The questions being asked are indeed important questions and must have been lurking in the back of every high school student’s head at some point in their life or the other. Being one of the most sought after examinations after high school, it’s popularity and renown is not a surprise. It is almost considered a necessity to pursue higher education in America in the modern-day.
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What is the AP examination?
Advanced Placement examinations (AP exams by College Board) are exams offered in the United States by the College Board and are taken each May by students. The tests are the culmination of year-long Advanced Placement (AP) courses. AP exams (with a few exceptions) have a multiple-choice section and a free-response section, the number and type of questions vary between courses.
It is said to be one of the most important exams for high schoolers looking for further education. With over 1.24 million public school students who took this exam in 2019, you can judge its popularity.
What is the purpose of the AP exams?
The AP exams are made to give the average high school student what it would be like to take up a college course. This may seem a little stressful, and it is for most, however, the added benefits would be to help identify gifted and hard-working students to help choose the very best students for universities.
Writing one of these tests will help the college of your dreams have an easier time finding you. Giving the students a headstart in school will save them from a lot of unnecessary trouble in college.
Why should you take these exams?
The reasons you could choose to take these tests are many, these range from the purpose itself all the way to additional benefits you never knew it provided:
- The Variety of courses:
No matter if you’re an artist by passion, a budding entrepreneur, a genius mathematician, or a linguist, there are courses for almost every subject offered by The College Board.
A list of these courses would be:
- Art History
- Biology
- Calculus (AB & BC)
- Chemistry
- Chinese Language and Culture
- Comparative Government & Politics
- Computer Science A
- Computer Science Principles
- English Language & Composition
- English Literature & Composition
- Environmental Science
- European History
- French Language and Culture
- German Language and Culture
- Human Geography
- International English Language
- Italian Language and Culture
- Japanese Language and Culture
- Latin
- Macroeconomics
- Microeconomics
- Music Theory
- Physics 1: Algebra-based
- Physics 2: Algebra-based
- Physics C: Mechanics
- Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
- Psychology
- Spanish Language and Culture
- Spanish Literature and Culture
- Statistics
- Studio Art (2-D, 3-D, & Drawing)
- U.S. History
- U.S. Government & Politics
- World History: Modern
These courses provide you a detailed rundown on each subject and go into a depth you can never experience in school.
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Preparation:
By going through this course you can keep yourself aware of how courses in college are going to be. With curriculums similar to that in college you will be faced with similar or even higher levels of pressure. This makes college recruiters more likely to pick you due to your ability to handle both schools as well as AP work without a hunch.
Apart from the implications in your college application, you will learn to prepare for high-level examinations and develop the traits of consistency and hard work.
The average student prepares for this exam using a few steps which when emulated can lead to great results in any situation. Such as:
- Systematic Work: Studying systematically and on time for a test is the easiest way for a student to plan out their work. By splitting the work into sections you will learn the art of dividing your work to accomplish it faster and with better results.
- Practice: As the old saying goes, “Practice makes a man perfect”, you’ll learn to benefit from consistent practice in every job you undertake once you’ve prepared for this test.
Beyond all of this, the additional exposure to newer situations and depth of the subject may help you understand how it would feel to work or participate in such a course or even what you want to do afterward.
- Additional Credits and advantages:
By taking such courses, you are liable for quite a few advantages in both your school academics as well as college credits.
In school, doing well in your AP’s will give you a credit boost, this can move your grades up significantly helping your college application and pushes you to perform better. However, in most cases, this requires a score of 4.0 or above.
This is only added to the bonus credits for this course offered by the college which you plan to join, this, however, is dependent on the college and course.
With so many different reasons quite advantageous to register for this exam, you must be ready and excited to write this exam as well as scared. However, with the right preparation, you can ace it.
