With the fourth quarter well underway at Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech), students enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses are anxiously preparing for College Board’s arrival on campus. Beginning May 1, 2023, AP students will fill the testing room at Wright Event Center, located conveniently across the street from Foothill Tech, to participate in college credit-earning exams and demonstrate the knowledge they have acquired throughout the school year. 

Vice Principal and AP Coordinator Katie Tedford provided some insight into the statistics of AP courses at Foothill Tech, stating that 599 tests were administered in May of 2022 and the school plans to administer 672 tests in May of 2023. Out of the 599 tests from 2022, 65 percent earned a passing score of three or higher, and the average score was 3.1 overall. 

With 13 AP courses to choose from at Foothill Tech, Dragons often find themselves studying for and/or taking back-to-back exams. A few students, namely juniors and seniors, have opted to share their feelings about the upcoming tests and their preferred study habits to prepare for the significant academic milestone. 

Keira Kent ‘23, a student currently enrolled in four AP courses who will take AP exams over four consecutive days, shared, “I really feel like there is no need to stress out about them and it just is what it is.  .  .  . I’ll go to any review sessions teachers are offering, or I will go through old chapters and units.”

A senior, who requested to remain anonymous, plans on taking three AP exams, and commented, “I am planning on reading through all of the material for [AP U.S. Government and Politics] and watching a movie in Spanish.”

Laura Szavo ‘24, a student preparing to take three AP exams in the following weeks, contributed, “Studying has been mainly with friends at [Dan FitzPatrick’s] cram sessions, which are definitely worth going to . . . it’s really fun to do it with friends and helps me, at least, to remember that I’m not the only one that’s going through this.”

Katelyn Neasham, a junior who plans to take two AP exams, added, “If I am being honest, I am not studying that much for [AP U.S. History], but I am mainly just attending cram sessions, going over my notes, and rewatching certain lectures that I feel I need to. In terms of AP Lang[uage and Composition], I am reviewing all the rhetorical devices in that goofy image of [Richard Geib] in space, but other than that, there is not much to study for [AP Language and Composition].”

Testing will begin on May 1, 2023, at 8 a.m., and students are expected to arrive at the Wright Event Center no later than 7:30 a.m. to give adequate time for check in and directions. Although some materials will be available, testers are encouraged to bring their own number 2 pencils, a blue or black pen and any additional tools specific to their test, such as graphing calculators, rulers or Chromebooks. 

For more information regarding AP courses, exams, resources, or testing schedules, visit apcentral.collegeboard.org.