College Board’s AP exams have long been a way for students to demonstrate proficiency in various college-level courses.
Traditionally, these rigorous courses are taught by teachers in one or two semesters within a structured classroom setting.
However, with resources such as Fiveable, dedicated YouTube teachers that break down every single checkpoint in a course’s curriculum, and ultimate review packets, there has been an increase in “self-studying” AP exams, where students learn, practice, and prepare for the AP exams all on their own accord.
Sophomore Vrayas Pila, who self-studied AP Biology this year, in addition to his AP Physics class which he took at school, believes taking and passing these exams will benefit his future.
“My goal in life is to become a doctor, AP Biology is an opportunity for me to immerse myself into this field at a very young age, while also showing colleges my passion” stated Pila. “Our school does not offer this course, but I would not want to lose out on this opportunity just because of that.”
Many other students like Pila are motivated by the desire to stand out in the college admissions, while also being given a chance to dive deeper into their interests. For instance, a student who is interested in majoring in Computer Science would want to take AP Computer Science A and get a chance to learn a programming language such as Java.
Senior Vamsi Challa, a student who has self-studied a multitude of courses here is motivated by the chance he has to take initiative with his college career and potentially go onto medical school to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor.
“AP testing is an important tool for high school students and allows us to get a jump on college and finish much quicker. I wanted to take as many as I could but not every AP test has a class at PV so I knew that I had to self-study for my goals and that’s exactly what I did.”
The culture of self studying at PV has only grown in the past few years and with the capacity to achieve so much through AP testing, it’s no wonder that many students have turned to it for their ambitions.
