By Jamie Wong, Staff Writer
As May approaches, many students anxiously await the end of the school year. However, one more challenge lies ahead for most juniors and seniors: AP tests. While AP tests are optional, the vast majority of students pay the $100 price tag to take each test, seeing the tests as a way to potentially enhance their college resumes, but also assuming the stress that inevitably comes with preparing for the exams. Most students take multiple AP classes, and thus multiple AP tests each year, with some taking as many as three or four tests in one school year. However, the main stressor for students is knowing that the minimum passing score of a 3 is not very impressive to admissions officers, pressuring them to get at least a 4 on each exam. In short, students feel the need to perform well on multiple AP exams to stay competitive in the college admissions process.
A number of other factors contribute to student stress during the AP testing season. In most AP classes, teachers will schedule finals before AP exams take place in early May. Though AP finals are usually practice AP exams meant to prepare students for the real test, they can still increase pressure on students. AP students know that the real exam won’t impact their grade, but finals will. Additionally, Mills students went without their teachers for much of the year in two infamously content-heavy courses: AP Biology and AP US History. When you also consider the fatigue that comes at the end of every school year, it isn’t hard to see why AP tests are so stressful for students.
While no big exam will ever be stress-free, there are ways to prepare for AP exams while keeping stress at manageable levels. For example, to reduce the stress caused by cramming, try making a study schedule. AP Classroom breaks all AP courses into different units with review videos and practice problems for each concept within the unit. It might be too late to try this method this year, but for students who are planning on taking an AP exam next year, it’s worth a try, especially for more content heavy courses. Other resources to consider are AP prep books, such as the Barron’s AP test prep series, and released AP tests from previous years.
There are also a few things that students should keep in mind before taking their tests which are often forgotten or overlooked, one being that AP scores are not everything. Ultimately, your grades are more important than your AP scores. If you perform poorly on an AP exam, you do not need to report your score to colleges. Colleges generally allow students to choose which scores they would like to send, meaning that no school will ever have to see your 2 in AP Chemistry. Also, many, though not all, colleges will award credit for scores as low as a 3.
If that doesn’t put your worries to rest, know that earning a 5 on an AP exam is generally much easier than getting an A on a normal test. For the AP Statistics and AP Calculus AB exams, answering about 70% of the questions correctly will allow a student to earn a 5. Nevertheless, some AP exams are exceptionally difficult, with some exams having more failing scores than passing scores. For instance, in 2022, 51.8% of students who took the AP US History exam failed. Only 10.8% earned a 5 on the exam. While these statistics may seem alarming, they demonstrate the regularity with which students earn less than a 5 or even a 4 on certain AP tests – in other words, there is nothing to be ashamed about if you don’t end up scoring as well as you might have hoped for.
AP exams can feel like a big deal while in high school, but in the long run, they won’t be of much significance. In the meantime, taking steps to manage your stress during the testing season can be one of the best ways to prepare for an AP exam.
