The memorizing, the drilling, the crying. Studying for an AP exam is unbelievable hell. High schools become flooded with annotated review books and stressed, hormonal teenagers. Doing well on this exam becomes the first priority of any student taking an AP class for at least a couple weeks before the test itself, and then there are those annoying friends who don't shut up about its importance from Spring Break! But the question remains: does it really hold any importance? It's supposed to be so prestigious to do well on this test, so it must matter. Right?

Technically, the AP Exam does not have any weight in your admission into a college. Colleges are adamant about the fact that an AP exam score does not shift your application, whether you get a 5 or 2 on it. If you get a certain score, however, you can receive college credit for a class and get a jump start into college courses. An opportunity like this is unmissable, as jumping into university as a sophomore or junior cuts cost of tuition down exponentially! Now here's where the controversy comes in:

A student taking an AP class would most likely be looking into the future confidently. Every student I know in an AP class is looking into at least some reputable college, even the freshmen. But when you look at some of those reputable schools, most of them don't even take the AP credit in the first place. For example, MIT does not accept college credits from some of the hardest AP classes. Essentially, if you take AP Statistics, AP Chemistry, or AP Computer Science A, three ridiculously difficult classes with well-known, burdensome exams, and you want to go to MIT, then you're wasting your time. Even a five on the exam won't give you the credit, and you'll have to retake the class in a school that costs more than Harvard. In that sense, not only do you lose a credit, but the "unmissable opportunity" of saving some cash goes out the window, too!

It kind of defeats the purpose of taking the AP Exam, since, realistically, most people just care about the grade and college credit, rather than actually being educated at a college level. The exam and its score become absolutely pointless in the process, since it also holds no weight on the final grade in the class, either. With no credit for certain schools and no real grade in the class, your score on the AP exam is no more important that taking a standardized test just to see what the average of the state would be.

Now, taking an AP class isn't pointless, though. By taking the class, you're showing the world that you're prepared to take the hardest courses offered. It exhibits a sense of self-confidence in being able to challenge yourself for an entire year with rigorous content and obviously ridiculous studying.

From day one, teachers, counselors, older siblings and parents shove the concept down your throat that taking the AP Exam is required. It's technically an option, but if you're that one guy that doesn't take the exam, you're setting yourself up for wider eyes by a college admission crew, as well as your group of friends looking down on you. However, that exam in May might be giving you a little more stress than it should.

For me personally, I was drowned in the group of excited freshmen ready to take their first AP Exam. We were eager yet stressed about being introduced to a new type of hell, as if freshmen don't get enough of that.

My first AP Exam went well, and I do feel prepared for 3 more years of this stress with multiple classes to worry about now, but the uselessness of this exam will continuously ring in my head when I sit exhaustively in that room every year. The stress was unnecessary, but I guess the encounter was inescapable, as it opened my eyes to the pointless experience known as Advanced Placement.