttered when sorting out all of this information in such a short period of time.
Functions, Graphs, and Limits
Day 1
– First thing’s first, we are going to start off by taking a look at the AP® Calculuscourse Overview for both the Calculus AB and Calculus BC Exams. Read this thoroughly and get to know what is expected of you. One of the most important keys to successfully passing exams is to understand the expectations of those giving the exam.
– Read through pages 1 through 3 of the College Board’s AP® Calculus AB/BC Course and Exam Description, paying particular attention to the ways that the College Board has set up the AP® course and exam process.
– Familiarize yourself with Albert.io’s AP® Study Guide pages, getting a feel for how our website works and where all of the information is located.
Now, let’s get into the routine of this study plan:
– For each and every day you are reading material or watching a video, you are going to want to make flashcards on all of the buzzwords you come across (either with note cards, a folded piece of paper, or online on a site such as Quizlet). Choose a term of importance, writing it down on one side of the card, while putting the definition and a helpful hint down on the other side.
For Example,
Right off the bat, you may not know what a vector function is. So, make a flashcard that looks like this:
(Side A) Vector Function
(Side B) a mathematical function of one or more variables whose range is a set of multidimensional vectors or infinite-dimensional vectors. The input of a vector-valued function could be a scalar or a vector. The dimension of the domain is not defined by the dimension of the range.
Helpful Hint: Here are some equations that relate to the term Vector Function,
– r(t)=f(t)i+g(t)j
– r(t)=f(t)i+g(t)j+h(t)k
– Sometimes it helps to leave some room in the significance section, so you can add more info as you learn.
– Now is going to be a good time to read through the How to Study for AP® Calculus Exam Tips page that Albert.io has set up. This article contains some very helpful tips on how to become an excellent test-taker, especially for the AP® exams.
– Now, read through Chapter 1 from the MIT Calculus page. It asks, “why study calculus?” As a thought experiment, answer this. What do you think the point of calculus is? How much do you know about it?
– After you’ve finished reading these, take out your notebook and rearrange these recommendations to fit your learning style. Which is most important to you as someone learning Calculus for the first time? The point of doing this is to get you to think about where you are going to focus your efforts for the next several weeks. Make it work for you!
– OK, now get some rest and we will begin again tomorrow!
Day 2
– It is going to be absolutely important that you take notes on the information you are gathering right not only today, but in the weeks that follow. Your notepad should become your best friend and really should never leave your side as you study with us. Make sure that you’re taking notes on key concepts, ideas that you might find confusing and need to come back to later, and tips on how to become a better studier.
– Take a look at this “What is a limit?” video from the site calculus-help.com. Don’t forget to take notes on all of the key concepts that are being covered here. Use these notes to create flashcards. Also make sure to write down what you find.
– It’s ok if you’re a little lost. This is Day 2 after all! If you are confused about a certain topic or idea, just make a note of it, so you can come back later and go back over the details.
– Now let’s take a look at pages 4 through 6 of the College Board’s AP® Calculus AB/BC Course and Exam Description.
– This is going to be a good time to get used to how the Albert.io site is set up. We just want you to select 20 questions from any category, at random. You don’t need to care about the topic or even if you get the answers correct. The point here is to just familiarize yourself with how these are phrased and the types of questions that will be asked. Don’t worry if you can’t answer them correctly yet, that time will come.
– One of the most important things to remember is that Albert.io will provide you with helpful tips and places where you can do better. Take note of your weak spots and write them down in your notebook. These are the places you will have to spend more time on as you progress forward in the days ahead.
Day 3
– Today we begin the serious business of our routine. The more we do these steps day by day, the more familiar you should become with this study guide. And remember, if anything just isn’t feeling right, feel free to make your own tweaks.
– This also means that we are going full speed ahead. Keep up and be proud of all of the progress that you’ll be making.
– We are going to start today off with these videos: “When does a limit exist?” and “How do you Evaluate Limits?”
– After you’ve watched these, go ahead and read through Chapters 2 and 3 from MIT’s Calculus page.
– Keep on top of your flashcard terms and your note taking.
