AP exams are here, and from now until they end, on Friday May 19, tensions are high.

The AP tests consist of Chemistry, Spanish Literature and Culture, Psychology, Art History, Physics, English Literature, US Government, Chinese, US History, Biology, Calculus, Statistics, European History, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Latin, French, Computer Science, World History, and Environmental Science.

Junior Robby Hill is taking three AP exams — English Language and Composition, Calculus AB, and U.S. History — and hopes to do well on all of them, despite the hours he and fellow AP test-takers will be sitting still.

“I think students are experiencing a pretty wide range of emotions about the upcoming AP exams,” Robby said. “For some, I think it is a relatively low stress exam, but for others, anxiety absolutely accompanies the test. I think we can all agree, however, that never is it fun to sit in a room for three hours.

Robby said his nerves fell “around a 5 on a scale of 1-10.” He credited his teachers with prepping him well throughout the year.

Junior Kira Bixby is taking two AP exams, U.S. History and English Language and Composition, and is pretty anxious

“Everyone that I’ve talked to is anxious, to some degree, about the APs,” Kira said. “Especially the juniors, because we’re also prepping for the SATs/ACTs, working on the college process, and looking at finals in around a month. It’s a lot to think about I think that everyone (myself included) is hoping for a 5, but of course, there’s so many factors that go into that score. At the end of the day, you probably won’t be able to recall all the details that you’ve learned over the last year, but you can always try.

Kira said the classes are in some ways more important than the score she’ll end up with on the AP exam.

“Ultimately, the scores don’t contribute to your final grade in the class, and if you score lower than you’d like, you’re not obligated to send them to colleges,” Kira said, “Leaving the class with a good understanding of the material is more important than getting a 5, I think, because at the end of the day, you’re going to want to remember the content, not how to write a DBQ. That being said, studying hard is still important, but not to the point of extreme stress”.

AP U.S. History Teacher Mr. Doubleday believes his students are well prepared.

I think my students will do well on the exam,” said Doubleday. “They have improved their skills significantly during the year and have learned a lot of content information about U.S. history that will help them do well.