By The Wessex Wire Editorial Board

Advanced placement classes are called ‘advanced’ for a reason. The rigorous courses and demanding homework sometimes makes students question if an AP-filled schedule is actually worth it. This stressful workload does not last as long as the duration of regular classes though, because the AP tests in May usually end the course early. These tests can be extremely rewarding in that they provide college credits if a certain score is received.

However, if a student does not feel they can earn a certain score on AP exams, they are still required to take it for AP weighting in their GPA. Students are put in a position where they feel obligated to take a test they are not confident completing. When a student receives an AP course contract, it states in bold font “It is expected that if you enroll in this AP course, you will take the appropriate College Board examination in May.” If the test is not completed, the student receives honors weighting in their GPA, completely negating a whole year of dedicated AP work. This causes some students- who are aware they clearly have no chance of passing the more difficult exams- to pay over $90 per test and sit in a room for an hour and a half either blankly guessing or sitting still, solely for AP weighting.

It is unfair to make students suffer through a test they do not want to take and pay for an exam they will perform poorly on, simply to have a GPA that should reflect all the work they did throughout the year. Regardless of each student’s performance on these tests though, the more students that take AP tests, the better the school’s reputation is for having “AP participation.” On a macro level, these numbers are impressive, considering the number of students that take these tests for their GPA. Whether a student takes an AP test should not be at the expense of a student’s wallet or brain.