Advanced Placement (AP) exams are college-level exams that are administered during the first two weeks of May and are designed to measure a student’s mastery of a specific AP course’s content and skills, according to the College Board.
This year’s AP testing includes 40 different AP courses and is taking place from May 5 to May 16. The College Board, which administers the SAT, also administers AP exams and classes.
There tends to be a lot of pressure for high school students to take AP courses.
“I do feel pressure to take APs, as it feels normalized that everyone should be pushing to take the maximum amount they can,” said Arianna Yeung, a sophomore at Carlmont High School.
Yeung is currently interested in studying nursing and is looking at schools in the University of California system, such as the University of California, Santa Barbara, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of California, Berkeley.
“I think the amount of APs you take does matter for getting into college, but the grades you get and whether or not they are associated with your major also play a big part,” Yeung said.
Carlmont currently offers 22 AP courses.
“There is a lot of pressure, especially at Carlmont. Off the top of my head, I don’t think I can name a single person who hasn’t taken at least one AP class,” said Masha Rozenfeld, a senior at Carlmont.
Nina Damania, a junior at Carlmont, plans to have taken nine AP classes by the time she graduates.
“I don’t think AP classes are the deciding factor of whether or not you get into college. Although it does depend on what college you want to attend,” Damania said.
Many high schools, including Carlmont, give extra weight to AP classes, which can improve students’ weighted GPAs. This can add to the pressure of taking a large number of AP courses.
“I feel a lot of pressure to take a bunch of APs since all my friends are taking so many. I feel like the environment at Carlmont is particularly competitive in taking AP classes and getting into college because we are located in the Bay Area, and everyone is so focused on their careers,” Damania said.
According to the College Board, 85% of selective colleges and universities report that a student’s AP experience favorably impacts admission decisions.
Rozenfeld took five AP courses and tests throughout high school and is planning to attend Syracuse University this fall.
“I think it definitely helped to show that I was pushing myself academically, but I don’t think it was a deciding factor, because I didn’t take as many as I could have,” Rozenfeld said.
According to Tthe Princeton Review, AP exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 5. These tests can earn students college credit depending on their scores. Every college is different, but most schools do not accept scores below a 4 for credit.
“I got some poorer grades in some AP classes and wonder if colleges would rather see me getting perfect A’s in regular courses than struggling in AP courses, so I think I should have taken less,” Rozenfeld said.
According to the National Society of High School Scholars, students who take AP courses throughout their high school experience signal to colleges that they are ready to challenge themselves with rigorous coursework and are prepared for college-level curriculum.
“Junior year has felt like the most stressful year of my life, and some of that is definitely due to the classes I am taking, but I honestly don’t regret taking a large amount of APs because I want to be as prepared as I can be for college,” Damania said.
According to the International Journal of High School Research (IJHSR), research has shown that taking AP courses can lead to higher stress levels for students. AP is currently one of the most widespread accelerated course programs in the United States.
“I wish I could tell myself to focus only on what I could control instead of stressing about every little thing. Instead of wasting my time and energy stressing about classes and thinking about where I would go for college, I wish I had focused more on being in the present because four years went by so fast,” Rozenfeld said.
The average student who takes more AP courses tends to spend more time on homework, gets less sleep, and has higher self-perceived stress, while students who take one to three AP courses generally have the best median mental well-being score, according to the IJHSR.
“I can tell that a lot of my friends are super stressed about college and looking towards the future, and it affects their sleep a lot. I think it would benefit a lot of us if we could all just slow down, take a breath, and worry a little less,” Damania said.
Even through the stress of high school and AP courses, students are still excited for their futures and the experiences they will have in college.
“I’m most excited to study abroad because I’ve heard from so many people that it’s the highlight of their time in college. I am also excited to learn more about what I want to do in life, career-wise, and find what I’m passionate about,” Rozenfeld said.
