As the end of the year is creeping around the corner, so are AP tests. Students are now getting to the end of their learning in AP classes and teachers are planning on reviewing for these tests soon. Lots of students have multiple tests that they have to take which impacts the studying time for them.
Junior Stella Krueger is taking AP Pre Calc as well as AP United States History (APUSH). Kruger said she has been catching up on past units by viewing online study guides and shared tips to help prepare for the test.
“I’m watching online study guides currently and watching online videos and not throwing away any past work.I can keep track of as much information that I can over the past school year,” Krueger said.
Junior Ailish Fitzpatrick said she is most nervous about her AP Pre Calc test because it gives you a chance of getting your grade up in the class if you get a certain score.
“I’m most nervous for my AP precalc test because the whole thing where if you get a 4, your grade changes to an A- and if you get a 3 it changes it to a B,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’m worried about keeping my grade up.”
Math teacher Erik Ahlquist, who is part of the grading system for the AP math tests, shared the process of grading tests.
“We spend seven days in Kansas City grading them, and then they’re not usually done. We have to spend some more time during the first couple of weeks after the AP reading to grade them,” Ahlquist said. “There’s a group of leaders that go down and get the grading, get the questions organized from the sixth through the 10th, and we get the questions organized that how it’s going to be graded before the teachers and professors come down there.”
Junior Ivan Zank also takes AP Pre Calc and said he is nervous about how soon the test is, and given the amount of work they’ve gone over in class, they feel rushed and overall don’t feel ready.
“I don’t think I’m really prepared, and we haven’t had a lot of time to think about it,” Zank said. “(Our teacher) has given us a packet to look over, but honestly I feel like things are kind of rushed. We introduced a lot of new content last week.I feel like I’m a little bit behind.”
Ahlquist shares some tips he has for studying for any AP tests coming up and what resources he suggests. He said he has started reviewing multiple choice questions with his classes.
“Hopefully, your teacher has given you ample information and problems to work on. And beyond that, I would go to AP classroom and I think last Monday, they uploaded some review videos that are somewhere around 15 minutes long, and there’s like eight of them, and they’re broken down by sections or FRQ’s (Free Response Questions).”
Zank said he has found online resources on YouTube to offer some help with the subjects he struggles with.
“I look at what my teacher provides, like answer keys, but I also like to look things up, and I use this YouTube channel called Algebros, they help a lot,” Zank said.
