On AP Exams and Stupidity

AP exams tend to be horrible, awful, terrifying things that suck the soul right out of your body. I can testify to this, certainly, given my history with the tests. I took AP US History two years ago, AP Literature, AP Language, and AP Calculus AB last year, and both AP Physics exams and AP Calculus BC this year. Now, the reason that AP tests are so difficult, in my opinion, is that they are designed to measure your intelligence. Not how much you know about a subject, but how much you can figure out about it in three hours, based on a year’s worth of class. When you look at them this way, it makes perfect sense that the tests would be soul-crushingly difficult. You are being asked to work on a level that most high school students never experience.

However, my AP exams have not all been horrible, awful, terrible, or soul-sucking. One of my most recent exams, AP Calc BC, was an almost enjoyable experience. Now, you may be shaking your head in wonder or going through the last paragraph, wondering what I got wrong. Hear me out.

I shouldn’t have taken the BC exam.

I don’t have an actual BC course, just an online class that I should be finishing right at the moment I type these words, and that online class didn’t teach me much about how Calculus should be done. So, I went into the exam with little knowledge of anything more advanced than AB. This sounds like a nightmare—one of mine, to be exact.

It wasn’t. Taking the exam was almost enjoyable. I gave myself permission to not know the answers, so I didn’t beat myself up when I didn’t. Every question I could complete was a pleasant surprise, so I spent the time being positive instead of negative. And, I no longer cared what the AP graders thought of me. They could give me whatever grade they wanted and I would be pleasantly surprised by all of it. There was just so much weight off my shoulders.

Also, I had a ton of extra time in which to write poetry in my head and design Sims houses. I had a lovely time, and then I left, easy as that. There’s something freeing about forgetting to care what other people think of you. Whatever I get on that BC exam will not be a reflection of me and my abilities, no matter what. My Physics exams, on the other hand…

Thank you so much for reading.

See you soon…

~Susie

Chorus of the Day:

She's dancing alone

I'm ready to go but she's so

Lost in stereo, lost in stereo

She's out of control, so beautiful

In stereo, lost in stereo

And I've been waiting for so long

But she'll never know

I'm losing hope 'cause she's so

Lost in stereo, lost in stereo

Lost in stereo, lost in stereo

Last Chorus of the Day:

Miss Atomic Bomb by The Killers