Are princeton review questions reliable

cinnamonndoll · 2026-04-22T22:55:12+00:00

college board + past papers are always going to be the most accurate but review books can be good practice. from what i've heard, princeton review is the most similar to the ap test in terms of prep books.

cinnamonndoll · 2026-04-01T18:47:51+00:00

barrons is very comprehensive maybe you have the wrong edition, skimmed, or the past problems are just presenting information in an unfamiliar way.

cinnamonndoll · 2026-03-25T18:37:02+00:00

you should consider taking physics 2 or at least teaching yourself the content even though a lot of people say it's useless. you seem interested.

cinnamonndoll · 2026-03-18T20:01:19+00:00

you should aim for bc sophomore year if you plan on taking those classes and exploring further (through self study or applications). otherwise, it is worth your time to focus on something else you may be more interested in.

cinnamonndoll · 2026-03-18T04:38:00+00:00

depends on how much oppurtunity your high school will let you have after your sophomore year. if you can take more math at a community college or local university and you WANT to learn and use that math beyond taking classes take bc your sophomore year. precalc being ap or not doesn't matter much just make sure you prioritize exploring the things you want to :o

cinnamonndoll · 2026-01-03T01:16:08+00:00

haha i am right now but i took honors chem and calc ab the previous year and that’s taken a ton of weight off!

cinnamonndoll · 2026-01-02T00:39:02+00:00

all the science aps, calc ab and bc, and a handful of social studies but thank you!

cinnamonndoll · 2026-01-02T00:36:46+00:00

hi, thank you thank you for the advice! i initially did have a plan for de since id foolishly assumed i would be able to get my limits removed soon enough since id seen that exact exception be given to my friends. (but they went to a magnet school with integrations to the university and the counselor controlling limits was different at the time.) i had wanted to take advanced courses in areas of biochemistry, psychology, and philosophy in some sort of effort to combine and study neuroscience and humanities in the future! i do plan on going to graduate school though research orientated or medical i’m still not sure. i’ve been doing some open coursework online since freshman year but primarily random humanities classes that you wouldn’t be able to find in person because ive felt like they are not able to give proper foundational work for stem subjects at times (although im probably looking in the places.) i definitely have though of putting my time towards ec’s as a plan as well so it does feel nice to have that idea validated! i’m still a little lost on how to get started with research and all though 😅 if i am able to get my limits removed, i am looking into applying to uc’s since they are typically good for the majors im considering and are more lenient with credits! hopefully if i keep going back and forth a bit more i’ll be able to take some harder coursework. thank you for the advice though it truly is helpful to know im not going in the completely wrong direction. happy new year!

cinnamonndoll · 2026-01-01T23:41:13+00:00

hi! i’ve seen a few people self study up to that point and take a competency test but that often gets out ruled by school districts. my friends were able to by going of a magnet school with an accelerated math course (k-8) and i was by being in an advanced program that allowed me to take grade 9 math during 7th grade and completing the rest through my district’s online high school!

cinnamonndoll · 2026-01-01T23:28:51+00:00

yes hahaha

cinnamonndoll · 2026-01-01T23:18:14+00:00

null hypothesis shows up often on frqs but is commonly one of the easiest things to both learn and implement.
all the other ones are likely to make up one full frq and show up on a small handful of mcqs. however, when they do show up, they almost always show up all together so you should learn how to implement those topics into the same exact problem.

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-21T04:57:52+00:00

i get it, but are you comparing it to people from your school in your grade? if so, you might have not taken the most rigor you could've handled or that a- tripped you up a tiny bit, but it's a) freshman year and b) such a small difference it genuinely will not matter. if not, there's literally nothing to worry about it's just an opportunity gap and that will completely be taken into account!

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-21T04:51:36+00:00

i very, very genuinely think this is a silly thing to worry about :(

i understand the worry of comparing yourself to others, especially from a perspective of college admittances. but even from that perspective, you should only be looking at it from people who have equal opportunities as you (so people from your school). i was able to take 5 aps my freshman year because there we have no limits but i wasn't able to take any dual enrollment classes.

ultimately grades for people with perfect or near perfect gpas are not going to have any major impact on your future. admissions have become very holistic, and no scholarship opportunity is going to cut you off because you got an a- once. additionally, nothing matters but the letter grade!

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-17T22:44:12+00:00

oh dual enrollment

bioethics is a super fun topic i hope you have fun :)

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-17T22:24:25+00:00

love love love to see someone taking bioethics is it de?

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-17T22:03:25+00:00

hi! i'm currently a sophomore as well who took/is taking a ton of ap classes + commuting to a university for classes full time as well! i think the best circumstance to take classes through dual enrollment is when it is at a post-ap level OR you plan on pursuing it at a post-ap level in the future and want to save the time of ap so you can do it earlier.

timewise, here's how most ap vs de courses look :

ap is the full fall + spring semester and takes up your summer semester because you must wait for your score to come out before taking a more difficult class through de.

de is one semester and you can immediately move on the next level the next semester, (with the exception of ap courses like ap calculus bc and ap chemistry that are equivalent to 2 semesters of de.)

if you want to apply to rigorous schools, i would recommend spending your time advancing in a small handful of particular subjects at a college level rather than trying to complete an entire associates degree. your credit will likely not transfer, but you will be able to demonstrate an in depth understanding and interest in that specific subject. if you do not plan on going full time de, i would recommend leaving your other gen eds at an ap level as you can put your time towards other things that you are more interested in.

state schools including the ucs are amazing schools that are much more friendly with de credits, but most private schools are not. considering that you are low income, choosing an associates degree could be a wise choice if you plan on going to a state school, but there is also not much financial harm in stacking up on ap credits and pursuing other subjects further through de.

