AP exam registrations are due today, November 4, 2022, by 5pm for Seattle Public School students in either yearlong or first semester AP courses. Students can register for the exams at https://myap.collegeboard.org by joining their designated AP class sections and clicking Register. Payments or payment plans for the exams must be made by November 4, 2022, or else the exams will not be ordered for the AP tests taking place in early May

AP courses are known to provide an opportunity for students to study at an in-depth college level, with potential to get college credits or college advanced placement in return of passing the AP exam. Although there is a not-so-convenient fee of $107 per exam (without Free or Reduced Lunch eligibility) if you wish to take rigorous AP tests taken six months after having registered for them, it’s all worth it in the end as long as it helps with college admittance, right?

The College Board is a well-established organization that profits off of high schoolers’ desires to get into their dream school. It purposefully issues a November registration deadline, absurdly early in regard to the actual testing time frame that takes place in May from the 1st to the 12th. Once you’ve ordered the test, you must take it or else an unused test fee or cancellation fee of $40 will be enacted on your behalf, making it so it still costs to not take the test although you may but unconfident in passing the exam upon completing or experiencing more of the class. Mrs. Miller, AP Environmental Science teacher expressed her thoughts. “It seems really unfair for the College Board and the district to force students to decide to commit to a test that costs a lot of money when they’ve only been in a class for a few weeks.” Miller said.

Claims asserted by the College Board state that the AP course curriculum assists and prepares students for college/university coursework and may aid students in being seen as “college ready” by administrators.  This is disputed by Mr. NK, teacher of AP Human Geography and AP Government. “What we do here is not like a college class. I’ve talked to professors who say students who took an AP class and did fine on it, they’re not ready for the upper level classes, they didn’t learn enough.” NK said in regard to his Human Geography class.

The testing experience and preparation isn’t pleasant either, inducing stress for students and concern among teachers. “I worry that some students overstress themselves by cramming too many tests into a single year.” Miller said.

“It’s a miserable experience, there’s three and a half hours of a test designed to make you feel bad about it, it’s designed to anoint a few people and put everyone else down.” NK said.

Don’t feel any sort of obligation or pressure to take the AP exam, be it from fellow students, colleges, or family. If you want to take it as a means to feel better prepared for college and its admissions, go for it, however just know the AP exams aren’t made for you, it’s made for the money.