With May fast approaching, students and teachers admit that stress is beginning to rise in anticipation of nearing AP exams.

AP tests begin on May 6 and run for two full weeks. A fee of $94 is required to take each test. Each exam runs on an average for three hours, depending on the content being tested.

Along with basic knowledge of the AP class, exams also challenge students in skills based on a college level. Scores are measured on a scale of one to five. If a student earns a high enough score, college credit will be awarded.

However, this incentive for college credit leads to more students putting pressure onto themselves to do well.

Principal, Jeffrey Legan believes this stress is not only caused by pressure to perform well, but just by the exam itself. He said, “It’s a high stakes exam, so I think that just brings stress on multiple layers, the teacher and the parents wanting their child to do well, and on the student.”

AP Calculus teacher Lisa Heinl also thinks students are stressing over the high stakes nature of the exam. She said, “[Students are under stress] because reality is setting in that they’re taking a test of this magnitude.”

Jarrod Mulheman, assistant principal for curriculum and staff development, also understands the pressure students are beginning to experience due to the closing deadline. “It’s coming down to the last month here, so trying to prepare and feeling like you need to cram for multiple exams or if you’re just nervous about the first one, it’s completely understandable,” he said.  

Not only just students, but teachers handling AP courses also grow more under pressure with the nearing deadlines.

AP World History and AP European History teacher Michael Hughes knows teachers experience stress all year long in preparing students for the exams. However, he believes this pressure is rewarding as he is able to watch students grow throughout the course. He said, “There is pressure, but it’s a rewarding kind of pressure. I wouldn’t have it any other way, I’d rather have the pressure than not.”

Legan, who used to teach AP Statistics, knows this stress firsthand. He believes teachers handle these stresses by focusing on the betterment of their students. He said, “I think that they try to motivate their students and try to relieve that stress that a student may feel as much as they possibly can.

“You always want your students to do well no matter if it’s an AP course or in any other course,” he said.

Mulheman believes that students and teachers could manage these pressures through a communicative and beneficial relationship. He said, “Just knowing their kids and having a relationship, so that [the teachers] are approachable and that students feel like they can go to their teachers and express that they’re stressed out or struggling with something so there’s two-way communication.”

Heinl tries to lower student stress by providing as much awareness and practice of the material on the actual exams as possible. “I just try to make them as aware as possible as to what kinds of questions they’re going to ask on the exam and just different test-taking strategies,” she said.

Both Legan and Mulheman want students and teachers to focus on the aspect in gaining experience on a college-level rather than the test scores themselves. Mulheman said, “Mr. Legan and I have made it a point to not focus on [test scores]. We want to have more kids have that experience with AP courses, so we’re not worried with the scores so much as we want more kids to experience those courses.”

Hughes agrees that the administration does not put pressure on teachers in focusing on test scores. He said, “The administration here is very smart in how they don’t put a lot of pressure on teachers to get the test scores high. You know, we don’t get called in and told: ‘Why didn’t you get this many fives on the test?’”

To ease any stress, Mulheman wants students to know that only benefits will arise out of taking an AP exam. He advises students to be proud of their achievements in completing an AP course overall.

“Being in the class is an accomplishment on its own. The added perk of getting college credit for an exam that you sit for is only a bonus. And there’s no ramifications for not doing well,” he said.

Hughes wants students to benefit from the AP course in learning about and appreciating history so they can utilize those skills in daily life. He said, “Even if we don’t always have time to look at present-day issues because we’re so busy racing through what’s going to be on the test, at least you will be armed with the tools of the historical knowledge that you can approach your own personal issues and analyzing world issues with that backbone you got in world history.”

Legan wants students to think positively and works to make everyone feel good to be in school, no matter the pressure or stress. “Honestly, just giving high fives in the hallway; just making someone feel good about being here right now, I think that it goes a long way,” he said.