The end of the school year is finally near! The flowers are blooming, the temperatures are rising, and… it’s time to start getting ready for your AP Exams. While that news may dampen the good mood that summer brings, taking these classes and their exams will benefit you in the long run.

For some people, highschool goes by very fast and the sudden appearance of college preparations are extremely stressful. Although what your parents and teachers tell you is true, that college is on a different level than high school, there is a way to gradually start adjusting to harder classes. Taking an AP class can introduce you to necessary note-taking, time management, and test taking skills. Someone in high school may find that although they are great at taking multiple choice exams, they often run out of time. In college being able to handle limited time is key to being less anxious when it is time to test. Also, in college a lot of time students are put in extremely large classes, which means that there is not much one-on-one time with the professor. In order to stay on track with each subject in class, you need to be able to take notes effectively. Teachers of AP classes are very good at showing students how this can be done. For many teens, taking tests are the most stressful parts of school as a whole. But if you learn to study and use test taking strategies correctly, taking exams will be much easier in college. So, yes, college may be at least a little bit stressful no matter what you do. But AP classes will definitely help you learn the most important things to being successful in school throughout your whole life.

A lot of the time AP Exams seem pointless. So much stress to take a test that will last for hours and probably make your wrist sore from writing so much. But for a lot of intellectual students, taking these exams has been a life saver. AP Exams might seem impossible, but the way that they are graded are different from normal tests. Since getting a 5 on the AP Exam is the highest score, a lot of people think that this means they need to get almost everything right. This is not true. For exams, such  as the one for AP Psychology, you are given 1 hour and 10 minutes to complete 100 multiple choice questions and 50 minutes to do 2 FRQ’s (Free Response Questions). You might be thinking, “So, i’d have to probably get a 90% and up on the multiple choice to get a 5 right?” But really all you need to get the best score on this exam is a B or C on the multiple choice part. Really different from a final, right? Not only this, but AP Exams have no effect on your GPA, so if you don’t end up doing well it doesn’t have a long term effect on you. Plus, signing up for an AP Exam means that you don’t have to take the final for that class (which does count for, or against your grade.)

Getting a 3, 4, or 5 on the exams are considered good scores, you can submit them to colleges and gain their attention, maybe even get money offers. So, don’t immediately veto the idea of taking an AP Exam. Think about it, in a way AP classes can help you out so much!