Get Started with AP Psychology

AP Psychology is one of the easier AP classes offered by Collegeboard with a 17% 5 rate. Much of this course is centered around vocabulary terms, historical figures and dates, and large umbrella concepts that make up much of your knowledge if you understand them generally. This makes flashcards very useful for this class in particular. If you are enrolled in the AP Classroom for your class, make the most of the practice resources and videos provided for you there. Here is an in-depth overview of AP Psychology plus the resources, notes, and videos I used to get a 5.

Units and Weighting

As you can see from the table, Unit 5: Cognitive Psychology is the unit with the most weight (most amount of questions) on the AP exam. However, this is closely followed by Units 1, 7, and 8, meaning that these are the units that you should focus on most when studying for the exam. It is important to remember that many of these units draw on each other, so the important, umbrella vocabulary terms should be solid and known by the time the AP exam in May rolls around.

AP Psychology Unit Notes

AP Psych Notes PDF

Here are the notes that I personally made while studying for the AP Psychology exam. From pages 1-135, the content is covered expansively and in great detail. Pages 135 onwards are quick and general reviews based on the units covered by Collegeboard. These help with exam preparation and as last-minute reviews.

Lecture Videos & Other Resources

If you're self-studying AP Psychology or just need that extra help in concepts or units you don't quite understand, video lectures can be the fix for you. There are always the AP Classroom videos, but if you don't find those to your taste, here are the ones I used to help clarify and review for the exam.

Mandy Rice Vids

Mandy Rice's review videos are excellent for step-by-step, unit-by-unit comprehensive review. This is excellent both for learning material and reveiwing for the AP exam. She covers each of the nine units in videos that span from 20-30 minutes long.

Mr. Sinn Live

Mr. Sinn's review videos are expansive and excellent for grasping the concepts of AP Psychology in a fun way. The resources provided by Mr. Sinn are not limited to this playlist. His channel is full of excellent videos for each of the units that will undoubtedly help with learning.

SS Psychology

These Simple Studies Review PDFs contain to-the-point, comprehensive bullet points perfect for quick review and recall.

Fiveable

Fiveable is one of my favorite resources. If you don't have a textbook, Fiveable's study guides for each unit and chapter will serve the purpose just as well. They also have a variety of videos, FRQ examples, and cheatsheets.

Exam Format

Section I: Multiple Choice

100 Questions | 1 Hour 10 minutes | 66.7% of Exam Score

Questions will ask students to do the following:
- Define and explain content from a range of course topics
- Apply skills of concept application, data analysis, and scientific investigation

Section II: Free Response

2 Questions | 50 minutes | 33.3% of Exam Score

Questions will ask students to do the following:
- Explain behavior and apply theories using concepts from different theoretical frameworks or subdomains in the field
- Analyze psychological research studies, including analyzing and interpreting quantitative data