AP classes spend the entirety of the school year building up to and preparing for the exam at the end of the year. The exam evokes the feeling of finality and accomplishment for what probably was an extremely challenging class, and many students feel immense relief after the dreaded test is over.

Once the exam is over, AP classes drastically lose their drive and rigor, as they no longer have the exam looming over them.  Students tend to feel a lack of motivation for the remaining weeks left in the school year.

“After the exam it feels like the classes are kind of pointless.  There’s nothing to learn so we usually just do projects and watch movies,” junior Nick Rakis said.  This is a common feeling among students as the pace of the class immensely drops.

“I think [they] are a waste of time because we’re just sitting there doing nothing.  But as the same time it’s good because I don’t have to think too much,” sophomore Joey Barke agreed.

For students who spent their year devoting countless hours on homework and studying for these classes, the weeks that follow the exam are almost a reward for all of their hard work.  Although there are still usually some projects and miscellaneous things to do, the break is much needed. Especially for students in multiple AP classes, the last few weeks of school are blissful compared to the rest of the school year.

“It gets kind of boring if we are just watching movies the whole time, but in some of my AP’s we did more fun projects.  It is nice to not have to worry about studying for tests and quizzes in them because pretty much everything we did was to prepare for the exam,” junior Kayla Grande remarked.  Many classes like AP World History did projects like debates, which can allow for some creativity and is more enjoyable than other traditional projects.

“All of the projects can get a little annoying but I’m still glad I took the class.  I think that is it good to take at least one AP class, because it is probably going to help once we get to college,” junior Malina Grande said.

By the end of the year, AP classes wind down and students can prepare for summer.  The only left is finding out exam scores in early July and then being completely done with the class all together.