All photos in this article are staged,
As May approaches, hundreds of students scramble to their textbooks and computers to get in the last bit of information they can before the dreaded exam rolls in. However, no adult seems to ask how these exams affect students, both before and after the exams.
Advanced Placement classes are known for being extremely challenging, the most dreaded aspect being the final AP exams students are required to take towards the end of the year. At Malden High, AP final exams were taken in the Student Study Center (SSC) and J164 from May 4th to 15th, over the course of two weeks. AP Exams are paid, standardized college-level tests granted by the non-profit organization College Board to measure your full understanding of the class and its skills.
The importance of these exams has been tested time and time again, with a recent article by Forbes detailing “unlike the SAT or ACT, the AP exams don’t carry significant weight in college admissions processes at most schools.”
The biggest benefit of AP exams is that students are able to use their passing scores as college credits, allowing them to skip particular introductory classes. In order to attain the college credits, students must pass a minimum score of 3. Lower scores do not constitute credit, and in colleges like MIT, science and engineering-related scores do not carry over at all.
However, these views have been challenged by students. Junior Deniel Correa, a student taking 2 AP classes, expressed, “everybody is always dying to make themselves as unique or as different as possible to colleges. So naturally, AP classes and extracurriculars are part of that.” Correa adds, “If we’re speaking about how to really shine in this education system, they’re pretty important. You gotta play the game.”
Senior Shaneel Zeb, a student taking 4 AP classes, noted that, “this is dependent on your major in college. Personally, I would care more about STEM-related classes as a computer science major.”
Some professional sources and students claim that AP classes are not important, and others say they are, depending on your major. However, what we can discern is how taxing they can be on students.
Junior Andy Luc, a student taking 4 AP classes, reflects on when he took his exams, “I felt negative as always, I could have done better to improve my score or studied differently.” Luc is not alone in having this mentality, Correa stated: “I rarely feel any more at peace than after finals or AP exams.”
However, some students did not feel as adverse to the exams. Zeb shared that, “I feel a bit both negative and positive. Negative because there is some pressure or expectation for you to score high… But in the end, a high score should make you satisfied knowing you’re in the top x% of students.”
AP exams have many advantages to taking them; better recognition by colleges and potentially being able to advance faster in select colleges. However, the mental pressure it inflicts upon students and the general impact they take upon student’s careers needs to be considered with higher regard.
About the Author
