May first marked the beginning of AP exams for Arrowhead students. Students in AP classes worked all year for these exams, to earn a five and get college credit.

Arrowhead offers AP’s in different areas including math, science, social studies, English, and foreign language.

Dana Gavin, an Arrowhead junior replies, “I feel as if AP classes are really only worth the college credit. The amount of stress and worry that these classes have put me through would not be worth it without the credit. I love learning. I love finding out new things and I would love to continue difficult classes. But these classes consist of too much information in too little time for them to be fun and for me to absorb any of the material. In AP classes, the majority of the time we are forced to spit back memorized material without truly holding full knowledge about the specific subject.”

Maria Keating, an Arrowhead junior who is taking AP Spanish Language and Culture and took the exam on May second, says, “I decided to take AP Spanish because it was the next class, after Spanish 4. I also know if I took the class and got a good score, my mother would be really proud, so that was a huge motivator.”

With the school year starting and September, and the AP exams occurring in May, teachers have eight months to prepare and prep students for the exam.

Jennifer Cropsey-Brown, an AP Psychology teacher at Arrowhead, says, “I am hoping [my students] were very prepared! I think they have all the knowledge and resources necessary, so I am hoping they did there end of the work too.”  AP Psychology students took the exam on May first and will be receiving their results in July.

Keating says, “I had Señora Coraggio first semester and Señorita Psket second semester, so I got a taste of AP prep from both the AP teachers. They both did an excellent job in preparing me for the test, and when I went in to take it, I was for the most part not stressed at all, as it was exactly as they said it would be, and with all the practice we did in class all year, I knew exactly what I was doing.”

Stress may increase for students when AP exams come because students have to study and review all the material learned in the past eight months. Preparing for their courses takes a large amount of time to be able to know all of the material.

Gavin says, “The AP teachers I have experienced so far have not done very well to be completely honest. I was well prepared for the APUSH test, yet this year for AP Psych I did not get as much out of the preparation. I feel as if we did not do enough in class to prepare.”

Keating says, “Since I’m pretty familiar with the language, the prep in the class wasn’t as stressful for me than it was for some of my peers. However, with a lot of essay writing and especially having to do some spoken activities, it was a bit stressful and I was easily frustrated when I didn’t get things the first try.”

“In all honesty, I think as long as you can take anything away from a class, AP or not, then a class is worth taking. I know even though I was familiar with Spanish before taking this class, being in AP made me more confident about how much I know, and I don’t get as nervous about messing up when I’m speaking Spanish like I used to. Getting a good score would be a great plus though, and that’s my goal after taking the class and going through rigorous prep.” Keating says.

Brown says, “I think the stress can have a negative impact if the kids let it…I am hoping they used the stress as a motivator, not an inhibitor. I also think the whole experience is a great learning experience.”