AP testing is either right around the corner or knocking on your door at this point. What do you do? How will you possibly pass? How do you handle all this stress?

Pre-Test

1. Sleep!

Getting a full 8-10 hours ensures you come to the test feeling energized and awake. “Even though I’m usually awake until around 2-3am most nights, I made sure to get a lot of sleep the night before,” Bahman Hayat said. “It really makes a difference.”

2. Breakfast!

The phrase “most important meal of the day” holds true significance on AP testing days. Eating breakfast prevents feelings of hunger and fatigue that make it hard to concentrate. Scrambled eggs and toast, oatmeal and fresh fruit, homemade breakfast burritos, smoothies, and yogurt-granola parfaits are all excellent meal choices. Some seniors even have the pre-test meal down to a science. “Consume no more than 150 mg of caffeine prior to the test,” Eric Liu said. “You wanted to be pumped up, but not too much so.” And don’t forget to bring some hearty snacks and some water to sustain your energy and keep hydrated during the test.

Test Day

You’ve taken our advice and you’re feeling well-fed and fully-rested. But what now? As the clock rapidly approaches the starting time, keep these tips in mind.

1. Test Taking Strategies

Although test taking can vary for everyone, our seniors provided several all-around good strategies. An important part of the test is time-management and keeping pace to finish on time. It is also important to remember that even if the answer is only half correct, it is fully wrong. Most seniors also agreed that skipping the hard problems and coming back to them was the best course of action. “It’s better to finish the easier ones first to get them out of the way,” senior Jake Caccamo said.

2. Be confident!

While test-taking varies from person to person, one piece of advice is always true: be confident! All the interviewees agreed that being positive and confident will prevent you from “psyching yourself out” of the test. “[The test] is not as hard as you think. It’s just long,” senior Tian Yuan said. “You’ll do better than what you expect.”

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