by Whitney Marie Halaby ‘14

As seniors start receiving college acceptance letters and committing to colleges, they face yet another decision: choosing whether or not to take one or more AP exams in early May and whether it is worth the time or cost.

More than 88 percent of Sherwood students enrolled in AP courses took the AP exam last year, according to information provided by the counseling office. Last school year, 836 Sherwood students took 1,700 AP exams, with 76.4 percent of those tests receiving a passing score of 3 or higher on a 5-point scale; 79.4 percent of students received a passing score or better on at least one AP exam.

AP Environmental teacher Laura Dinerman recommends that seniors take the exam. “If a senior has committed to a college and the college will not accept the AP credit, I would advise the student to still take the test,” she said. “The student may choose to transfer … It is important to keep all the doors of opportunity open.” She added that it is important for students to practice good test-taking skills throughout the year and for seniors to remember that colleges still like to see the completion of the course even if students won’t receive full credit.

Guidance Counselor Jamii Avery also feels that the experience of taking AP exams better prepares students for college and the experience of taking high-stakes semester finals. “The only con [of taking AP exams] I can think of is that it is a lot of work,” said Avery.

AP Calculus teacher Tim Altaner believes that a good aspect of taking the exam is that students get to test their knowledge on material that they have been learning from day one, but that the downside is that the exams cost too much at $89 per test.

“The AP Calculus exam is a great learning tool; it helps the students learn how to take exams that are very difficult. In college math classes, exams tend to be very difficult, and then they are curved, which is exactly what happens on the AP Calc test,” explained Altaner.