AP testing

The culmination of all the college-level material that a student has learned throughout the year, AP tests are something that all students fear. Generally occurring in the first two weeks of May, this year’s AP tests started on Monday, May 1st with AP Government and Politics and ended on Friday, May 12th with AP Physics II: Algebra-based.

AP testing, which is controlled by College Board, started in 1954 and for the past 80 years has been the premier advanced course program for high school students. With the exception of AP Art and Design, AP Seminar, and AP Research, AP tests normally consist of two parts, a multiple choice section as well as a free response section. “For me, at least in AP World, the FRQ section, so the short answer questions, document-based questions, and long essay questions, are much harder. They are also worth a lot more points than the MCQ so I spent most of my energy preparing for the FRQs in AP World,” Nathan Wang, 10, said. “However, in AP Comp Sci, the FRQ section is much easier as there aren’t any random questions about interfaces and polymorphism and I already know how to do problem-based coding.”

To prepare for AP tests, a variety of strategies are used. For example, some students binge-watch youtube videos and review their notes from class. “On the weekend right before my AP exam, I watched all Heimler’s History videos and took like 60 pages of notes from them. It took like 10 hours and I was really really tired after and I don’t even know how helpful they will be,” Carlo Repetto, 10, said. Other students rigorously took practice exams and reviewed practice books. “I knew that Calc BC was going to be extremely difficult for me, and I was really stressed out from it, so I tried to get as much help from my teachers and friends as possible and do as many practice tests as I possibly could,” Kelly Trinh, 12, said.

With AP tests already, students have had mixed reactions to the difficulty of many of their tests. “Comp sci was very easy but AP Chem was kind of hard, so I don’t think I’m going to get a five on it. Probably a four if I’m being hopeful,” Sebastian Liong, 11, said. While a 5 is something that we all aspire to get on all our APs, it may not always be possible and it is important to accept a 4 or even a three which is already impressive enough.