By Erika Tejada and Betzy Antonio
June is a month filled with stress and worry for juniors and seniors due to Advanced Placement exams. AP classes are college level classes designed for top-achieving high school students. Going into a AP class, all students know that at the end they will face the AP exam and must score a minimum of 3 out of 5 to pass the exam and get college credit. Successfully passing an AP exams means you can stand out to colleges, you save time and money on courses that the AP exam allow you to skip. But do APB students feel ready to pass these exams?
The AP curriculum instructs teachers to teach AP classes in a certain but some deviate and teach their own way while still teaching key parts of the AP class. Some teachers saw the AP class as a more in depth version of their regular class at a faster pace. APUSH teacher Mr. Sandoval said, “ The AP test is rigorous and I feel like the AP curriculum is meant to prepare you for the AP test. The AP class is for students who will do the reading and do not need as much help from the teacher.“ The mandatory guided study and the more difficult classwork is supposed to be prepare you for the class. But how do the students feel in terms of readiness for the exam.
11th grade is the most important year of high school because of its various exams like the SAT, ACT, and the SBAC. Accustomed to minimal homework rising juniors, especially those in AP classes have to learn to quickly adapt to the new time constraints by homework. Many juniors agree that the difference of 10th grade and 11th was quite drastic. Juniors who take APUSH were especially shocked.
Many said that although they had a lot of classwork practice for the AP exam was nowhere in sight during the first semester, leading to feelings of worry. Junior, Londy Hernandez, who is in 3 Ap classes said, “ I think we don’t really focus on the test, we focus more on classwork right now. Sometimes the classwork prepares us for the test but since we have not really taken practice test yet, I don’t know how ready we are for them”. So as of now only students in AP Spanish have taken a full practice exam.
Other classes have been quite busy doing classwork that is supposed to help them pass the test. Seniors said that they feel quite prepared, regarding AP Calc. Senior Kevin Mosqueda said, “ I think they are doing a pretty good job because we have mandatory guided study “. Although guided study and classwork does help, without mock AP exams students are not familiar with the test, so are they really prepared?
Overall teachers are in agreement that the AP classes are preparing students for the AP exam. For students some agree but it mostly depends on the class. Either way, the best way to prepare yourself is to be present in class everyday and maybe even study at home.
