In 2024, Upper School (US) students took 473 AP exams, including 20 taken by students not enrolled in AP classes who prepared largely on their own, excluding students who took the AP U.S. History (APUSH) exam. This year, there were 486 AP exams taken, including 41 that students took without enrolling in the AP class. US students and teachers recognized both the advantages and challenges of self-studying.
For US Science Teacher Rachel Riemer, self-studying for AP exams means skimming over the top of a course’s content.
“If you’re just trying to ace an exam or take an exam without having taken the appropriate course that goes with it, I think you’re doing yourself a disservice in terms of the depth of learning,” she said.
Students should concentrate on the classes they are currently taking.
“Be the best version of yourself in the classes you’re in because that’s more important than self-studying for an exam in a course that you’re not in,” she said.
Studying for the AP Physics test is not the same as taking the class, Ms. Riemer said.
“There’s a whole unit that we don’t cover in Honors Physics that the AP one includes, so students never really learned the material. They learned tricks and formulas to memorize, but they didn’t know the concepts.”
AP exam scores can intensify already competitive academics, Ms. Riemer said.
“There’s a bigger systemic issue around how we approach the next learning opportunity,” Ms. Riemer said. “College is meant to be a learning opportunity, so the feeling of ‘Everything comes down to how you do on an AP exam’ is a hard, hard sell.”
Nathan Ma ’27 self-studied for the AP Biology and Physics 1 exams. He took Physics (Honors) this year.
“I just liked bio, and I thought AP Physics would at least be sort of similar to what we did in class, so I thought it would just be a little bit of extra work to study for that,” he said. “But, overall, I picked bio because I liked the class.”
Self-studying for his AP exams wasn’t easy, Nathan said.
“You always tell yourself you’re going to study like a ton, but then you end up just cramming the last day before. Just like staying consistent with yourself when you’re studying, it’s been tough.”
Praneal Rohatgi ’27 said he wasn’t recommended for the AP Chemistry class, so he self-studied for the AP Chemistry exam.
“I chose to self-study for an AP exam because I thought there’s no harm in taking it because I don’t always have to report it to colleges,” he said. “So, I thought I might as well try my best.The toughest thing is that the chemistry classes — or for any class — they don’t cover all the units that are on the AP test if you just take the base class. So, there’s a lot of self-studying units that you didn’t cover in class.”
US History Teacher and APUSH Coordinator Jessica Stokes recommends prioritizing coursework over self-studying for AP exams when students have to make a choice.
“From a college admissions perspective, my understanding is that the grade on your transcript is more important than the AP score,” she said. “From a course content perspective, we choose the coursework because we believe it is more beneficial for understanding the world rather than just taking an exam. For both those reasons, if students are trying to decide whether to spend time on coursework or self-study for an exam, and they can only do one of those two, then I would suggest that they focus more on their coursework.”
Deciding whether to self-study for an AP is an individual choice, Ms. Stokes said.
“You should talk with people you trust, your parents, your siblings, maybe your friends but not necessarily your friends. Don’t do it just because your friends are doing it. And talk to your advisor if that would be helpful.”
Scarlett Chan-MacRae ’26 self-studied for the AP English Language and Composition and APUSH exams.
“I really enjoy knowing what’s going on in the world and being able to relate my points to that. So, that’s why for me I was down to do Lang just for fun to see how it goes.”
Scarlett’s parents didn’t pressure her to self-study for AP exams, she said.
“My parents are always reminding me that these APs are optional, like you’re just pushing yourself beyond what is expected of you, so if you do really badly, ‘Oh well,’ but if you do really well, it’s good for you. So, yes, my motivation’s bad, but at the same time, I might as well try it either way.”
