Walk into Whitney’s hallways and you will see them quickly crowd with students cramming information from their AP crash course books. It’s May, and what spring brings to Whitney is AP stress. After last-minute reviewing, the dreaded day of the AP test quickly arrives, but once the test is over, all the tension from the hallways quickly subsides.

            Behind these weeks of stressful panic are months of preparation and absorption of new information. Most students use crash course books. “An Advanced Placement class is no easy work. I’m cramming all I can from some crash course AP Psychology books and it helps to review,” says AP Psychology student Archie Ravichandran. Sophomore Angela Wan, however, disagrees on the usefulness of these AP Practice books. “I recently purchased a Barron’s AP Human Geography practice book, but I feel like I wasted my money because it is just a repeat of the notes we take in class and isn’t significantly improving my test taking skills. Mr. Perry prepares us extremely well.”

            But when unable to take its relevant class at Whitney, there are many students who choose to self-study the topics they are interested in. Senior Daisy Garnello is self-studying for the AP Psychology test. She says, “I plan on majoring in psychology in college, so I have been studying for the AP Psychology test on my own.” But without teacher guidance in psychology, how does she do it? “I’ve been reading crash course books, doing practice problems, and have formed a study group that I study with. It’s being effective.”

The 2011 AP Exams will be administered over two weeks in May: May 2 through 6 and May 9 through 13. Students are not required to attend school as long as they are present at the AP Test. Meanwhile, it’s all about last-minute reviewing and cramming and praying for a 5, the highest score possible.

Any advice on how future students should prepare in order to get a 5 on an AP test? “Study, study, and just start studying early. Do not procrastinate. Just start reviewing much earlier than two weeks before the exam, and you will never regret it.”