Before the end of the year in May, students are rushing to prepare for their AP exams from classes in the first and second semesters. AP tests assess the student’s knowledge of the subject and determine whether the student should be given college credit for the course. Every year, high school students who take AP classes in the first semester fear the exam they will have to take at the very end of the year. The gap between the end of the first semester and the AP exam makes students very anxious about their performance.

Let’s think about this for a moment. When you take AP exams in the first semester, all the information that you know about that class is always fresh in your head due to homework and regular studying that you do for the class. The most logical course of action for an exam would be to have it right after the class ends, right? At least, this is what happens with Honors courses.

But instead, College Board decides to have the first semester AP exams at the end of the year. That is a terrible idea. Between doing homework for the second semester’s classes and last semester’s APs, students are left drained and exhausted. When the exams are after the second semester, their brains flood with information from second-semester classes, so they don’t remember content from the first semester.

The time jump forces students to cram and ultimately do worse on their AP exams. If CollegeBoard wanted students to improve on AP exams, they would have them at the correct times so that it is better optimized for students. Students would take their class, then take the exam at the end of the semester, and be done with it. Afterward, they would start their second-semester classes, and take those exams at the end of that semester. This method would make students organized and leave them with more energy.

I talked to many students at Green Level about the AP exams for the first semester potentially being in January, and one said, “That would be amazing. I hate that they are at the end of the year so much!”

Many students around the county and the country share this same opinion, so I think that College Board should listen to students’ opinions.