At the end of each year, I survey my students.  In June 2012, I asked the students "What advice would you give someone who is starting this course with me next fall? Or, What advice do you wish someone had given you at the beginning of this year?"  Here are their answers:

• Do all of the homework. It is the best way to prep for tests and understand the material. Even if you do it late, you can still get credit and it is worth it to do it. If you start the homework really late and don't allow enough time for it, you won't be able to understand it because it is often new topics and requires actual thinking. At least attempting hard problems allows you to ask good questions the next day. Also save all the AP problems and do a bunch of different kinds the night before the AP. It helps keep everything fresh in your mind.

• Do your homework! It's not so bad if you skip one every now and then, but eventually it adds up and you might be confused on a unit. At least do the homework until you're totally comfortable with the topic. Then, it's up to you.

• Keep up with the homework. If you don't do all of it, at least make sure you understand and could do all of the problems.

• keep up with homework

• do the homework because it actually does help solidify the ideas and the methods

• Do simple problems and work your way up

• The course is challenging, but if you pay attention to lectures and consistently do the homework, you should be able to do well. There are more than enough AP problems and AP practice tests during the year to prepare you well for the exam.

• Don't fall behind on the class material and end up doing homework just for the sake of it. Review class notes online and do the homework as if it's a quiz.

• Just make sure you stay up to date with the class work. Don't fall behind!

• keep up and get help as soon as you need it.

• To succeed in this course, you must learn to love math. Also, it is a fast-paced course with little to no class time to review, so make sure you put a lot of time into your homework. Make sure you master the material; don't do the problems just to do them. Be curious, and seek to understand more.

• The beginning of the year is much easier than the end. Don't begin to think this class is easy and then start slacking off. It will all of the sudden get much harder beginning in the middle of 2nd term. Also the material at the beginning of the year is the basis for everything so learn it more thoroughly than you think you might need to

• Understand the concepts taught in the first few weeks EXTREMELY well, and you'll be good to go (as long as you listen in class, do the HW, etc. for the remainder of the year)

• pay attention to the easy/ obvious stuff at the beginning of each unit, don't forget the conceptual stuff because it's tested a lot/ helps with the problems when you forget what to do.

• Don't fall behind, since the concepts build on each other.

• Pay attention during class.

• It's much more work than 503 and requires a lot more time and dedication.

• Don't stress out. This class is fun.

• Coming into the course, I was warned that it would get very hard. For the entire year, I kept waiting for the math to cross the threshold into "undoable," and then we finished the last unit and I realized that it was all still just math. What I am trying to say is, I expected calculus to be a complete departure from previous math courses in terms of concepts and difficulty, but it was just sort of more math (and more interesting math, in my opinion).

• Don't overload yourself with other AP's, prioritize. I would have spent more time focusing on this class

• Don't stress about the AP so much. As long as you got each unit decently well, you're fine.

• Do not stress over this class, just do the work and learn the material...if you don't know everything 100%, there's nothing to get anxious about.

• This class exceeded my expectations. I felt well prepared for this class after taking pre-calculus and well prepared for the AP after taking this class. I would merely advise students to do their homework and study for the tests and everything will work out. By this point in high school, you should know yourself as a student and use whatever study methods work for you. Work hard the entire year to prepare your speed for the marathon race that is AP Calculus exam because ultimately fast dogs win.