Mahmoud Belhamdi

Jefferson students open Bluebook on their laptops, which is used for Advanced Testing (AP) exams. “[I enjoy AP exams] because it’s the fact that they’re different from your other classes. They offer a broader spectrum of courses, as well as its built into the system so it gets you ready for college overall,” senior Ahmad Assaleh said. “Just having that perception when you’re taking the class itself allows you to kind of try a little harder and it helps you understand what you want to do in college and later in life.”

The Advanced Placement (AP) exam season commenced on May 4, first starting with AP Biology and Latin in the morning and European History and Microeconomics in the afternoon. The testing season proceeds for two weeks, ending on May 15 with AP Environmental Science in the morning and Computer Science A (CS) in the afternoon. 

After preparing themselves for the exams over the course of the year by doing things such as studying key concepts and doing practice exams these two weeks mark a key part of the year for students in AP classes. These exams are important to Jefferson students as their scores help decide if they get college credit for these courses at certain universities. 

“If I can get college credit for it and it’s what I want to do, then yes they are worth taking,” junior Hamza Zanbrakji said. “If I want to become a physics major, then I should take a physics and other physics related AP course.” 

Due to this high importance to one’s college admissions process and the amount of classes someone has to take in college due to the opportunity of college credit, Jefferson students have a multitude of ways for studying for these exams. Practice and studying are prioritized, but Jefferson students have other ways to help prepare themselves for their exams.

“I took creatine, I took magnesium, [and] I took zinc,” Zanbrakji said. “I also ate tuna which had omega threes, which helped my brain function better on the day of the exam.”

Due to the importance of these exams, Jefferson students historically have adapted to the new resources and technologies to prepare for the AP exams. For example, the College Board first started providing online AP exams as an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented students from taking the exams at school. Students had to quickly adapt to using BlueBook for testing. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), certain Jefferson students have turned their attention to new educational AI softwares to reinforce what they’ve been learning in class. 

“I’ve been paying attention in class, [and] I listen to the teacher,” junior Nabi Zekarias said. “I’ve only been studying a bit too, like I started over spring break looking over the materials. I use NotebookLM to study so I upload some textbooks [and other similar materials].”

As AP testing season usually causes lots of stress for students who took a lot of AP classes, students use different approaches in order to do so in an effective manner. 

“At the end of the day you shouldn’t raise your cortisol too much,” Zanbrakji said. “When your cortisol spikes during an exam, it impairs your ability to function and your test taking abilities so you prevent yourself from getting a five. Make sure that you don’t freak out about your exams, building cortisol gives you a negative outcome.”