Now comes the end of the school year, and with that, another cycle of AP exams has begun. AP exams entail hours of testing for students to demonstrate their understanding of the university-level course. Unlike last year, where all examinations were taken online, this year, when the COVID-19 condition improves, students will be taking the exams both at school and online.

“I’m really nervous about taking it for the first time because although I know that I’ll be tested on things like reading, listening, writing,” said NDB sophomore Ariel Lucas, who is currently taking AP Chinese. “I’ve never taken it before so I don’t quite know exactly what to expect. And if it will be difficult, especially during COVID-19, but I’m still optimistic, hopeful that everything will be alright.”

Since there are NDB students who are taking tri-school classes, students will be taking AP exams with Serra High school as well. The two classes that are associated with Serra are AP Chinese and AP Computer Science A.

“I’m a bit worried about taking the test with my mask on and being there for a couple hours next to other people, because I don’t know whether that will affect me taking the test, but I think as long as we’re all quiet, social distance, and focus on our tests I think it will be alright” Lucas shared her thoughts about taking the exam at school.

With the Covid restrictions, most of the exams at NDB will be taken at home. The only exceptions are the AP Chinese and AP Spanish exams and students who have testing accommodation conflicts. In addition, all AP exams are full-length this year and there will be 196 NDB students taking 319 full-length exams in 21 subjects. Thus, NDB is unable to provide the on-campus testing option with the classroom capacity.

“Honestly, still very stressed about it but also I guess taking it from my home, it’s kind of what I’m used to now. I feel like going in person would make me more stressed at this point in time because I’m just so used to doing everything online,” said freshman Saaniya Ravi.

This year, NDB has opened up places in AP Computer Science Principles and AP Human Geography to freshmen.

“I’m really nervous, just because I know like a lot of schools, a lot of freshmen don’t take AP classes in general, so it’s not something that all the freshmen are doing,” Ravi shared her thoughts on taking the AP exam during her first year in high school.

Now that AP exams have already begun, hopefully everyone will do well and be satisfied with their performance.