– Next, you’re going to want to take your first real look at the Free Response Questions. Just like we did yesterday, with the example multiple choice questions, select 5 FRQs from the College Board website, read through them, and see if you can answer any of them. Again, this is just to get to know the questions; you shouldn’t know how to do these yet. If you do, you’re awesome, but don’t sweat it if you don’t. Take notes on how these are phrased and possible ways to respond. We’ll take a look at these again later…
– Let get into your first real set of practice questions. Go ahead and start answering the first 20 questions in the Functions, Graphs, and Limits Try not to look at any notes and treat this as if you were taking the real test itself. But it’s also early on in the study guide, so don’t sweat it if you need to look at some notes at this point.
– Try not to get frustrated if you’re having a hard time at this point. We are only a few days in. The more you stick to this 30-day study plan, the easier these questions will get.
– Great job thus far. Hopefully, you’re getting into the swing of things!
Day 4
– Let’s go ahead and starts our day with some more videos. Take a look at the videos that cover Lessons 3 and 4. Remember, don’t watch these without your textbook(s) open and your notebook ready to be written in.
– On the topic of note taking, take a look at Chapter 4 from MIT’s Calculus for Beginners site and keep jotting down what you think is important or what you might be struggling with. .
– Now’s that time again—let’s do some practice questions. Today we are going to do those titled Limit of Functions and Continuity and Differentiability. Keep your eye on the recommendations that Albert.io is providing. These are going to help you grow into a better mathematician.
– Now would be a good time to dive right into the FRQs as well. You’re going to want to sit down and do those that were given out in the year 2002 for both the Calculus AB and the Calculus BC AP® exam. It is quite all right if you cannot answer these. But try to do so at the best of your ability. But pay particular attention to the sample answers that are provided. Take note on what has worked in the past and what has not.
Day 5
– We are going to be finishing up the first theme for Calculus AB/BC today. If things feel like they’re flying by, don’t worry. We will have plenty of time to go back over everything that we covered in the Review section of this study guide.
– With this in mind, go ahead and take a moment to review anything that might be confusing you to this point.
– Once you feel like you’ve caught back up, quiz yourself on all of the flashcards that you have created. Again, as a friendly reminder, keep on top of these every time a new idea or term pops up in this study guide.
– Now, you’re going to want to finish off the remaining videos from the Calculus-Help page. These would be Lessons 5 and 6
– We are going to end today’s session with a couple of Free Response Questions. Choose the 2003 FRQs from the College Board’s Calculus AB and the Calculus BC Again, a little peek or two at your notes is ok, but now is a good time to start trying not to rely on them too heavily.
– Let’s go ahead and finish up the Functions, Graphs, and Limits Complete the remaining questions that you have not finished yet for this section. Now that we are finishing up this course theme, you shouldn’t really be relying on notes anymore. You should start treating these practice tests more like the real deal.
– Before we finish up with the first theme of this course, review everything that we covered up to this point. Is there anything that you are unclear about? If so, go back over your notes or reread some of the material that we covered, so you can get the ideas down.
Day 6
– Ok, you need a little break. Take a long walk, hopefully for at least an hour.
– On the walk go over everything you covered this week. Let the ideas flow. Try to remember what you can in your own words.
– When you return from your walk, look up the material you couldn’t remember on your walk. Spend the next hour skimming all of your notes—nothing too serious.
– If you can, try your best to get a study-buddy, friend, or family member in on the action. Explain everything you’ve learned this week in your own terms. Ask them if your explanations were clear. Also have them ask you questions of their own. This will help you understand the concepts in your own way.
– This last part is particularly important. It may sound weird, trying to explain math problems out loud like this. But the more you practice explaining the concepts, the better you will understand them. Try to think about how you would teach the concepts to a room full of students learning calculus for the first time.
Start your AP® Calculus Prep today
Derivatives
Day 7
– Before we jump full force into the Derivatives theme, write out an outline that covers the main themes and concepts thathave been covered up to this point. Make sure that you are connecting your ideas together, showing that you have a solid understanding of how functions, graphs, and limits all relate to one another and the roles that they play in the world of calculus.
– Read through pages 6-17 of the College Board’s AP® Calculus AB/BC Course and Exam Description.
– Once you’ve read through this, let’s get going with the Theme #2 videos and readings. Take a look at the first lesson of the Derivatives section from Calculus-Help.
– Once you’ve got these concepts down, go back to MIT’s calculus for beginners page and read through Chapters 4 through 6, taking note of all the new material that is being covered.
