Several hours of running on adrenaline and high strung nerves. Sweaty palms and bitten nails. A clock ticking down that draws your eye no matter how hard you try to look away. Depending on personal opinion, an AP test is either your worst nightmare or just another test. But here’s the better question: is it worth it? Are all those sleepless nights worth a score of five on your college applications?
Unlike standardized tests like the SAT and ACT, AP exams offer a lot more variety from one subject to another. And so, there is no simple answer to whether or not they are worth it. That’s a personal choice. However, it’s important to take all variables into consideration when making that decision. Depending on which subject you’re testing in, the AP test can range from roughly three to four hours long, comprised of multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and long essays — or some combination of the three. Students prep for the test year-round, often by practicing with past AP test questions and using exam handbooks. The AP test format bears remarkable similarities to the SAT and ACT, two tests which have been proven in the past to be an inaccurate judge of a student’s understanding, hence most colleges making these exams optional or disregarding them entirely in the application process.
Naomi Yoshikawa (12), who’s taken the AP English Language and AP Psychology tests, commented that her experiences “really depend[ed] on the teacher, because each teacher goes over different things in a different way.” Regardless of the subject, AP tests are notorious for being nitpicky with their question answers, which doesn’t leave much room for critical thinking or subjectivity. Yoshikawa also noted, “because of the specific circumstances of my particular AP Lang class, we didn’t quite get to everything that we could have,” and because of that, the test “didn’t really sort of meet the expectations of what we were taught.”
However, on the flip side, memorization and nailing concepts on the head is exactly how some students learn. Megan Charan (12), who’s taken five AP tests in her high school career, shared that she believed the tests are structured well in terms of what they’re trying to accomplish: “preparing and giving you college credit, so they structure it like a college exam final. . . in the long run, the test works for the student, it just doesn’t seem like that in the moment.” Charan acknowledged that “each test leans a certain direction and requires some memorization, because that is what the field on the test is about. . . but overall I think they lean more toward . . . making the student use what they learned to understand and get through the questions.”
*The opinions expressed in our Opinion articles are the author’s own and do not necessarily express the views of the Signals Staff or West High as a whole.
