With AP tests happening in May, many students are stressed from late-night cramming and study sessions. One of the challenging components of AP tests is that students are unaware of what content will be included; consequently, they must review the whole course in preparation. However, some teachers, specifically ones dealing in history or government, can almost accurately predict what will be on the test based on recent events. Others can gather vague ideas based on tests from earlier years. 

AP U.S. History is considered of the hardest exams because it is content-heavy. APUSH teacher Ms. McMahon guesses that the short answer prompts, document-based prompts, and long answer prompts will be focused on historical periods three, seven, eight, and nine. In addition, she believes that WWI and WWII will be central topics on the test.  

“I would recommend that students study the more recent periods. It is important to know the Supreme Court decisions too,” she explained, “Based on earlier tests and current events, I would bet that they will include something about the civil rights movement or industrialization.” 

Other AP subjects related to math, science, and English are slightly easier to prepare for because they follow an established format and vague topic list. For example, the AP lang test will always have an MCQ followed by an argumentative essay, rhetorical analysis, and synthesis essay. Although it is impossible to predict the specific prompts, the techniques and skills needed to excel on each type of essay is similar. Students simply need to hone their grammatical and analytical abilities rather than memorizing several events and concepts across history.