Students Should Be Given the Day off for APs

After preparing the whole school year for a test, AP students are now faced with another challenge during the day of their AP exam.  

A policy put in place this year no longer allows students to be excused from classes all day during the day of their AP test. Thus, students have to go to their regular classes before or after the test. 

The AP test not only lasts four hours, but consists of multiple choice questions (written in confusing College Board language) and “free response questions” (essays you must write in a crazy short amount of time).   

Instead of focusing on my AP tests—which will help me in the long run—I will be distracted by the other classes I have to attend. 

It will be more difficult to focus on the most important test of the whole year because of homework or classwork during the day of my AP test. 

It could be potentially be another obstacle in receiving the highest score possible to receive the coveted college credit. 

In previous years, on the day the student was taking their AP test, they were excused from their classes all day. 

Although one AP test does not last the whole school day, for many students it was a relief to not have to worry about their other classes during the day of their test.

AP classes help students boost their GPAs but also give students an opportunity to receive college credit through the AP exam in May. 

By taking a 4-hour exam and paying nearly $100, students have the opportunity to receive college credit without having to pay money to take that course in college.

Attending zero period and classes before or after AP’s not only takes time away from studying, but also negatively affects students’ mental health.

Having to deal with college-level exams and regular classes all within the same week places an unnecessary amount of stress on students. 

We are encouraged to take AP classes, but when the test comes around we’re not alllowed to focus on the exam as much as we should.

Students have the weight of the world on their shoulders to pass the exam and save themselves thousands of money once in college.

On the day of the AP test, your stomach is in knots. You’re also a nervous wreck, and now you have to worry about attending your classes. 

It is unfair that AP students, some of the most studious students, now have to stress about homework or tests on the same day as their AP test. 

After your brain has been fried by the College Board’s torturous four-hour exam, you might as well be feeling brain dead. 

How can we be expected to attend classes after the AP test?