The count down has begun and the school year is officially reaching its end.  But before the school year is over we must get through the dreaded exam week.

When exams come to mind I think of one thing:  stress, stress, and more stress. Exams are a teacher’s final attempt to torture us.  It can either be a student’s last chance to prove their failure or success.

The anxiety of AP exams seems the worst.  During AP exam week, I feel like I lose a week of my life, and more importantly my nights begin to be devoted to studying instead of sleep. After the grueling months of the rigorous AP course, the credit weighs in the balance of one test.  After a year’s worth of torment the AP exam is one last thing we have to endure.

I think AP needs a new name. It should stand for anxiety and pressure. The course should come with a manual with a caution section warning you of the dangers of exam week.  If you see any zombie like students walking around school, don’t be concerned they are just suffering AP students.

The AP zombies are also affected by the summer jitters that make it nearly impossible to focus on anything other than getting out of school.  Summer is in the air, you can click on any high school student’s facebook status at any given moment and odds are it will have something to deal with summer or school coming to an end. 

On a beautiful warm, sunny afternoon students are not thinking about sitting in their houses studying for exams of any type. They are thinking of soaking up the beautiful sun on the lake.

I, like most students, would prefer to be outside.  Come fourth quarter most students have “checked out,” but somehow we are still expected to be tested on a year’s worth of material.  Final exams are just a ridiculous waste of time.  A lot of this stress could be relieved if we just dumped finals altogether and students just take the grade they have at the end of the year.  There is really no need to prove that they have learned the material since grades have been doing that all year.  It is just another dumb “tradition” that schools feel obligated to inflict on students.

The irony is there are only a few weeks left in school, but these weeks are crucial to passing our exams. Clearly, focusing is becoming an issue for everyone.

Whether you’re experiencing AP stress of the end of year exams, it is time to buckle down.  These exams can make your grade or break it.  The future of the summer depends on it.