AP Exams

Hello!

               It’s that time of year, the time where everyone freaks out. Friends are forgotten, meals are left uneaten, sleep is unattained, textbooks are dusted off and cracked open for the first time. My friends, the AP exams are coming.

               This will be my third year taking an AP exam, but only my first year taking more than one exam. I’m going to be taking the exams for AP Chemistry, AP Language and Composition, and AP US History. Now, I’m a pretty confident student, and I think that the AP Lang exam will be pretty straight forward, but the AP US History and AP Chemistry exams are going to be the end of me, almost guaranteed. It’s a lot more than just a normal final examination, in my opinion. In an AP exam, instead of having a general review of everything we’ve learned over the course of the year, it’s an intense, in-depth review. That’s not the way that we’re taught to learn throughout the course of high school, so it’s kind of annoying.

               So about two weeks ago I started reviewing for these exams. My “process” if it can even be called that, is to buy the first review book that I see, and read it. Cover to cover, page by page, the entire bloody book. And take notes. It’s time-consuming, inefficient, and probably won’t even get me a three or higher on the AP Chemistry test. It has worked for me in the past, though, and is probably how I will continue to do things. On the off chance that it actually works, I’ll be really happy.

               It’s not just the students that are on edge about the tests. The teachers either hate them or have to get students ready for them, there’s not many other options for them. As a teacher, you have to deal with students missing a ton of your class during the weeks of the exams, because they take all morning or afternoon. On top of that, you have kids that are missing more of your class time for review sessions, etc. Teachers that have teach AP classes also have to be preparing the kids for the exam early, and on top of that they have to be teaching new material and whatnot. As a teacher, that has really got to suck. But really, they should be helping us out too. Don’t get mad when we miss your class, it’s not our fault. Really, it’s tacky.

               So, AP exams. They suck. No one enjoys them, if you do you’re crazy. But  I wish you luck in taking them, and wish you luck in having your teachers not get pissy with you. (447)