Exams for students in AP classes have begun, starting on Monday, May 6 and taking place through May 17.

AP exams are an optional test for any students in an AP class.

In the fall, students in AP classes can choose to register and pay to take the exam at the end of the year.

Colleges require a certain amount of credits to graduate, and if a student scores high enough on the AP exam, they can receive some college credit for taking that class.

AP exams are graded on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest score. Generally colleges look for a score of four or five; students who score this are more likely to receive college credit.

There are 15 AP classes at West that will be holding their exams during the next two weeks. 

The tests are staggered over the two weeks, so there are no more than two tests a day, allowing students in multiple AP classes to take all the exams they wish.

Junior Brynn Parry is taking three exams this year, AP Biology, AP U.S. History and AP Language and Composition.

All year in AP classes, students have been learning how to take the exam for that class.

Parry explained that to prepare, she has been completing the practice questions and packets her teachers have been assigning, as well as watching videos to review.

Parry gave some advice to underclassmen thinking about taking exams in the upcoming years.

“Know what you’re signing up for, because some people sign up for it just thinking that it will look good on colleges – because it will – but when it gets to the end of the year it’s really hard,” Parry said.

AP Statistics teacher, Jared Bryan explained what he has been doing to prepare his students for the exam.

“So, for our test specifically, for statistics, we’ve been doing a lot of practice with multiple choice questions and understanding some test taking strategies with those,” Bryan said. “And then we’ve been working on free-response questions and some of the big pieces that they’ll be looking for when they go to grade those.”

To students taking an AP exam during the next couple of weeks, Bryan offered some advice.

“My biggest piece of advice would just try to get a good night’s sleep the night before,” Bryan said. “And then just be confident in the fact that you’ve done all the preparation and now it’s just time to show them what you know.”