OPINION: AP exam attendance policy deserves revision

By Grace Irwin ’18

For some students, the first two weeks of May are the most relaxing as we approach the peak of spring weather—but for others, these two weeks are known as AP hell week. After countless days running on minimal sleep and cramming for the biggest tests of the year, by the end of any AP exams, all you want to do is go home, burn your hundreds of flashcards and flop onto the couch for the next decade.

At West Essex, during the weeks of AP exams, students head down to the multi-purpose room (better known as the wrestling room) or the study hall of room 514 to take their exams while the rest of the school continues on in a regular school day. The bell system is turned off to avoid disruptions, but AP students taking the exam are expected to return to class and continue on with instruction once finished with the two or four hour test. Or alternatively, students will pull their way through morning classes and then head into an afternoon AP testing session.

Elsewhere in New Jersey and across the country, however, schools, including Mountain Lakes, Chatham and West Morris, allow their AP students to come into school and leave after their exams, or come in late if scheduled for an exam later in the day. This is excused, giving them a chance to review the material or relax. This policy seems most fair and is well deserved for the students taking these exams. If half-days are given during midterms, why should this be any different for AP exams?

“Some people are in a lot of AP classes and really need the free time during the day,” said Evin Lathrop, who took six AP classes this year. “It is unfair that we are expected to return to class and do more work. We should be able to go home and decide how to use our time.”

Student Council members and students came together to review the current policy but this did not come to pass.

“The administration physically cannot condone missing class by allowing excused absences, so we tried to make up for it by giving an excused lunch period after a morning exam,” Junior Class President Julia Schmulewitz said.

I propose that students should continue to talk to teachers, parents, and the administration about the idea of excused absences for students during AP exams. Some may bring up the issue of busing and the dismissal of the rest of the school, if transportation is an issue for some, they can simply be administered a study hall for the remainder of the day, the equivalent of being excused early.

It should be simply put that students can be signed out or check in late excused the day of their designated exams. Most students come in only for their exams anyway, so this proposed policy would allow them to do this without penalty.

For now, it is said that the current policy cannot be changed, but with enough support from students and parents, the policy eventually will be overturned. Get together, and get talking; start a petition, express your opinions to the board and keep the conversation alive. AP exams deserve the same scheduling as midterm exams, as these exams are arguably of equal or greater importance. The push for change needs to continue.