Students Cram for AP Exams, Missed Classes Raise Concern

Each May, in addition to the usual school workload, many Exonians face an additional layer of academic effort: the Advanced Placement exam. The subject-based AP exams, famous for their time-consuming and comprehensive nature, require test-takers to sit for the three-hour long tests as well as miss morning classes in order to complete them.The tests all contain a multiple choice section and free-response section that varies for subjects including calculus, statistics, chemistry, computer science, US history, English and more. Students will find out their scores in the middle of July.Exonians take AP exams for different reasons. It is universally agreed that good results from AP’s are looked favorably upon on college applications. In addition, AP exam scores can earn students college credits for courses. These exams, scored out of 5, are generally considered to have a passing grade at 3; however, the curve makes the obtaining of a 5 relatively easy for some. Often times, for more difficult exams such as Calculus BC, a 70 percent mark will earn a student a 5.Upper Erick Friis, who took three AP exams these past two weeks, said he was encouraged to take AP exams by recently graduated alumni.“I visited a few colleges over March break, and a few of the Exonians who I met up with there told me that they regretted not taking AP’s because they had to take introductory science courses that they had already taken at Exeter,” Friis said. “I'm trying to avoid this frustration and be able to take more relevant and fun classes in college instead of introductory science courses.”Lower Mahesh Kumar agreed. “I took it for college credits, as I would rather not have to take an introductory level course if I already know the material,” he said.Despite the growing interest in taking AP exams, Director of College Counseling Elizabeth Dolan stressed that Exonians often over-stress the reasons to take the exams.“US Colleges do not expect Exonians to take AP exams, which is why students will often hear their college counselor say, "I'd rather you do well in your courses spring term of upper year (a critical term in the college admissions process) than get behind because of AP exams,” Dolan said. “However, international colleges are more interested in AP exams, so a student applying to colleges outside of the US should take AP exams relevant to what they intend to study.”Many of the students taking the test spend their free time, which is already scarce, spending hours preparing for the exams. Kumar said he spent more than 18 hours studying flash cards and taking practice tests.Other students had to put in equal amounts of dedication and determination to prepare for the AP exams.“I tried to study for half an hour to an hour each day in the week or two leading up to the test. Even though this wasn't always possible, given the other work we had as the test approached, we also did AP problems in class, which really helped,” upper Max Rerkpattinapipat said.Assignments for classes and other distractions got in the way of preparing for AP exams, in some cases. “I had planned to study each night before the exams, but friends and other distractions curbed these plans,” Friis said.Every year, the biggest issue for most Exonians is the large amount of classes they have to miss to take the exams, and the amount of work that they need to make up.Especially if students take more than one AP exam, they will miss a significant amount of classes since the AP’s are scheduled during the school day. Since a lot of students don’t take AP’s, the workload does not decrease.“I had to skip 11 classes over the course of the week to take the three tests, so I definitely fell behind. Since two of the tests were for classes I'm currently taking, they went easy on the work throughout the week to cater to people taking exams,” Friis said.“It’s unfortunate that [the AP exams] take place at the same time that students are trying to finish up their schoolwork, so I wouldn’t penalize someone for not getting something done for that specific day, but [the students] know that they are responsible for it,” math instructor Stephanie Girard said.Unlike some high schools, Exeter does not offer specific “Advanced Placement” classes, which are designed to teach the material on the AP exams.“We do not have AP classes. There is an Advanced Biology class that Mr. Chisholm and Mrs. Chapman teach. Students often take the AP after that course,” biology instructor Christopher Matlack said.“If you want to title your course an AP course, you have to teach specifically to that curriculum, and we think mathematics is much more than that. We cover all their topics, but we cover much more, so that’s why we can’t call our courses AP courses,” Girard said.Dolan verified the testimony of faculty members. “The Academy is not an AP school; we are not audited by College Board for AP courses or exams. Exeter teaches beyond the AP in most subject areas. Therefore, we do not encourage or discourage,” she said.This, for some people, is bothersome because doing well on AP exams not only looks good on college applications as it shows a mastery in a certain subject, but it also can give a student college credits at most colleges. Still, most Exonians find that their classes prepare them well enough for their tests.Lower Eugene Park agreed that his classes did not teach solely for the AP exam, but still, he thought that the classes were sufficient enough to get him through the test.“The coursework for my classes aren't mainly driven by the material we have to know on the AP exam, but I think we learn enough in classes to know almost all the material,” Park said.Though classes do not focus on the AP’s, teachers prepare their students as best as possible for the exam. In Park’s Chemistry 339 class, the students had not focused on the test itself until the week before the exam, but during that last week, his teachers focused on preparing for the AP exam by giving the students practice problems for homework or in class.In addition, teachers have been returning to previous material for review, and have been supplementing students’ preparation by briefly teaching material on the AP exam that the students had not yet learned.Math courses whose students take the Calculus AB or BC exam in the spring, including Math 431 and 451, meet five times a week instead of three or four in order to teach all the material necessary.The math department rearranges its textbook for these courses to accommodate the material that the students will need to know for the test.“I try to fit in extra days, especially right before the test, that focus on the test itself. We give students practice tests using the material from previous years’ exams. I also try to make my hand-ins AP-like questions,” Girard said.“Overall, I think that we are prepared more than enough for the AP exam even though we don't focus solely on it until the last week, so I think that the current system is working well,” Park said.