This year, Costa students have been jammed with trying to study for AP class finals before actual AP tests. Many teachers’ intent with their finals is to allow students to review and be well-prepared going into their AP exams, but these finals tend to cause unnecessary stress and burnout. Ultimately, this results in poor student mental health and attendance patterns after AP exams are over.
Costa AP classes hold their finals in either late April or the first week of May, right before the College Board’s official AP testing window. These finals often mimic the real AP exam, down to the format and length. This creates an immense amount of pressure for students who are already juggling multiple advanced courses.
Instead of students being able to steadily prepare for their exams, they are met with a wave of cumulative tests followed by another round of high-stakes national exams, all within a few short weeks. This is especially stressful for students enrolled in more than one AP course, which is common amongst students at Costa.
The result of these finals is burnout. This exhausting system overwhelms students with stress, and many students stop coming to school post-AP testing. Many students, feeling they’ve already completed the most difficult part of their school year and lacking any major AP class content, understandably lose motivation to attend school.
Administrators have tried to counter this attendance issue at Costa by enforcing stricter attendance policies. Now, a parent must physically pick up their student if they are under 18, from the health office in order for students to leave school. These rules feel contradictory in a system where students are overworked and then left with little instruction afterwards. Instead, Costa should try to make school days feel more purposeful and manageable, encouraging students to show up post-AP exams, rather than forcing them to.
Additionally, exhaust from AP scheduling not only affects school spirit, but also students’ long-term relation-
ship with learning. When the hardest classes are front-loaded with back-to-back finals and exams, and the rest of the year feels like empty filler, students learn that school is solely about testing, not growing.
Instead, Costa should rethink how AP courses are structured in the spring. Perhaps teachers could replace traditional finals with low-stakes review activities, or wait until after AP testing for a final assessment that is more reflective of a class’s lessons. Or, the school could shift away from full-length mock exams during regular class periods in favor of smaller unit-based assessments in the weeks leading up to the AP tests.
Ultimately, there needs to be a balance. Costa’s learning environment should feel meaningful throughout the
entire year, not just up until the first two weeks of May. Especially to seniors who have less than a month left of their high school career. Costa should reconsider how AP finals are scheduled, especially in light of strict attendance expectations in order to create a more sustainable and supportive learning environment.
Leave a Reply