by Liv Byrnes and Tyra Carter

Waking up from spring break will be hard for sophomores, juniors, and seniors because they will be welcomed back to school during the dreaded week of APs.These Advanced Placement tests or APs,  follow a year-long college based course. For many juniors and sophomores this will be the first time they sit and take a three-hour long test. While it may be tedious to study over break, it will be worth it to many students.

Advanced Placement classes are accelerated classes that teachers try to teach like a college course. Because the students can get college credits by getting a three, four, or five on the exam, teachers believe that students should be more independent. Senior Luke Rowe took AP Statistics this year because he wanted to build up his résumé and challenge himself in an accelerated course.

For many sophomores and juniors this is the first time they will test for four hours straight. Juniors Eva Dougherty and Maddie Scullion have never taken APs before and don’t know what to expect. “Our teachers have told us a lot about the tests, but I don’t know what to expect until I have the test in front of me,” said Scullion. Sophomore Jenna Vespi is also sitting for the first time on May 12 for the AP World test. “Our teacher has started to prepare us, but I’m still nervous. I know that I won’t fail, but I also don’t know if I will get a five either,” said Vespi.

Another concern of students is how to study. AP United States History teacher Andrew Cottet said that he knows that his students are prepared, but they still have to study to refresh their knowledge of what they learned in the fall. Junior Lucas Binder wants to get review books at Barnes and Noble to help him study, “I think having the information in one book will keep me more organized,” he said. Senior Matt O’Connor is also happy to have the extra time over break to just focus on APs.

However, many of the teachers think that having April break so late may actually hurt students. “I don’t like having break so late because if I have questions while studying over break I might not have time to ask them during school when I come back,” said junior Hannah Butler. Senior Joanna Butler, however, thinks that it will allow her to really focus on studying instead of having to focus on other classes.  

AP courses are available in hopes of helping students get ready for the exam in spring. AP Language and Composition teacher Courtney Romeiser prepares her students by practicing skills that are needed to do well on the exam. “We prepare all year by developing critical thinking skills and writing skills for different types of assessments “ said Ms. Romeiser.

While students enjoy the much needed time off Mr. Cottet, Ms. Romeiser and her fellow AP Language teacher Matt Phillips hope that their students take advantage of the time to study for the upcoming exams.