College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Exams are about a month away, and AP students and staff alike are rising above the challenges of this unprecedented school year to prepare.
Between the difficulty of the material, time commitment and pressure to do well, students have been feeling the stress of preparing for exams. Teachers have also felt the pressure of trying to help students under the time constraints of this school year, including the two, nine week quarters they get actual class time.
Students agree that this year has been much more difficult than previous years. One struggle of AP classes during this school year is the intense workload.
“Most of the work is self guided and hard to focus on without a teacher. Lit[erature] and Micro[economics] didn’t have us doing nearly as much work in this amount of time,” Senior Braeden Pelton said.
Pelton is currently taking AP US History and AP Language and Composition; last year, he took AP Microeconomics and AP Literature. He believes that AP classes aren’t as enjoyable as before.
“As a whole, like other classes, AP has had the fun drained from it,” Peloton said. Between the amount of work and lack of time for extra activities, classes have become significantly more stressful.
The students taking the AP exam have it even harder.
“If you’re a test taker, having to study an extra class in between quarters is a hassle. [In] APUSH [AP US History], we aren’t even able to finish the class this quarter. For test takers, we have to complete our last chapters outside of class,” Pelton said.
Teachers agree that instructing AP classes during this school year has presented many new challenges. Getting through the content under the current time crunch is a roadblock many are facing.
“Obviously much more time has been spent on content and secondary activities in years past,” AP US History teacher Mark Spetoskey said. “The time frame this year has been a struggle when it comes to getting through the content as well as AP test practice.”
Sara Pitt, AP Seminar and AP Language and Composition teacher, agreed.
“Honestly, I feel pretty stressed,” Pitt said. “Some of the fun, memorable activities have been scrapped due to time constraints. Additionally, it feels like we haven’t been able to go into as much depth or practice our skills as much together. There is a lot more pressure for students to do this work on their own.”
According to the College Board, the AP exam dates start at the beginning of May and go until mid June. Despite the time challenge, Northview has figured out solutions to help students prepare for the exams.
On Wednesdays, teachers of AP classes have scheduled time aside for students to come into school in order to prepare for the exams. This will allow students to finish content, review, and complete practice tests.
“Hopefully students who are off course [during] the fourth quarter take advantage of the extra time. I am more than willing to work with students during this time,” Spetoskey said.
Over the past few weeks, some students have decided to take initiative and collaborate with peers.
“Communicating with other people in my current AP classes has been a huge help,” Pelton said. “Talking with two classmates in particular to help each other answer questions in our history chapters has allowed all of us to get work done faster, and answer any questions we get stumped on.”
Teachers are doing what they can to help students for the exams, and they are encouraging them to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.
“Take advantage of any practice exams or extra opportunities your teachers provide. Don’t be afraid to ask for extra help or extra practice. Mentally, make a plan for exam day and even the night before. Starting the week before, review or practice a little each day,” Pitt said.
According to College Board, the best way to get ready for the AP exams is to participate in class, set time aside to study and practice exam-like questions created by the AP program.
More information and resources for individual exams can be found on www.collegeboard.org under the “AP Classroom” page and the “Exams” page.
Pelton also has a few recommendations for AP students and those thinking about taking the advanced courses.
“Make friends in the classes, if you have a good group to have fun with while helping each other in and out of class, it makes the courses go by so much smoother. Plus you might keep those relationships,” Pelton said. “Don’t take these classes if you don’t like the harder work load.”
