Every May, students at California High School and at every high school across the nation gear up for their final exams. They’ve each been through various peaks and pitfalls throughout the year: from those late-night study sessions crammed in after a day of work or sports, the relief you have talking with your friends and realizing just how big the curve is going to have to be (“…the teacher can’t fail everyone!”), to learning you passed that one test that’s been nagging at the mind since you took it last week. Ultimately, final exams represent a final peak to surmount—a last test of will before crashing into a cozy chair to slumber summer days away.
However, for a certain group of high-achieving students on the campus of California High School, teacher-given final exams represent only preparation for the real challenge—AP exams. These exams, for those unfamiliar, offer students the opportunity to put their skills to the test with a college-level exam in any given subject, which allows students to save both time and money in college by gaining a high score, which is equivalent to college credits in that subject. These exams are often notoriously difficult, and the preparation done all year by students within these AP classes ultimately reflects this—it’s not an uncommon sight for a 60% to be the highest grade in the class on a unit test, nor is it that infrequent that one questions how they got 3400% error on their lab data. It also doesn’t help that you have to not only be bright to pass an exam—you have to be fast. It’s typical to have less than 45 seconds per question in a 2 hour gauntlet, or to be frantically typing off an original 3-4 page essay in the span of 45 minutes or less.
AP testing season can ultimately bring in the most exhausting, mentally painful, and longest days you thought you would never experience yourself. Instant ramen and coffee doesn’t sound like that great of a meal—until you’re up at 3:30 AM, staring at a textbook page and reading it over and over again in the hopes that the words on the page actually stick in your head in a meaningful way, rather than as a jumble of worthless symbols that won’t be the slightest difference on exam day. It doesn’t aid things that these exams come at you like a torrential stream—you typically move from cramming from one exam to an unrelated one in the span of a day, all while grappling with the decisions you made on previous testing times. It really is both an emotional and physical labor at some times. But underlying this labor is ultimately hope—the unshakable inner belief that you CAN understand this material and at least pass the test you’ve been training for all year. So you work. And work. And work. Til’ your mind comes unraveled and the pencil clatters against the desk as the timer hits zero at the culmination of your efforts, if you’ve prepared yourself adequately, you will ultimately succeed in that great endeavor.
As the pressure mounts leading up to this last challenge, however, some students snap under the pressure. If they set aside their troubles too long, soon they’ll realize they have no time left. Procrastination is all-too-common in AP-level classrooms, and it can be subtle in a way not typically seen in other classes. With each student in these classes typically being highly involved in a variety of activities, it can be common to shift one’s time more heavily into their extracurriculars—which while still valuable, can ultimately take time away from more productive time for the hard task of rote memorization required in these classes. Trying to make these study sessions too fun is also a major pitfall sometimes: going to Starbucks with friends to study sounds like a great idea, until you’re on your 4th refill, 2nd lemon loaf slice, and 1st topic to review. Overall, it’s up to the individual student to determine what ultimately works best for them in order to “lock in” and to simply get things done.
All in all, AP testing season is a time for labor, loftily reaching for a lifeline, and a love for the results one has crafted through their own handiwork. And to all the students out there who are going through this—finish strong, you got this!