– Back to practicing the multiple choice questions. Get working on the first 50 questions from the Derivatives section that’s been supplied by Albert.io. If you get any of these wrong, look back over the questions once more. Ask yourself what the best way to answer this type of question would be. Even though you already know the answers, retake these questions. The point is to get the formulas down so when similar questions pop up in the future, you’ll know the routine.
– Make sure that you are taking note of where you are struggling, so you can come back to it later. Continue writing key concepts on your flashcards, but also, keep track of what you find confusing in your notebook. These will prove useful for when it comes time to review.
– Let’s go ahead and finish off the day with another FRQ. Select a question from the year 2003 for today’s practice. It doesn’t really matter whether you choose from the Calculus AB or the Calculus BC exam right now. What matters is that you need to stop using your notes at this point and start treating these practices are like the real deal.
Day 8
– Review all of your flashcards up to this point. Give yourself a little test by randomly selecting 15 cards and see if you can get all of the definitions correct.
– Go ahead and click on the “The Power Rule” video link and watch the video.
– Once you’ve finished taking your notes on this video, go ahead and read through Chapters 6-7 from MIT’s page. After you’ve done this, take out your notebook and reflect on which of these learning styles fit you better. Are the Calculus-Help videos more of your style? If so, keep taking detailed notes on these. If you’re struggling with MIT’s Chapters, you may have to reread them in order to get the information out. Remember, not everyone learns the same way.
– And now we begin with the multiple choice questions. Go to our AP® Calculus page and complete the next two sections worth of questions (47 questions in all). Keep taking notes on where you are struggling. Make sure that you focus on these problem areas as we move forward in the weeks.
– Now on to another FRQ example. Work through the other Calculus AB or the Calculus BC FRQ from 2003 (whichever you did not choose from the day before. Make sure that you are no longer relying on your notes for these. Take your time and work through these on your own.
Day 9
– Today we are going to do something a little different. Today is going to be a practice day (remember, practice makes perfect when it comes to math and calculus). We will be working on practice multiple choice questions and FRQs like we usually do, but with a twist.
– As you work through the following problems, write out an explanation for every step you are taking to solve the equations. For example, you may come across a problem that is asking you to find a limit of a function as X approaches a constant. In solving this problem, you may want to write out that you are going to “circumvent the indeterminate form by factoring both the numerator and denominator” right next to the numerical representation of your solution.
– You are going to do this with every problem you work on today, so let’s get started!
– GO through this process with all of the questions in the Differential Equations, Second Derivatives, and Parametric and Polar Differentiation example questions.
– And go ahead and do the same thing with both of the Calculus AB or the Calculus BC FRQs from the year 2004.
– Once you have read through all of the answers to these questions, go ahead and end today’s study session.
Day 10
– Before we get straight into the readings and videos for this week, how did you like the explanatory part of the problem solving from yesterday? If you found it useful, go ahead and do this every once and a while when you are answering your practice questions. Sure, it takes more time, but it will help you understand the concepts in more detail.
– Now, back to the Calculus-Help Take a look at “The Product Rule” video.
– Now is going to be a good time to go through Chapters 8-9 from MIT’s page. After you’ve done this, write out a couple of sentences that explain what you’ve learned today. Think about this as if you were going to explain them to someone else who has never taken calculus before.
– Back to practice question time. Go ahead and answer the Trig, Exponential, and Log Derivatives section. Now will be an excellent time to start timing yourself. If you do not have a timer or stopwatch app on your phone/computer, you can access one here: online-stopwach.com. Try to treat this like a real exam, paying close attention to the time you have used up and how much time you have remaining.
– Select and work on the FRQs from both the Calculus AB and Calculus BC FRQs from the year 2005. You are going to want to have someone else take a look at what you’ve written. If you have a family member or friend who is familiar with this kind of math, have them look through them and double-check your work. Otherwise, get your teachers in on the action.
Day 11
– Today we are going to finish up with the Derivatives theme of this course. What you are going to start today with is the creation of an outline. Think about everything that we’ve covered up to this point. If you were to teach these themes to a new student, how would you do this? Probably, most importantly how to you explain the connections between all of the topics that we have covered?
