May, a month that is supposed to be full of spring-feeling, flowers, excitement for new life, is only perceived as “AP Exam month” for students in many countries with AP courses as their educational system.

According to the College Board, “Advanced Placement Program (AP) has grown to the premier program advancing educational excellence in secondary schools across United States. AP courses offer rigorous college0level curricula and assessments to students in high school.”

Indeed, the evidence—study looked at 222,289 students from all backgrounds attending a wide range of Texas universities, the researchers found out that students who participated in both AP courses and exams in terms of higher GPA, credit hours earned and four-year graduation rates— provides the clearest positive argument for AP’s high participation. High performances in AP courses correlates with better college grades and higher graduation rates, especially in science course. However, this does not prove that AP exam is the most perfect exam.
In facts, critics of AP exams argue that AP courses are NOT, remotely equivalent to the college-level courses that the College Board is claiming it to be. A number of colleges students have claimed that AP courses in high school did not prepare them for any college classes. But, an important fact to acknowledge is that people do get superficial knowledge on the subject, which can definitely benefit the students in acquiring new, deeper knowledge.

In addition, the controversy related with exam’s high price—about $92 (2016)—have brought the issue that AP exam discriminate a large percentage of minority students. causing these students at a competitive disadvantages when it comes to college admissions. Not only that AP programs may impose “substantial opportunity costs” on non-AP students in the form of what a school gives up in order to offer AP courses, which often enjoy smaller class sizes and some of the best teachers. Schools have to increase the sizes of their no-AP classes and take strong teachers away from non-AP classes. This may not be a significant problem, but in low-income districts, could be a detrimental effect for the students.

Another study fro Texas region have also found that even a score of 2 out of a possible 5 points on an AP exam correlates with better college performances than that achieved by students who did not take AP or who skipped the AP exam; however, bear in mind that colleges usually give credit only of 3 or above.

Still, AP exams has been perceived by a plethora of students, parents and directors as an excellent measure of getting to understand a student's talent and interests. By taking several different AP courses and examining his or her skills, a student would be able to pursue their goals effectively without having severe identity crisis in college--as many student experience in their first year of college.