AP exams are just around the corner. Students and staff share their thoughts on how to prepare. 

Starting May 3 and continuing to May 17, AP exams will be taken by registered students during school with blocked scheduling along with EOC’s.

This year differs from last, where students had to take a handwritten versus a virtual test due to COVID-19 school closures, according to counselor Amy Green.

“I prefer the handwritten, because usually the brain is set up to understand handwritten things versus typing them on a computer,” social studies teacher Katie Harris said.

Some of the courses that offer AP testing are: psychology, US government and politics, German, French, Spanish, calculus and art history.  

“Each AP test has different standards they are looking for and different requirements and everything, so it is not just a blanket test for every subject. Every subject will have special things for it,”  Harris said. 

Junior Kayla Devito will be taking her first AP test this year, in English, as part of communication arts teacher Jeremy Boesch’s AP English III class. 

“I’ve been doing my best to pay attention during class, Mr. Boesch is a great teacher… I think it is a good idea, not only for me, to see how much I’ve progressed this year but also for college in the future,” Davito said. 

Regardless of whether this is a student’s first AP test, or one in a string of many, Harris offers the following tips:

“For the multiple choice portions…go through and do the ones you know first, and then go back and try to see if any of those questions help you answer the ones you’re not really all that confident in. For the written portions, always make sure you are using complete sentences…underling terms you really don’t know…Make sure you watch the clock, that you’re understanding how much time you have.” 

To get more information on AP exams contact your counselor, teachers teaching the subjects you’re taking or search the college board website.