By Bobby Black – Sports Editor

AP exams are designed to measure students’ understanding of the content and skills taught to students throughout the AP course. 

All 38 AP exams taken in May are different, but there are many common things based on the structure of the exam. 

Most exams are two to three hours containing multiple parts. The first part is instructions, second is the first part of the exam, usually multiple-choice, and the third part is the writing portion. 

Many exams are also returning to pencil and paper this year. On the multiple-choice portion of the tests, points won’t be taken off if students incorrectly answer a question or do not answer it at all. 

Preparing for an AP test is very important. The College Board provides videos, multiple-choice questions and more to help them best prepare for the upcoming AP exam. 

“I used notes from those videos and used the AP Classroom questions to help me prepare for the exam,” sophomore Jaxson Smith said.

Students can earn college credit based on the results of their AP exams. Most colleges take scores of 4s and 5s but some take 3s as well. These credits mean students don’t have to take that class in college. 

Taking these AP classes can also help students figure out a profession they might want to pursue in the future. 

“Don’t just take an AP class just to take it; take an AP class because you are interested in it or you think it will benefit you in the future,” junior Brendan Buchner said. 

These AP exams will be taken place in the first two weeks of May, but students will not get their results until July.