Both April and May at Central Kitsap High School and other high schools across the nation are the months that cause students taking Advanced Placement classes to stress, cry and even lose motivation for the upcoming AP Exams that occur during the first three weeks in May. Teachers and students alike refer to April as “Hell Month” because of the rigorous efforts to review all of a class’ content in preparation for the respective AP test. This month, stress rates skyrocket as students taking one, two, three, or more AP classes.

The best way to prepare for an AP test, according to AP United States History teacher Russ Schuchart, is to “trust that you have worked hard.” Other students also believe that putting effort into the class in the eight months leading up to the test prepared them well for the test. Junior Ronan Spannuth said that “the homework did a lot to prepare me.”

Many students and teachers perpetuate the culture of AP classes at CKHS through encouraging students to challenge themselves. The environment at CKHS encourages students to challenge themselves with harder advanced classes and, according to junior Kaitlyn Johnson, the “emphasis on AP classes encourages kids to challenge themselves academically.”  

English teacher Kevin McCarthy, while giving a speech of encouragement the day before the AP Language and Composition Exam, advised his students to avoid “white-knuckling the whole experience.”