It’s almost that time of year again, when people start passing in their AP Exam money and preparing for finals. If you’re feeling iffy about taking your exams, there are major consequences to take into consideration.

No one can ignore the rising cost of college, college courses and AP Exams. As the wallet gets tighter, your eighty nine dollars per exam starts to look a lot like a chance you might not be willing to take. It ends up feeling like a waste of money on AP Exams when you get back those scores, that aren’t worthy of college credits.

If you take multiple AP classes then you know the fret of spending even more money. It may be better to only take the exams you feel you would do best on and are most prepared for. Your level of confidence as the exam date approaches in early May, can be the difference between a wasted eighty nine dollars, and saving thousands on college credits and courses. Senior Tarran O’Toole decided not to take his AP Exam. He said, “It was an easy decision for me not to take my AP Exam since I’d rather save my parents’ money, and I don’t want them to feel like they wasted it if I don’t do as well as I’d like to.”

Don’t forget the stress that comes along with any big test, especially with pressure from your parents for a good score considering you’re paying to take it. When opting to take final exams you don’t have to pay and although it influences your overall grade, it is much more geared towards what exactly you have learned.

For those of you taking AP classes now that you’re planning on taking in college for your major, doing well and scoring out of a course may actually hurt you. Say, for instance, you’d like to go into medicine. If you take SHS’s AP Chemistry course or AP Biology course, you can score a four or five and still not truly know everything there is about that subject. Senior Annie Miller said, “I want to take a lot of these classes again next year, so why waste my money taking the exam now?” When in college, you will be required to know all of the subject front and back, so it might be better to relearn the material and know everything next year saving you money and better preparing you for a job in your field.

Don’t forget that there’s still a couples weeks of school (for seniors) and two months (for you lucky juniors) after taking your early May exams. It’s not hard to imagine sitting in class every day knowing there isn’t a final exam coming at the end of the year. Any type of slump is in the future, so why not do what matters most and keep your grades, motivation and GPA soaring.

All in all its a conversation to have with both teachers, parents and guardians, and most importantly yourself. Take your finals instead! Save some money, learn more in college, and save the stress and senior slump guaranteed after taking them.