By Babiha Kaur, Staff Writer
With AP Exams finished, AP classes don’t have too much left to do. Many students who are currently enrolled in Advanced Placement classes are finally relieved of most of their stress, although final exams are still dawning on the horizon.
Many sophomores are currently enrolled in AP Government and AP Biology, whose tests were on May 2nd and May 11th respectively. Sophomore Jessica Li comments, “For the most part, they did reflect what I learned in the classes, but a lot of the material on the tests was from quarters 1 and 2, and I didn’t remember much.” Jessica takes AP Government, AP Biology, and AP Human Geography. Generally speaking, she feels that her AP exams mostly contained familiar material that she had learned in the courses, but an entire year of information is difficult to remember.
Similarly, sophomore Sanvi Gopisetti claims that the government test “kind of” reflected what she learned this year because “it was a lot more vocabulary heavy” than she expected. As for the biology test, Sanvi states, “We learned a lot more about the contents of biology and the vocab associated with the chapters. But the exam was very analytical and graph based, so it was a lot more problem solving and a lot more intuitive thinking.” It seems that the AP Biology exam was more challenging, and this is not only because of the material.
AP Biology is a much faster paced course than most other APs. Jessica reflects, “I believe it’s because [AP Bio is] normally supposed to be a two credit course, but in Howard County it’s a one credit course, so we essentially get half the time to learn the material, but also less time because of the AP test being earlier in the year than the finals.” Advanced Placement classes aren’t supposed to be easy, but Biology contains a wide variety of subjects that need to be taught in a condensed amount of time.
Sophomore Mira Nagampalli is enrolled in AP Computer Science Principles this year. She comments, “Throughout the entire year the class was pretty slow paced, but two weeks before the AP exam, our class started preparing for it.” Unlike AP Biology, AP Computer Science is a much slower and independent course that seemed to prepare minimally for the AP test throughout the year.
Now that the AP exams are over, classes seem to be more relaxed than usual. When asked if her courses are easier now that the exams are finished, Sanvi stated, “Definitely. Gov was pretty easy to begin with, but Bio is definitely a lot slower [and] a lot more chill compared to before the test when you really had to focus and concentrate on every single class.”
Similarly, Jessica remarks,“We’re doing more enjoyable units and starting on working on final projects. In AP biology, we’re doing our biotech[nology] unit, which isn’t technically needed, but it’s a fun unit. You get to do a lot more labs, which is fun.” Jessica’s Biology class has finished the AP exam and is now moving on to different topics. She also adds, “Before the AP tests there was generally a lot of cramming and rushing to get all of the units taught and everything learned. But after, it’s a lot more relaxed because there’s no deadline for when you have to know the material.” Jessica is relieved that she has completed the AP Biology test.
Although Mira’s computer science class is independent and slower paced than most other APs, she greatly enjoys it. Mira also adds,“Before, we used to learn how to do Javascript on code.org, but right now we’re trying to do it without code.org on another platform. It’s actually pretty cool because, though it’s similar, I think we’re learning a lot more stuff in a short period of time.” Mira likes her Computer Science class more now because they are learning things that are more useful to her in the real world.
Although AP tests are over, finals are quickly approaching. Each class seems to be doing something different for its final. Sanvi shares, “For gov, we don’t necessarily have a big final or anything; we just have to do two projects and we’re mostly getting class time. For bio, it’s an exam.” Jessica’s AP Human Geography class is also “doing projects for the finals.”
River Hill students are finally relieved of most of their stress now that AP exams are over. Their tremendous efforts to do well on these tests has greatly paid off. Overall, with the 2021-2022 school year almost finished, students are relieved to have completed some of their most important exams of the year.