From Stress to Success: An AP Exam Season Recap

Photo Credit: Katja Radovic-Jonsson

Every May, students at Hamber, along with countless students around the globe, write Advanced Placement (AP) exams. 

Students who choose to take AP classes engage in rigorous college-level coursework while still attending high school. These courses are followed by an optional standardized AP exam. 

The exams are regulated by the College Board, a not-for-profit organization that also administers the SAT and ACT college admission tests. If students score high enough on an AP exam, they can receive college credit for the relevant university course. 

This school year, Hamber offered seven AP courses: Statistics, English Literature and Composition (colloquially known as Lit), Chemistry, Physics 1, Physics C, Psychology, and Calculus AB.

This year, all of Hamber’s AP classes except for AP Lit were held in semester one. With this class placement, students learned all the required concepts, but then had to wait around three months to take the exam.

“It’s a struggle because you have this big two to three month gap where you just have to relearn everything … it’s not very favourable,” Eric Fu (11) said. 

However, it was also a different kind of struggle to take the course in semester two. Even as May came along, students in AP Lit were not entirely done with the course. “I had to keep up with the course load of the actual course while studying for the AP exam, which I found hard to balance,” Kota Watanabe (12) said. 

Instead of taking in-person classes that align with the semester system, students can also choose to take AP courses online or self-study for the exams with the hope of scoring well enough to gain their college credit and advanced placement. Self-studying is also often the only way students can attempt AP exams for courses that are not actually offered at Hamber. 

Jasmine Chen (12) took three AP classes in semester one and chose to take AP Calculus online. “I didn’t think I could handle all of these classes in one semester,” Chen said. “I feel like taking that class online gave me more time to work on it on my own, especially since I could do it in semester two as well as semester one.”

Taking the exam itself can be daunting, and often, the anticipation of studying can almost match that feeling. Although students are given ample time to prepare for the exam, the months can slip away fast. 

“When I self-study, I cram things at the last minute and I start studying from the beginning of April,” Amy Zhou (12) said. “It’s probably not a good habit, but it’s what I found to be most efficient personally.” 

Similarly, while Maddie Zhang (10), was self-studying for AP World History (which is not offered at Hamber), she encountered challenges with understanding the material. “I did the first unit quiz from the textbook and was pretty confident that, out of nine, I would get a seven,” she said. “I was so humbled because I got a two out of nine. I realized it’s not just the surface level — you need to actually understand the [topics] and develop an argument to it.”

AP exams are subject to many jokes within the community, such as this parody “AP Minecraft” exam | Photo Credit: mason712/Reddit

Those who took multiple AP classes had to complete all the exams within a two-week period.

“I had pretty much back-to-back exams for four days,” Davis MacDonald (12) said. One of the classes he took was AP Physics C, a class that covers two main topics: Mechanics and Electricity & Magnetism. The exam is formatted as two separate tests, each 1 and a half hours long, and are written consecutively. 

“They don't seem too long because you get a 10-minute break between the two sections, so it's kind of like writing two tests in school back-to-back, just slightly longer,” MacDonald said.

While taking the same exam, Chen was quite sick. “It was one of my last few exams and I walked into school in my pajamas, sick, holding a box of tissues, so it was not great.”

Exams can be extremely draining, and students need a way to rest and reward their hard work. After the stressful AP Lit exam, Watanabe ate an entire Safeway rotisserie chicken for lunch. 

Kaylee Chan (12), on the other hand, took a long nap after the AP Psychology exam. “I have no idea how long I slept for. All I know is, when I got home, I passed out. I was so tired.”

While this year's AP students rest, many more will be starting AP courses next year. These courses are known to be challenging, but are generally considered a worthwhile experience for students to partake in. 

“It’s fine to feel unprepared — go take the exam anyways,” Zhou said. “Treat yourself to something nice after the exam, whether it’s getting a scoop from Rain or Shine, or going for a shopping spree.” Zhou also encouraged new students to try and put the exam out of their minds, and to focus on the experience and not the result.