Every year, more than one million people take the Advanced Placement tests. These exams test students’ overall knowledge on a particular subject, and many schools offer classes to help prepare them for the exam.

Unfortunately, Uni doesn’t offer any AP classes, and its honors classes don’t cover all the material on the exams, with the exception of the calculus classes. As a result, if you’ve ever taken an AP test, you probably had to study a lot by yourself in order to prepare for it.

This year, I signed up to take the Calculus AB, U.S. History, and Latin Vergil exams. I had to study by myself for the U.S. History and Latin Vergil exams in order to guarantee that I knew all the material that would be tested.

And let me tell you something, studying by yourself for an AP is hard, time consuming, and requires lots of perseverance and hard work.

Without a class that can cover all the AP material, one problem is trying to motivate yourself to study and figuring out how much time you have to spend every night to review the material. For example, if a class you're taking doesn’t cover a couple sections on the exam, then you have to take the time to make sure you know the information and understand it. Also, motivating yourself to take an hour a night to study is hard, especially if you’re a procrastinator. You might wait until the last week to start seriously reviewing, when it already becomes too late.

Another problem is that you might not fully understand the concepts of the subject. If you study by yourself, you can’t interact with other students and be able to see how other people understand the information. Even if you find other students who are studying for the same AP test as you, it’s hard to arrange a time out of school to consistently study together.

With Uni not offering AP classes, Uni’s classes don’t cover everything found on those exams, and students who want to take them really have to study on their own. For example, the Latin Vergil exam requires the student to be able to translate 1,856 lines. I’m in the Latin IV class, which can only get through about half that amount. That meant I had to translate 923 lines by myself, which is an absolute pain in the neck.

So for those of you thinking of taking an AP exam next year, do it if you know that you can motivate yourself to study on your own or if you are taking an AP exam that you are very knowledgeable in.