This post is officially the smartest thing we've ever read, and we officially didn't understand any of it. Sunwave, you should work for NASA.—Sparkitors

If you’re anything like me, you’re starting to panic that the AP exams are only a few weeks away. Not to worry, though, because I’ve put together a guide for AP Chemistry that summarizes the entirety of the curriculum in a few super-fun bullet points!

Ah, summertime. The sun is shining, you're sweating like a rabid grizzly bear, and you spend your days in an Oreo-induced stupor, blindly flipping through channels as your brain melts out your ears. School is a distant memory, and the last thing you want to think about is, well, thinking. You're perfectly happy to spend your vacation in a blissful coma of relaxation, and let's be honest: THAT IS RIDICULOUS.

This Saturday is your last chance to take the SAT until the fall. For some of you, this will be your final experience taking the test. Once you get over the euphoria of putting the SAT behind you forever, you may think, That sure was a lot of time to spend getting ready for one stinking test. Now that it’s over, is there anything else I can get out of my test prep materials?

Those of you planning to take the SAT this Saturday, read on: this post will help you prepare! We'll be wrapping up our series on the SAT Writing section with a look at Improving Paragraph questions. Improving Paragraph questions test your ability to critique both the overall content and the sentence composition of multi-paragraph passages. Here’s an example passage:

In the next two weeks, many of you will undergo the yearly torture-fest—ahem, challenging test-taking experience—that is the AP Exams. Even if you’ve aced your practice tests and obsessively studied your flashcards for the past three months, you’ve still got a big task ahead of you: enduring the free response portion of the exam.

We recently gave some advice on handling the aftermath of bombing the SAT. One Sparkler’s frustrations came through loud and clear in the comments section of that article. AsterSelene wrote:

But what if you get a bad score the second time? Did everything on this list after the first failure. Got the SAME EXACT score on the second one.

It doesn't seem fair, does it? You plan out your study time, make your flashcards, think positive thoughts... only to receive a disappointing score once again. For AsterSelene and others in the same situation, a lack of improvement means that something is going wrong in your study efforts, but pinpointing the problem can be tricky. Here are some methods you can use to figure out what you need to do differently:

As your virtual test prep tutor, I can be a great resource. I can answer your questions, help you get over your fears and frustrations, and give you some fantastic advice that will hopefully help you navigate the world of SATs, ACTs, AP classes, and those brutal final exams your teachers love to give. But some of you may need the help of a tutor who meets with you one-on-one on a regular basis, say once or twice a week. How can you tell if you would benefit from meeting with a tutor? Here are a few indicators:

Last week’s post on study stress inspired some great questions from a few Sparklers. This week, I’m going to address a few. Anonymoushorse left the following comment in reaction to a tip suggesting that you stop comparing your academic achievements to those of other students:

I have a problem as well that wasn't addressed--for me, I have barely any confidence. Each time I get low grades, I feel worse and worse, and not only that … I feel no good college would accept me except for the fact that I don't feel I have enough time to worry- I'm worrying about choosing a major, choosing a career, dorm life, applications, and accomplishments(none so far... well I did have a few in middle school but that doesn't help since colleges look at accomplishments done during high school) and this keeps me from being able to do #2 on the list. Any tips?

Before we move into this week’s practice, we wanted to say a quick word about how our flashcards work. You may think Flashcards are pretty simple tools: They’ve got a front; they’ve got a back. You flip between the two. Presto!

But the fact is that our flashcards have been designed according to strict scientific guidelines. Seriously. It’s been tested and everything. Here’s the thing: Humans (and presumably other high thinking creatures, like chimpanzees and unicorns) learn better when the things we’re learning are studied repetitively over a period of time.

As the saying goes, there’s no practice like lots of practice. Okay, so that’s not an actual saying, but when it comes to test prep, it’s darned good advice.

If you need lots of practice (and you do), come to the Test Prep Tutor. We'll give you test strategies and information, accompanied by flashcards and quizzes.

And just to keep everything tidy and easy to find, we're going to collect all the flashcards and quizzes here, on one handy index page. Happy studying!