– Watch the remaining video lessons from Calculus-Help. Don’t start slacking on your notes and flashcards. Make sure that you are keeping up with the new ideas and anything that you might be finding confusing.
– Let’s finish up this theme with a review session, Chapters 10. After reading through this, how does it compare to the outline that you created earlier? Is there anything you need to add to your own notes on what we have covered?
– It’s time to finish up with the Derivatives section of practice questions. Complete any that remains. Take notes on which questions you are struggling with and make sure to review these topics from the videos and other readings we have been going over.
– Now go ahead and work on the Calculus AB and Calculus BC FRQs from the year 2005. Remember, a calculator is not allowed on several of these questions, so pay attention to the requirements. You need to be practicing these as if they were the real test.
– If you haven’t had the chance to finish all of your multiple choice questions or FRQs, go ahead and catch up now. Also, make sure that you are paying attention to the recommendations that Albert.io provides.
Day 12
– Congratulations, you’ve made it to another day of rest.
– Take your walk, clear your head. Do the same as last time: think about all of the concepts you’ve gone over up to this point.
– Keep thinking about how you would teach this topic to other people. What are the best concepts to focus on? What types of problems are repeatedly coming up on the exams?
– When you get back from your walk. Go over your flashcards once more; keep mental and/or physical notes on where you need the most work.
Start your AP® Calculus Prep today
Integrals
Day 13
– Take a thorough look at pages 17-34 of the College Board’s AP® Calculus AB/BC Course and Exam Description. After finishing this, is there anything you would add to the course outline that you began on day one? Are there any concepts that you are missing or would choose to focus more time on?
– Calculus-Help is still updating its video selection, so we are going to have to switch gears here and take a look at a series of Calculus videos from a YouTube playlist. For now, we are going to watch the videos 41 through 47. Make sure you take good notes on these as well.
– NOTE: If you’ve got the time, you should watch all of these videos. They’re also very good and will act as a perfect source for review.
– So, luckily MIT’s Calculus for Beginners page covers all of the material that we need, so we don’t have to change anything there. Since you know the deal, go ahead and read through Chapters 11 and 12.
– Complete all of the questions from Interpretations and Properties. Review your notes and textbook on any areas you got wrong, and try to figure out why you answered the question wrong. Are you missing an important piece of knowledge about the course material, or did you just get tripped up on the wording of the question?
– Let’s go ahead and work on some more Calculus AB and Calculus BC FRQs from the College Board website. Do those from the year 2006. Keep working on explaining the steps that you are taking. After you’ve done this in writing, ask a friend or family member if you can explain the process to them. Go over how you’ve answered each question, explaining the process in detail. Encourage them to ask questions.
Day 14
– Review all of your flashcards up to this point. Give yourself a little test by randomly selecting 30 cards and see if you can get all of the definitions correct.
– Go back to that YouTube and watch videos 48 through 54.
– Now go ahead and read through Chapters 13 and 14. Take some time to think about the ways that Integrals and Derivatives are fundamental parts of Calculus. Use these readings and the videos to explain the ways they are connected and how they function.
– And now we begin with the multiple choice questions. Go to our AP® Calculus AB/BC page and work on the following to sections of multiple choice questions (41 questions in all).
– Once you have done that, it’s time to move on to the FRQs. Complete the questions from the year2007 for both the Calculus AB and Calculus BC.
Day 15
– Congratulations, you’ve made it to the halfway mark of this study guide! You should take a moment to feel proud of the work you’ve done. Keep up with the good work and let’s finish off like a champ.
– Watch the videos 55 through 62. How do you like these compared to the others we’ve watched? Which is better? Why? How would you create an informative video like these?
– Read through MIT’s Chapter 15. Don’t slack on your flashcards and note taking now. You’ve come so far!
– Complete all of the questions from the Techniques of Antidifferentiation.
– Work on the 2008 FRQs from both Calculus AB and Calculus BC.
Day 16
– Before we begin with any new material today, go ahead and look through all of your notes and take a quick assessment of all of the videos that we have watched up to this point. Are there any topics that you have not quite gotten a full grasp of? Go back and rewatch any videos that cover topics that you’re struggling with.
– Do the same with all of the reading material to this point, including all of the MIT stuff and any textbook material that you’ve been using.
