The Advanced Placement tests are taken every May by schools across the United States, Canada and some other international schools. Students around Bob Jones are more than aware about the presence of AP testing on the school campus since our school happens to offer a variety of AP courses, and if students aren’t testing, then they’re at least inconvenienced by displaced classes or weird hallway detours.

Research suggests that students who take AP classes are more stressed out because of the intense coursework. Senior Gracie Poehlman, on her opinions of her AP Literature Test, said, “I feel like [the course] adequately prepared me for this test. I got there, I sat down and breezed through the multiple choice, and I had just enough time for the essays. I feel like I probably got somewhere between a three and a five. It’s more of a combination of the classes I took that caused stress. The class was kind of stressful, but that’s to be expected– it’s a senior year level AP class.”

Not all students felt stressed. Sophomore Graham Jones shared his thoughts on the AP U.S History exam. “I feel pretty indifferent about it. I can’t really say how it’s affected me yet. It’s beneficial because colleges look at this kind of stuff. I do like the class. APush is pretty fun, and I can’t really say if I’m prepared or not.  As for stress, the class was certainly stressful, but Mrs. Faris is an excellent teacher.”

Junior Casey Kula took the AP World exam in a previous year. “It was my freshman year. I felt like I wasn’t prepared for it at all because I had taken the class first semester, not second semester.”

Overall, AP testing and AP classes are definitely a challenge for students; however, AP classes and tests are worth it. The first obvious reason is college credit! Typically, if you get a 3 or above (some colleges require a four) on your exam, it can count for college credit and that’s one less college class to take. Another wonderful reason to take AP classes is that they’re weighted classes. This means grades are weighted higher than a normal class. So, if a student gets a B in an AP class, it’ll be weighted toward your GPA as an A.

In short, AP classes and tests are stressful and a lot of work, but they’re certainly beneficial to students. AP testing is almost over, Bob Jones. Hang in there!