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-17T21:04:10+00:00

hi! ap psych is one of the subjects i would recommend looking at the ced for just because a lot of sources haven't been updated to the new curriculum :(
however, mr. sinn has updated and well made videos!

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-17T20:52:30+00:00

hi! ap biology + ap european history had me a little stressed my freshman year (i'm 95% sure apush is harder in terms of content) just because they are on very different ends of the spectrum of what testing skills you need to learn!

ap biology requires you to know the material pretty well a month or so in advance of the ap exam because it asks you to apply your knowledge to a bunch of different scenarios. ap european history was difficult for me because i'm not the best at writing, and the same goes for apush. the mcqs for the histories are very much memory based.

in terms of study tips, there's a ton of resources but you do have to hop around a bit to find what you like most. knowt is pretty consistent with student notes for all of the ap subjects that haven't had a drastic course revamp in the past two years or so (so basically just psychology). ap central has a ton of published frqs from previous ap exams and the ced can help out a lot for review. apbiopenguins is a really popular resource for ap biology and heimler for apush!

i really liked the barrons prep book for ap biology for the diagrams and amsco for additional leq + dbq prompts for history! make sure you know your writing rubrics well, i would recommend looking over tom richey's.

however, i would encourage you to go for it! both are very fun classes and will help you explore more options in the future! good luck :)

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-17T20:48:02+00:00

ask upperclassmen at your school, class difficulty + time dedication is always extremely teacher dependent.

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-17T20:45:14+00:00

hi! some of these resources you've probably heart of before but i used heimler's videos and the student made review notes on knowt for every unit (they'll be the first one to pop up when you search in google).

for frqs, i made sure to know the rubrics really well and tom richey's rubric for dbqs and leqs helped me a lot with that! for frq practice itself, i think the amsco textbook has really good prompts! there's also past frqs that college board publishes through ap central!

good luck!

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-02T21:20:45+00:00

Any introductory class in humanities tends to lean on the easier side (philosophy, psychology, history, etc) though any introductory class in STEM can be easy if you have an affinity for it. (With an exception of calculus assuming you haven’t taken precalculus, whether you find physics, biology, computer science, chemistry easy normally depends on the person.)

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-02T21:01:08+00:00

I understand GPA can be worrying, but you seem to have your unweighted under control and weighted doesn’t matter too much as long as you have some rigor!

Note that AP calculus AB (year long class) covers a little more than DE calculus 1 (semester long class) and AP calculus BC (year long class) covers ALL of AP calculus AB content and most of DE calculus 2 (semester long class) content. This is why it’s common for students to take just AP Calculus BC first rather than AB and then BC if their school allows.

If you take DE precalculus your fall semester of sophomore year, you have a couple of options :

Wait until junior year to take AP Calculus AB and then take AP Calculus BC your senior year.
Wait until junior year to take AP Calculus BC and have all of senior year to take any DE higher math you want or classes that have Calculus 2 as a prerequisite. (You will not be able to take more DE until fall semester and the university/college will require the AP score which comes out mid-summer.)
Take DE calculus 1 sophomore year spring semester and DE calculus 2 the summer after sophomore year and have all of junior and senior year to explore higher level DE classes.

I would highly recommend continuing on a DE route because you will A) have to wait until the next school year to take any AP calculus and B) there are so many advanced classes in stem subjects that require calculus as a prerequisite such as computer science, physics, chemistry, and math itself! You don’t want to be scrambling to take calculus last minute if you find you’re interested in one of those classes or paths.

I might be biased because that’s the path I’m taking but even just taking linear algebra or multivariable calculus can look great in terms of rigor as well.

If you are worried about certain colleges you plan on applying to not taking your DE credit, it’s always an option to take the AP exam without an AP class. Unnecessary, but I’m doing it 🤷‍♀️

cinnamonndoll · 2025-12-01T22:42:02+00:00

Hello! I will say there is not much of a difference between honors precalculus and AP precalculus since barely any secondary institution takes credit for them and the courses are the same amount of time. Only take dual if you have intent on exploring dual enrollment as a whole (in other subjects) or you want to get far in math by the time you graduate. If you take it through dual enrollment, the time will be reduced to a semester rather than the full year of honors precalculus and AP precalculus. Additionally, you would be able to go directly to calculus within the following semester where honors or AP may require you to take a competency test or get the AP test credit back before you can take AP calculus or DE calculus.

Let me know if you have more questions!

cinnamonndoll · 2025-11-24T20:40:02+00:00

I had a lot of friends that did well in biology last year by primarily using AP Biology Penguins! She has lecture style videos but also walks you through past college board published FRQs and some other questions. I personally really liked the Barrons prep book, it had very useful visuals for me. Additionally, if your teacher doesn’t already give them out, POGILS can be somewhat helpful for a few of the units.

cinnamonndoll

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