In previous years, McLean students taking AP BC Calculus have taken their final exam outside of school, on a Saturday. This arrangement was intended to preserve class time, which was essential to proper preparation for the College Board’s AP exam.

A final exam would have taken multiple class periods and therefore took away this essential class time that was necessary to be ready for the AP Exam. And since the final was great practice for the real test, teachers found it to be in the students’ best interests to give the final before the AP Exam.

However, now with complaints the students must not be forced to be at school on a Saturday, the BC teachers were forced to remove the final exam from the curriculum altogether. Rather, teachers are giving a mock-AP exam instead of the final.

This exam will not count for a grade, will not be mandatory, but will still be held on a Saturday.This new plan had been received fairly well among students.

First, students feel as though the lack of a graded final exam will relieve some stress. “I think its a great idea because it gives students the opportunity to take a long math exam that they’ve never taken before without the stress of it being graded,” said junior and BC Calculus student Anna Duval.

Second, the new plan doesn’t take away class time like an in-class final exam would.

So the two impacts of these plans, a stress free pretest and extra class time hopefully will combine to increase AP test scores for students taking the BC Calculus exam.