Over 3.24 million students took an AP exam in May 2025, according to the College Board. Hours of studying and Starbucks go into the process of earning a passing score. Hundreds of dollars are spent to register. There’s significant pressure  on students to do well and earn college credit. But how many of these students were actually prepared?
AP, or Advanced Placement, classes are college-level courses centered around preparing students to take a cumulative exam in May. Depending on their score on the exam, they can receive college credit for the class. Naperville Central offers a diverse selection of 29 AP classes. Of the 29, six are offered for only one semester.

“[Central offers] close to the full slate of college board AP offerings,” said Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction Steve Jerentina. “In a perfect world, we want to make sure that we offer every kid in Naperville Central the opportunity to take an AP class.”

An overwhelming majority of 77.3% of Central students were enrolled in an AP class, with an AP test success rate (a score of three or higher out of five) of 88.2% at Central in the 2024-25 school year. Although this may seem like a high success rate, one factor considerably lowers it. First-semester AP class students are at a major disadvantage when it comes to May AP exams.

In an AP class, material is heavily dispersed throughout the course to ensure that students feel prepared for their exam and have a profound understanding of the content. Tests are frequent as units fly by.  Consequently, if a course was taken during the second semester, studying for the AP Exam outside of the classroom would be minimized, as it is typically built into the last few weeks of class. Since they aren’t in the classroom like second semester students, studying as a first semester student can require more self-reliance, which creates a major disadvantage when it comes to preparedness. Since they are not in the classroom leading up to the test, they miss out on extra practice tests and in-class reviews.

The disadvantages are then reflected in the vast disparity between AP test scores from first and second-semester students enrolled in the same course. Based on data provided by Central AP U.S. Government and Politics teacher Randy Smith, in the 2024-2025 school year, 53% of his second-semester students scored a five on the exam, whereas only 26% of his first-semester students received the same score. In this instance, it can be seen that second-semester students may be more prepared for their tests due to a higher percentage receiving ideal scores.

“It was a bad decision to take [AP US Gov.] first semester,”  junior Mahi Dharmavaram said. “I forgot half the things that I learned first semester [by the time second semester rolled around].”

While it can be frustrating to prepare for a test far from the end date of a class, District 203 utilizes information provided by the College Board on the course to determine if it is developmentally appropriate for a student to complete the course in a semester or a year. However, there is not a lot of room for change, as most AP classes offered at Central are meant to be full year. Administrators try their best to keep the students’ best interests in mind when deciding course lengths, but they do not fail to address that sometimes it’s not as effective as it could be.

“If you take a class from August to December, where you are going to be in terms of the skills that you develop, the content that you remember in May versus taking that same class in January to May […] there’s a recency component that is important there,” Jerentina said. “We’re not going to hide the fact that it’s not as ideal as wrapping up a second-semester class and then jumping into your May exam.”

Another example of a one semester AP would be Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. They are sister classes that are designed to be taken together within a year. The College Board and Central coordinate to decide which one to offer first semester, keeping test scheduling in mind.

Preparation for students before coming to Central is also key. The  Acceleration Act requires high schools to look at grades and test data of current eighth-grade students to see who may be successful in advanced coursework. Based on this data, teachers provide a recommendation to students and their families to show which classes they would be best fit for.

Administrators’ main goal is to provide students with an engaging experience and ensure that they are prepared for their May exam.

“We want to provide students with support and strategies,” Jerentina said.

Some classes offer new review materials to both first and second semester students. An example of this is AP U.S. Government and Politics. Instructors Mike Bochenski, Matt Zieman and Randy Smith provide before and after school unit review sessions alongside SOAR supports reviewing the free response question types to help all students prepare. 

Administrators have been advocating for the use of District provided AI resources, like Google’s Gemini or NotebookLM, as advantageous tools for studying as well. However, some members of the district also advocate for another solution.

“I would love it if the College Board [offered] mid-year AP tests,” Jerentina said. “So when it gets to May, rather than taking up to five different AP exams [like some Central kids do], being able to take some of those in December would really lighten the load.”

However, with the way that things are currently set up, the question of mid-year AP exams is not a school, district or state level decision but completely dependent on the College Board alone.

“All I would do is beg the College Board to add AP tests after first semester,” Dharmavaram said. “That would be so helpful.” 

If this change were to be implemented, there would be a wide variety of logistical issues, including timing and difficulty finding the appropriate people or timing to score exams. At a local level, a major concern is spacing. Administrators have to coordinate space for the exams to be taken with the athletic and PE departments. There are close to 2,350 exams planned to be taken in May 2026, according to Jerentina. 

“I think I’m still in the ‘I’m interested, and I’m curious ‘[phase],” Jerentina said. “But if you were to ask me how realistic it is, I don’t know, because the College Board is a very well oiled machine who does things fairly methodically.”