As the end of the school year approaches, AP classes are reviewing all the material they learned from the year and trying to prepare students for AP tests, which take place May 1-12. 

AP tests can be stressful for students because they cover large amounts of material and take a total of three hours per test. It is especially nerve-racking for those who have not taken them in previous years. 

Sophomore Chelsea Chen is taking her first AP exam in May for her AP European History class. She reveals the struggles she faced when starting to review.

“The most challenging part of preparing is coming up with a plan to review the material, even from the beginning of the year,” Chen said.

While non-AP classes allow students to take final exams on just second semester class material, AP tests cover material from the entire year. Furthermore, while Hinsdale Central started school after Labor Day this year because of summer construction, AP tests are taken around the same time for every school in the country. AP classes at Central have had to squeeze the same amount of material in less time. Chen says she definitely felt the fast pace of her class this year, especially towards the end. She explains her way to overcome the overwhelming emotions of preparing for the AP exam.

“I am trying to read over past assignments and review the textbook over a long period of time instead of leaving it to the last minute,” Chen said.

Junior Xixi Liu, who is preparing for multiple AP tests this year, is also finding it stressful. Liu took AP Computer Science Principles during her sophomore year and echoes the importance of not letting work pile up.

“To deal with the stress, I take breaks between studying, so I don’t get burnt out,” Liu said. 

Although it might seem obvious, getting a head start on studying and laying out a spread out plan before you start studying gets rid of so much anxiety. Liu gives more tips for students who haven’t taken AP exams before.

“Do lots of practice problems from real AP exams because it gets you accustomed to the style of the actual thing,” Liu said.

Past AP exams can be found on the College Board website or anywhere online and offer a great preview to the type of problems on AP tests. AP Computer Science A teacher John Schlemmann recommends his students to use the College Board website because it has so many resources. Teachers can assign certain material on the website or students can look through on their own. Since the AP tests are also made by College Board, they create realistic types of questions and can give test questions from previous years that can show students what they need to review.

Whether it is a student’s first or last AP exam, the weeks leading up can be very taxing. Remember to not put too much pressure on your test results. All you can do is make sure to create a realistic plan, take advantage of resources available to you, and most importantly put in your best effort.