By Sara Solimani, Opinions Editor
As AP Exams took place from May 1st to May 12th, many students taking them had to juggle other responsibilities as well. Teachers assigned long-term projects, pushed tight deadlines, and expected full attention even as the imminent pressure of studying for and performing in AP exams increased.
Most students at River Hill take AP courses with the intention of taking its accompanying exam on the designated day during the first two weeks of May. When students take an AP class, they might also have Honors, GT, and/or on-grade classes that they take part in. While they do not have to take an exam for these other classes, a significant number of the teachers for these classes assign work without regard to the majority of the school’s upcoming exams. Many students find this unfair and find that it contributes to their immense amount of stress, even if they do understand the reasoning behind these teacher’s intentions.
Whether it’s assigned work intended to study for upcoming exams, like FRQ’s or MCQ’s, or other non-related assignments, students found it difficult to balance work through AP week. Junior Teniola Adejana, who studied for her Calculus AB and Physics 1 exams, comments, “Normally I spend this whole week reviewing, but now I have to do my homework and then review. It’s crazy that I have to pick between studying for my APs and doing homework.”
Additionally, Junior Bryan Simo, who was preparing for his AP World History and Language Exam, says “I had a teacher that assigned a project, a quiz, and a lot of other work on top of the studying that I had to do and it was really hard to make time for studying.”
While it’s true that most students were making time for their classes and AP’s, seniors also had to study for their upcoming finals that took place during the 16th-22nd. Senior Vichi Tran, who took the AP Literature, Calculus BC, Physics 1, and Psychology exams, shares, “It was kind of hard to study for AP’s and finals but it sort of helped because I was studying for finals while I was studying for my AP’s.”
Students can be reluctant to sacrifice hours of sleep, on-time submissions, or attendance, but for many it felt necessary to do so in order to score well on their exams. After spending hours on homework, students would stay up later in order to study for their exams. Junior Sarah Chin, who studied for her AP Macroeconomics, Psychology, and Environment Science exams, shares, “I had to skip school one day to make up assignments. Between Tuesday and Thursday, because I had tests on those days, I took Wednesday off just to make up work.” Teni adds, “I had to stay up late and then study. I’m not allowed to skip school so I had to lose sleep.”
Teachers often had the mentality that there was no way of avoiding assigning work during APs, especially if their class had an upcoming AP exam and teachers were trying to help students study. While this is true, students had wished that there was some leniency or sympathy for those taking the exams. Teni expresses, “I wish teachers wouldn’t give us as much work for these 2 weeks and slow down. I wish they would push their curriculum to later in the year,” Junior Sam Smole, who partook in the AP Environmental Science and Language exams, notes, “I think many teachers understand but not many of them are fair and truly care about how much work we are actually doing,”
With all of the tension and stress from these two weeks, teachers and students are simply doing their best to teach or master content in school, even as the chaos of AP exams continues in the background. It’s safe to say that many students and teachers were looking forward to the relief of AP week being over.