AP Calculus – Mr. N's El Dorado Site

Welcome to AP Calculus AB

I hope this site will help you with getting the most out of this class and help you succeed in passing the AP Exam.

AP CALCULUS AB EXAM — Monday May 13th

Tips for Succeeding on the AP Exam

I. Multiple Choice Sections

No Penalty for Guessing: There is no penalty for guessing, so make sure to bubble in all questions. Keep an eye on your time so that you finish all questions, but if time runs out, make sure to mark everything! Who knows, you may get a couple correct!

Do not try to answer the questions in the order presented. This is a timed test, and if you waste time on the first hard problem you find you may never get to the next easy question. Try to go through the questions quickly, the first time through answer all the questions that look easy to you. Then go through a second time, again answering questions that appear a little harder. The worst thing you can do is to spend 15 minutes stuck on one question and waste all your time here.

Where are the Answers? Use the space in your test booklet. Write or circle your answers in the booklet and remember to bubble them into the answer key.

Check. If you have time, read through the exam and make sure that the answers you marked in the book are the ones you bubbled in! One silly way to lose a lot of points is to bubble your correct answers into the wrong questions. Also, don’t lose points because you didn’t completely fill in a bubble.

Double Check: If you have time, go back and double-check your work for accuracy.

II. Free Response Sections

Rounding or Exact? Every answer must either be exact, or correct to three decimals. If the answer is π then you will get full-credit for “π,” “3.14159,” “3.141,” or “3.142.” You will lose a point for “3.14.”

Don’t Waste Time on Simplifying: In class you are always asked to simplify. On the AP test however, you cannot get extra credit for simplifying, you can only lose credit for making a careless error. So don’t simplify complex problems unless you need the numerical result for another part of the problem.

CLEARLY Show Your Work. In class, I get used to your writing. However, remember, the AP graders don’t know you and have never seen your writing before. Show all work, make sure it is clear and legible. These people will be tired from grading hundreds of papers, so make it clear!

III. General Guidelines

Food. Make sure to have a good dinner and breakfast. Your brain needs to be in top form, so feed it!

Sleep. Don’t stay up late cramming. Get a good night sleep so you can think throughout the whole 4 hours!

Don’t Cram. Last minute cramming won’t help! We take a long time to review. Know your material in advance and get your rest.

Trust Yourself. You will succeed! You have studied! You have worked hard. Now go show it with confidence.

You are not going to get 100%! It is very rare that students get 100%! Remember what we talked about and what you generally need to get a 3, 4 or 5. You can get a 5! I know for some of you it is difficult to not get 100%, but the test is designed so that very few get 100%!

So if you come up to a question that you don’t know how to do, don’t freak out! Break it down to the basics of what we learned and go from there.

Again, THINK OF THE BASICS OF THE CONCEPT and do that.

Don’t FREAK OUT! You may very well come across a question you’ve never seen before. It happens. Close your eyes. Take several deep breaths. Calm yourself. More points are lost to anxiety than to mathematical ignorance.