– Now spend the next 30 or so minutes coming up with your own Calculus problems. Imagine that you’re creating a test for the class that you’ve been creating outlines for. Come up with three original math problems for each topic that we have covered (Integrals, Derivatives, and Functions, Graphs, and Limits). Along with these questions, provide detailed explanations of how to answer the questions.
– Now do the same with example FRQs. Come up with 2 of your own questions and write out detailed explanations for how the problems should be solved.
– It’s always fun to get a friend or family member involved, so ask another study-mate (you could even ask them to create their own questions and answer them too) or your parents to solve the problems that you’ve just created. When they’re done, explain to them out loud the best solutions, using everything you have learned about Calculus up to this point.
– Keep on top of your flashcard terms and your notetaking. It may be a good time to review those that you have made up to this point.
Day 17
– Now, let’s get back on schedule with the readings and videos. Click on the links for videos 63 through 69. Make sure that you’re still taking detailed notes.
– Back o MIT’s Calculus for Beginners page. Go ahead and read through Chapter 16.
– Finish off the remaining Integral multiple choice questions. You should be caught up with all of the questions we have covered. If not, spend the next 20 minutes going back over those you may have missed and catch up with the end of this theme.
– Since we have already completed a number of example FRQs, now would be a good time to review those you have already completed. Read over all of the answers that you have provided thus far. How would you answer them differently? If you were grading the exam as a member of the College Board, what grade would you give yourself? Have a teacher, friend or parent read some of these as well and ask them if your thought process is clear. If they were to provide you with a grade, ask them what they would give you.
Day 18
– The end of another major theme!
– Spend today reflecting on everything you’ve learned in the last couple of weeks. What are you struggling with the most? Are you still stuck on certain ideas? If so, write these down and we’’ come back to them during the review section of the 30-day study guide.
– Stay on top of you physical fitness, sleep, and diet.
Start your AP® Calculus Prep today
Polynomial Approximations and Series
Day 19
– This is probably the most important period of this 30-day study guide. You may be tempted to start slacking; but you are so close to the end. Three words: Don’t stop now.
– Even if you are taking the AP® Calculus AB exam, stick through the rest of the study plan. We’ve designed the entire 30-day study routine to help both Calculus AB and BC students. You will only be cutting yourself short if you quit now.
– Enjoy your rest day today.
– Keep up the good work!
Day 20
– After this, read the rest of the College Board’s AP® Calculus AB/BC Course and Exam Description. At this point, you should have a good idea of how the exam will be structured and what will be expected from you on exam day.
– Now, go ahead and skim over everything that you’ve already read from the College Board’s website, including the exam description. Take your notebook out and write down everything those topics that you think you need to study more.
– Keep these notes handy. We’re going to use them later on in this study guide. Also, as we continue on, keep adding your own notes on where you think you need to improve the most.
– Great, now that the review stuff for today is out of the way, let’s get into the math. Take a look at videos 70 through 78.
– Now, click on MIT’s Calculus for Beginners page and read through Chapter 17. Keep taking notes on where and how to improve.
– After that, work on the Series Basics and Concepts.
– Work on the FRQ from the year 2009 from both Calculus AB and Calculus BC. If you haven’t done so yet, get a teacher to take a look at the ways you’ve been answering these. Ask for some test-taking tips.
Day 21
– Let’s begin today’s study session by watching videos 79 through 89. While you are watching these, make 5 flashcards for every video you watch. At this point, your flashcard collection should be getting pretty big and scary looking.
– After you’ve made your flashcards, read through Chapters 18 through 19.
– Now, try your hand at the Advanced Series multiple choice questions.
– We are going to finish off the day with the FRQs from the year 2010 from both Calculus AB and Calculus BC. At this point, you should be feeling comfortable with the timing of these FRQs. If you still find yourself rushing to finish these up within the allotted amount of time, spend today’s practice paying special attention to the clock and ways to manage your time better.
Day 22
– Today we are going to actually finish up with all of our reading and video watching. So, before we officially begin this material today, take a quick review of your notes to make sure that you’re up to speed on all of the material. Pay special attention to those places you are struggling.
– Go ahead and finish off the remaining videos from the YouTube channel on Calculus.
– After that, finish reading the rest of MIT’s Calculus for Beginners.
