Hey everyone! This post will explain the steps, timeline, and habits necessary to succeed in AP Research - ultimately culminating in a score of 5/5 on the AP Exam. AP Research is highly time-consuming, especially when deadlines grow nearer, but the research skills you learn in this course can be applied to independent research with professors as a high school student, as well as future research opportunities in college.
Course Overview
The exam in AP Research consists of two different parts - the Presentation and Oral Defense (POD) and the Academic paper. The POD is a 15-minute presentation that also consists of three different oral defense questions. The Academic Paper is a 4000-5000 word paper which is made up of various different sections, including a literature review of existing courses, a description of your results themselves, as well as an explanation and justification of your research method. Throughout the course of the school year, your assignments will culminate in these two components of the exam, so it’s important to not procrastinate and complete high-level work throughout the entirety of the year.
Pacing Guidelines
In order to ensure that your research paper and presentation are both of good quality, you can’t do them both in a day. Instead, it’s important to get an early start and work on various aspects of your paper ahead of time. In the summer preceding being enrolled in the course, you should be thinking about what topics would interest you, and a potential research question you can develop from these topics. Throughout the year, make sure to follow your teacher’s guidelines, but have a goal to have your method and research question solidified, and your literature review practically complete halfway through the year. Try to collect your data in around 2 weeks or less, but make sure that your method of collecting data is realistic before the first semester is over. Data collection is often the hardest part of research in general, so you don’t want to be too behind. Furthermore, make sure to finish your paper at least 2 weeks before it needs to be turned in to your teacher or College Board, because it’s important to have other peers look at your paper, because they can offer a new perspective and catch issues you aren’t aware of.
Specific Tips
Here’s a brief list of a few specific tips that will help your journey through AP Research - as well as your reaction when AP scores are released - as effervescent as possible.
Make sure your method can be reproduced.
A complex study doesn’t necessarily mean a better study - focus on originality in your research rather than complexity.
Don’t be afraid to talk about your failures and mistakes in your limitations section - no research paper, from student papers to those published in high-impact research journals is completely perfect, and AP scorers want to see how you adapted to mistakes or struggles.
Try and fill a gap in contemporary literature - the most important thing about your research is that it is novel, and that it adds new knowledge to the overall field. You need to discover what gaps exist in current research, and how you plan to minimize these gaps.
Think about the real-world ramifications of your research - how does your research contribute to society, and how can it be implemented into current infrastructure. This will provide the basis of your “Conclusions & Future Directions” section.
Enjoy yourself - you'll be proud of your work when done and can pursue publication in student journals, or use your research to identify new fields that you are interested in.
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