August is here, which means the first day of school, study sessions, and homecoming are just around the corner. If you're signed up for any AP classes this year, you might be wondering what resources are available to help you review for tests, understand course content, and eventually prepare for the AP exam.

After taking 10 advanced placement courses and exams, I have compiled the ultimate list of free study materials, including content review videos, informative articles, and practice problems. Now, let's get ready to bookmark these pages for future reference!

AP Classroom

Created by the College Board, AP Classroom has review videos and resources that students can utilize throughout the school year. At the start of your AP courses, your teachers will have you enter a unique class code to access AP Classroom, which also requires a College Board account.

This online resource allows students access to AP Daily videos, which explain and work through practice problems and questions across all of the topics required to know on the AP exam. For exam preparation, there are also AP Daily: Practice Sessions and AP Daily: Live Review, where instructors will walk viewers through solving practice prompts with complete solution sets and explanations. Many of the past practice sessions and live reviews are currently on Advanced Placement's YouTube channel as well.

Also, teachers can assign students practice multiple-choice and free-response questions, full-length practice exams, and other assessments. After submitting your work, the answer key and scoring guidelines will let you check your answers. AP Classroom also keeps track of your results on these practice tests, which I found especially helpful at the end of the year to know which units to focus my studying on.

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Khan Academy

With 15 subjects currently available, Khan Academy has videos, articles, and practice problems perfect for understanding course content. The list of AP classes on Khan Academy includes: biology, chemistry, environmental science, physics 1, physics 2, computer science principles, microeconomics, macroeconomics, world history, art history, U.S. history, U.S. government and politics, calculus AB, calculus BC, and statistics.

Throughout the year, I would often use Khan Academy to brush up on difficult topics before unit tests. Their videos and articles provide all of the need-to-know information about topics, as well as the "why" behind the content. Furthermore, after every short section of information, there is a four-question check, and after a few sections, there is a five-question quiz. Paired with the longer unit tests, these practice MCQs (multiple-choice questions) help you retain information studied and assist you in creating a personalized study plan.

Marco Learning's YouTube Channel

If you are looking for MCQ strategies or how to earn points on the FRQ (free-response questions) section, Marco Learning's YouTube channel is a good place to start. Although the majority of the videos are a few years old, most of the tips and tricks are still applicable to current versions of the exams.

The channel also features Q&A sessions with AP readers, unit reviews, and cram session videos across many classes, such as AP Psychology, AP English Language/Literature and Composition, AP Biology, and several others. Most of these videos are between 3 and 20 minutes long, except for more comprehensive reviews and some of the Q&As.

Marco Learning videos were the perfect course introduction for several of the AP classes that I took. I would often watch the exam strategies videos on how to answer multiple-choice questions and maximize free-response points at the start of the year, and then review these videos before every unit test for reminders on testing strategies.

Released Practice Exams

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When you start to prepare for your AP exam (or any in-class assessments), definitely check out released practice materials from the College Board's website. Every year, a few days after each exam, the free-response questions are posted onto that exam's page, which becomes the perfect studying resource.

Before unit exams, I would look through the past five or so years' FRQs for questions covering the same topics that I would be tested on. After completing the FRQs, I would check with the scoring guidelines and example responses. Through completing this process multiple times, I was able to see the expectations for FRQ responses as well as examples of actual student answers and how they were scored.

At the end of the year, I would recommend using the released complete AP exams. Go through the test with the same pacing as an actual AP exam and the same 10-minute break in the middle of sections. Afterwards, score your exam and identify which units or topics you need to focus on studying. Since there are only a few of these released materials, I suggest waiting until March or April, when you've gone through all or almost all of the content, to get the most of it.

Course and Exam Descriptions (CEDs)

The CED is the one-stop shop for understanding what content knowledge and skills are required in each AP class.

With approximately 250 pages, the CEDs are the framework for understanding what you need to know. Under each unit are topics that each have specific skills, resources, and information that the College Board can test on. Within the topics are learning objectives, which explain what question or phenomenon students are supposed to learn, and essential knowledge that goes over the "answers" to the learning objectives.

On the left-hand side of the document, there are also links to resources (like released FRQs and explanation pages) that students can access to practice the suggested skills and further understand the content. I used the CEDs to make sure that I thoroughly knew the "essential knowledge," especially for subtopics that I had difficulty with.

Heimler's History

For students in AP World History, AP U.S. History, AP U.S. Government and Politics, AP European History, and/or AP Human Geography, Heimler's History is a great resource for informative and entertaining videos. Heimler's videos focus on specific topics covering all the essential information from the CED within four to eight minutes.

I used Heimler in all of my AP History classes as a review resource for both unit tests and the AP exam. His content is to the point, engaging, and focuses on the what, when, where, and why. Definitely subscribe to stay up-to-date with AP updates and new videos.

AP Bio Penguins

If you've signed up for AP Biology, definitely add AP Bio Penguins to your study resource list. Run by Mrs. Jones, AP Bio Penguins is perfect for both reviewing information and understanding how to answer FRQs.

The AP Bio Penguins website has lots of helpful studying tools, including practice schedules for the AP exam, links to unit reviews and FRQ walkthroughs, and one-pager reviews. Also, for additional practice questions, make sure to follow AP Bio Penguins on Instagram and TikTok @apbiopenguins. Beginning in January, every weekday, Mrs.

Jones posts on her Instagram story content questions based on a unit's subtopic, along with an opportunity to ask clarifying questions. I loved being able to refresh my memory of AP Bio content with a 10-minute daily review session while also seeing study tips and motivation in my Instagram feed.

For a plethora of AP Biology resources, be sure to follow AP Bio Penguins across social media platforms.

Mr. Smedes

For any incoming AP Environmental Science students, Mr. Smedes' YouTube channel is one to bookmark. The channel has videos for all subtopics that align with the CED topics, great for AP exam and in-class assessment reviewing.

The channel also has videos focused on the necessary math and FRQ skills, study tips, unit reviews, and lab walk-throughs, as well as links to comprehensive Google Slides presentations. I utilized the presentations as my main study resource and found them to be informative, engaging, and straightforward, making this channel the perfect study resource.

Textbooks

If your school provides a physical or online textbook for your AP class, be sure to take advantage of all of the accompanying resources. Beyond the content written within the textbook, many publishers also include practice MCQs, FRQs, and practice exams within the chapters.

For example, my AP U.S. Government and Politics online textbook had flashcards, a key terms list (with definitions), review questions with instant feedback, and practice FRQ prompts. At the start of the year, I recommend flipping through your textbook to see if there are any additional resources available.

Conclusion

Regardless of whether your first day is next week or next month, I hope that you have found (and bookmarked) some of the above study resources to help you succeed in your AP classes. Remember that there are several other free websites and YouTube channels with review content. At the end of the day, use the resources that work best for you and don't be afraid to try different channels, websites, and sources. Happy studying!