– Doesn’t that feel great to finally be done with these? But make sure that you’re not slacking off just because this is the last chunk of new material.
– After you’ve got these down, review all of your flashcards up to this point. Give yourself a little test by randomly selecting 30 cards and see if you can get all of the definitions correct.
– Finish off the rest of the multiple choice questions.
– Let’s go ahead and finish off the day with another round of FRQs. Select and answer the FRQs from the year 2011. Do both Calculus AB and Calculus BC.
Day 23
– We are going to spend the majority of today preparing for the review section coming up after out theme break. Make sure that you take good notes today since we want you to focus your energy reviewing topics that will help you out the most.
– Do the same thing with all of the notes you’ve created. Go back over those comments to yourself on where you need to improve. Keep adding these to your growing list.
– Now, read through the blog article on The Ultimate List of AP® Calculus Tips. What part of this blog post is most useful to you? Why?
– After you’ve read these, ask yourself: Have I covered all of these steps? Which ones have you been slacking on the most? Which were the most helpful tips? Write down all of your answers in your notes.
– We are going to make two lists. For the first, make a Top Ten list of topics that you need to review. Rank them in order of those ideas that are most confusing being first, and so on. Tape this to your study area. By the end of next week you’ll have them all off that list.
– For the second list, number the best study tips that you’ve read or heard yet. Which ones work best for you? The point here is to figure out what kind of learner you are, so you can focus on your strengths during our final review week.
– Lastly, for today, go ahead and finish up with any FRQs or practice multiple choice questions you may not have completed yet.
Day 24
– Another day of rest! Great job, you should be feeling fantastic about your progress.
– This is probably the most critical period. At this point, you might be feeling a little burned out. But stay with us, we’ll get you through this.
– You may be tempted to take it easy on the following review section, but don’t. We’ve designed this 30-day study guide to guide you through a successful AP® exam. The next several days are essential in helping you retain everything you’ve worked so hard to learn.
– Get some rest, and onward!
Start your AP® Calculus Prep today
Day 25
– We are going to start off today by looking at those lists you’ve created. Your plan for today is to focus your review on what you need to learn before the exam. Your goal will be to cross these off the list by the end of our session. Emphasize on numbers 1 through 3, in particular.
– Next, select 10 to 20 questions that apply to each concept that you’ve written on this list. Use the Albert.io questions that we’ve been working through this entire study guide. All of these should be repeats, since we’ve finished them, but you need to work on your must-learn list, so a little repetition makes sense, right?
– For example, if you are having problems figuring out derivatives, work on those questions from the “Derivative at a Point” and Second Derivatives” sections.
– Next, take out your notes, outlines, and example tests for the AP® Calculus course writing exercise we’ve been doing. Would you make any changes to the ways you’ve described the AP® Calculus course? What would you add? Why? What skills have you learned about studying for this exam that you would share with others?
– After working on this thought exercise for ten to twenty minutes, do a full review of your flashcards. Make sure that you’ve got all of these terms down.
– Now, go ahead and work on the Calculus AB and Calculus BC FRQs from the year 2012.
– Make sure that you are all caught up on your FRQs and example questions. Now is the time to complete everything you have missed. Also, make sure that you are caught up on all of your reading, online videos, and flashcards.
Day 26
– Before we get into any more practice questions for today, go back through all of your notes and review those topics that you are still struggling with.
– After reviewing your notes, take out your notebook. Let’s make sure that you’ve got a solid understanding of the central themes that make up the AP® Calculus course. Write out, in your own words, the main points of each of the themes that we have covered. Each explanation should take up a page, showing all of the key concepts, connections with the other themes, and hints on how the math works.
– Now is the time to retake all of the example questions that you may have gotten wrong over the last several weeks. Keep taking them until you get the right answer, reading through Albert.io’s recommendations after each attempt. Do this again with each of the FRQs.
– After you have done this, select another 30 example questions at random.
– Next, do the Calculus AB and Calculus BC FRQs from the year 2013.
– OK, so for the next two days, we are going to do a couple of practice exams and try to recreate the exam itself as best we can. So, spend the rest of the day setting up the perfect practice exam space for the next few days. Make sure that you are going to be in a quiet space, where you can focus for two or three hours and nobody will disturb you. Set up some pencils, paper, water, snacks, your calculator, stopwatch, etc. and everything else you will need.
