The Advanced Placement class exams begin this year on May 4 and last until May 15. For most sophomores and juniors, it is an easy decision to pay the $95 requested fee and take the exam. However, for seniors, there is a bit more thought involved in the process.

The primary purpose for taking AP exams is to get college credit for taking some of the more challenging courses offered at a high school. And, in fact, every single school in the Ivy League offers placement into higher-level courses for AP exams, and all but Columbia University and Dartmouth University offer credit for certain AP exams.

For Claire Saracena ’15, getting credit in college was a major motivator. She also wanted the opportunity to “opt out of classes next year that I’d otherwise have to take.” Saracena is in both AP Environmental Science and AP Economics and plans on taking the AP exams for both of her classes.

Maialie Fitzpatrick ’16 has different reasons for taking the AP exam. According to Fitzpatrick, “If we didn’t take [the exam], my teachers mentioned assigning us different work that would be graded.”

Students are far more inclined to take a test that will not affect their grade point average versus difficult assignments that can reflect poorly on their grade in a class.

AP Statistics teacher David Scrofani encourages all his students to take their exams because “it’s the culminating experience they’ve prepared for and it’s a good representation of what they’ve prepared for.”

Assistant Principal James Farnen, who is in charge of administering AP exams at Staples High School, is “in favor of the philosophy” regarding AP classes at Staples, where “students can override into just about any AP class.”

He also believes this policy allows students to take classes they are genuinely interested in.

Everett Sussman ’15, who is planning on attending Harvard University this fall, is currently taking AP Differential Equations, AP Spanish Literature, AP English Literature, AP Economics and AP Statistics but did not sign up for a single one of the exams.

Sussman’s passing exam scores would give him credit for college courses, allowing him to apply for advanced standing and go into harder classes.

But Sussman says he “doesn’t want to do that, so there really is no real need for [him] to take the exams.”

However, Benjamin Waller ’15 had a different opinion. Waller will be taking all three of his AP Exams this May and says that if he studies hard to get good scores on the exams and receive college credit, “it would make my college experience a lot easier and allow me to enjoy it even more.”