Students Plan for AP Exams and Finals

The month of AP and Final exams is a stressful time for everyone. Preparation and outcome, though, have little to no correlation. At the high school, the AP participation rate is 32 percent higher than the U.S. average, and the AP exam passing rate is 39 percent higher than the national average. It is more common to take AP classes here at the high school, with the classes and coursework being more rigorous. With this being said, preparation happens differently for everyone no matter the age, class, or number of APs being taken. Sophomore Kai Odell takes two APs: Psychology and Spanish. He says it “varies by person, but [starting] no shorter than a week before the test works the best.” Kai “gives time every day to study and to chunk the studying into some form of group.”

A line Kai wouldn’t cross while preparing for big exams is “cramming in the day or night before” He believes that studying more than one hour the day before yields diminished results. Now, the outcome of his scores is a mystery, but based on previous grades and past exam results, more than 15 hours of studying seems to work for him.

But is this always the best strategy? As we know, people learn differently, so for Kai, it could work the best. But for Stephanie McKnight, a junior who takes APs in biology, U.S. history, and English, her study strategies could not be more different. All she does is “watch a review video while getting ready.” As a junior, Stephanie has already taken AP tests and has gotten 5’s. So, for her, this strategy succeeds. She is a straight-A student who works hard in class but doesn’t find the need to work on extra hours of school work. Prepping for APs can be a scary task; however, knowing what works best with the smaller tests and quizzes can be the solution for the bigger, more daunting exams.