Day 27
– Today, we take our practicing seriously. Get ready to start this as if it were the real deal.
– Have your stopwatch or clock ready, so you make sure that you are staying in line with the time limits required by the College Board. For today and tomorrow, absolutely no notes.
– Reminder, you have 105 minutes to complete the multiple choice section (45 questions) and 90 minutes to complete the FRQs section (3 questions).
– And now we begin with the multiple choice questions. Go to the multiple choice questions for the year 1998 and complete them within the time limit. These are actual questions from past exams, so take note on how they are phrased, the best solutions, etc.
– Once you have done that, it’s time to move on to the FRQs. Complete the questions from the year 2014.
– You did it! Great job. You should be feeling really positive about your work and all of the effort you’ve put in.
– Last, you want to check all of your answers and think about ways to improve.
Day 28
– OK, today is going to go the same as yesterday. Good luck!
– Go to the multiple choice questions for the year 1996 and complete them within the time limit.
– Next, complete the FRQs from the year 2015.
– Check all of your answers once more and take any notes on where you may want to spend your review time tomorrow.
– Great job for all of your hard work!
Day 29
– Today is going to be your final day of review. You should be feeling very confident about your future exam. Now’s the time to get those final problem areas off of your list.
– First off, take a look over all of your notes, including all of the outlines you have created, the outlines that you have made, and take a skim-through of the videos and readings we’ve worked on. Read your notes thoroughly and double-check your familiarity with all of the concepts and ideas.
– If there are still some problem areas, rewatch any videos on the topic. It’s ok to not know every piece of information, but you do want to have a good feeling about all topics.
– Next, you are going to want to review all of your flashcards. DO one last quiz on yourself. Or better yet, get a friend to help you study. Power in numbers, right? (Like the math pun?)
– Review all of your example question scores from the AP® Calculus AB/BC site by Albert.io. If you still have some questions that were answered incorrectly, go back and retake these until you have reached 100 percent correct.
– Review all of the FRQ you have answered. Ask yourself: Which ones were the strongest? Weakest? Can you see yourself getting progressively better? Take notes in your notebook on where you need to do better. Be as specific as possible.
– Make sure that you are paying attention to all of the comments that Albert.io and the other sources are providing you, so you can figure out the best way to approach the solutions to the problems.,
– Next, take one last look at the list of test-taking tips that you made. Look this over once more and remember the tips that have worked best for you. Use your strengths to get that 5.
Day 30
– You did it! You made it to the last day. Awesome job!
– Today is a day that you just need to prepare for the exam. Don’t stress out. Feel good about your work. And be proud that you made it through our 300-day study guide.
– You’re going to want to focus on being prepared for the exam itself. Get your stuff ready. Just like the preparation for your last couple of practice exams, do you have your pencils? Water? Snacks? Calculator? Get all that together the day before the exam, so you’re spending the day thinking only about Calculus.
– Again, stay healthy! Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and eat healthy foods.
– Probably most important, get your sleep! Don’t throw the last 30 days away by being tired and brain-fogged during the exam.
– You’ve worked really hard to get to this point, so congratulations on staying on top of this 30-day study plan—you’ll do great!
– If you have kept up with this daily study guide, you will have:
– Notes, key terms, and flashcards on the four central themes of AP® Calculus.
– Gained the skills to graphically, numerically, analytically, and verbally explain how calculus works in both theory and in applied mathematical equations.
– Observed dozens of visual examples of economic processes work through expansive informational videos and explanatory texts.
– Completed a broad range of example Free Response Questions and practiced with hundreds multiple choice questions!
– Applied tried and true test-taking tips to your AP® Calculus study regiment.
If you have any extra time between the end of this 30-day study guide and your actual test, stay on top of our work. You are going to want to go over all of the material provided by Albert.io as often as possible.
Finally, maintain that feeling of confidence. Desire and discipline pave the road to success. The fact that you have shown your dedication and resilience in completing this 30-day study guide shows that you are a strong learner. Work with your strengths and always feel proud!
For information on other AP® exams and the other study guides we offer, head toAlbert.io or read more of our other blog posts.
Let us know what has worked for you. What did you like best about this one monthstudy guide? Do you have recommendations of your own on how to study for the AP® Calculus exam?
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