Illinois law requires colleges to accept AP scores of three
June 9, 2016
The first two weeks of May might feel like final exams week for some students because of Advanced Placement (AP) exams—late night studying, last minute cramming and excessive stress. According to College Counselor John Klasen, AP exams standardizes the national curriculum and helps college admission processes, but it is also the final step for students who took AP classes for possible college credits. Senior Tommy Barrett said these credits will possibly allow him to start college as a sophomore next year.
“If you get a 5 or a 4, you get out of some freshman classes in college, and that’s what I’m trying to do,” Barrett said. “Some people, when they get enough, start college as a sophomore. So that would be something that is also monetarily beneficial, because I wouldn’t have to take for all four years, and I would just be paying for three [years of tuition].”
According to sophomore Luke Lee, many students take AP classes either for transcripts to send to colleges or for their general interest in the class. Yet, for sophomore Riley Gunderson, who took her first AP class and exam this year, sees them as preparations for the future.
“I think it’s important that I do well in [the exam] or that I at least try my best,” Gunderson said. “Because I plan on taking more APs, so this is kind of a test run for me to find out what it’s like, and what the schedule’s like, and how much work goes into it.”
According to junior Manny Martinez, he did not find the need to take any AP classes and exams in sophomore year because the required commitment was overwhelming.
“Sophomore year, I could’ve done AP Euro… but I just decided against it because I knew that it would just be too time consuming and I wouldn’t have time for anything else,” Martinez said. “And I’ve heard stories from students who took the class [saying it was horrible] because they were up doing notes… until one or two [o’clock] in the morning. And as a person, […] I physically cannot [stay up] that late every night and it’s too much work.”
Lee said he took AP European History and AP Computer Science this year but decided to not take the AP Computer Science exam because it would not be a good investment for his academic career.
“I took Computer Science Honors the year before, and I just had a general interest in it, but […] going through this year, I kind of realized that I was going to pursue more of liberal arts,” Lee said. “So I didn’t’ feel the need to go out of my way and prepare for two AP Exams while also having a lot other stuff on my plate.”
One major aspect of taking an AP exam is the cost. This year, the cost for one AP Exam was $92, and, according to Barrett, the price of the exam is excessive, although it could be beneficial in the future.
“One of my teachers kind of made a funny comment about it where he said, ‘College Board is the […] most profitable non-trade profit organization,’” Barrett said. “… I can see the importance of taking it [is] … you’re saving money in the long run, but the cost now seems a little bit unreasonable.”
Yet, junior John Park said the large sum of money invested in taking the test helps both the future and the present by motivating students to do well on the actual exam.
“I’d say [the money] is worth it considering the fact that you get college [credit] hours, but also […] it puts a lot of pressure on you because you’re paying such a large amount of money,” Park said. “And if you can’t get the score that’s adequate for the college credit, it’s a waste of money.”
Another major obstacle that many students encounter prior to and during the exam is stress. According to Barrett having to take four different AP Exams in the course of two weeks is the source that increases his stress and sleep deprivation.
“Taking AP [tests] is a little exhausting,” Barrett said. “So once you finish with one for a day, you kind of want to be done for the rest of the week, but you can’t. You have to get back… maybe chug [some coffee], but it’s really important to stay on task, and that’s really hard to do when you’re mentally exhausted.”
Despite the fatigue, Barrett said he was always able to overcome the stress and persevere.
“I think I could always handle the stress,” Barrett said. “I mean… I’m not going to give up on something that I’ve worked all year for. I don’t know about other people, but I would assume that everyone would, no mater how much pressure they’re under, they would try their hardest to get at least a low score to validate all the work that they’re put into.”
According to Klasen, students impose stress is not all necessary since the exams will not determine whether or not they get into college, and the teachers provide enough preparation for students to do exceptional on the exam.
“I believe that our teachers who teach our AP courses here prepare our kids really well, and most of our kids who take those AP Exams do very well,” Klasen said. “They’re getting 3 or higher on those exams. […] Looking at the back side of that, I don’t understand why students would be stressed out because most of our students are going to do well on those exams.”
Students who do not take any AP classes and exams are able to opt out from stressing out due to AP and paying large sums of money for the exam. Martinez explained that the major benefits of not taking APs were sleep and focusing on other classes.
“If you have that one class that is that AP class, that’s where you’re going to put all that effort, and your other classes might start struggling,” Martinez said. “I took U.S. History over the summer and I didn’t have to do those massive projects [during the school year] … and it’s a great stress relief…. that actually freed up so much homework time.”
There are also benefits to taking the national AP Exam despite the stress, cost and commitment. According to Barrett, he feels most accomplished when he receives his AP score, because it reflects the hard work he has put in throughout the entire year.
“Definitely in [July] when you get to see your scores, that’s really the most gratifying feeling of seeing whether you really did well that year,” Barrett said. “Even if you didn’t try hard or if you didn’t get a great score, you can still be proud […] and I think that’s worth taking an AP test.”
