Advanced placement (AP) classes have the earliest testing dates in the spring of all courses. Two consequences generally come of this. The first being that the course must follow a tight schedule in order to cover all required material. The second being excess time in the classroom post exam. One semester AP courses that begin in the spring semester only get approximately 72 percent of class time before the College Board exam in May. This leaves 28 percent of the class time to be dealt with after the exam is taken. For two semester AP courses, 14 percent of class time still remains after the test. “It’s cumbersome to have [so much] of the course remaining (post exam) when my students have already met the main goal of the class. It’s a fatigue and an attitudinal problem,” AP chemistry teacher, Lisa DellaGuardia said. “What I would like is for the exams to be later, but I don’t have a vote in that.” In these classes, students are still required to be at school for about a month after the test even though the class has already covered all the required material. The question then is what instructors are to do with the extra time. For AP calculus teacher Cynthia Hallman-Morris, the time proves to be a major conflict for students who are both mentally and physically drained. “It’s a challenge to find things to do that are both interesting and educational,” Hallman-Morris said. Hallman-Morris explained that her class will be doing multiple smaller projects, such as researching mathematicians. The larger project however will be making a parody music video based on calculus material. According to her, this project has become a favorite tradition over the years in the class. DellaGuardia also plans on doing a video project as well, although she claims the whole experience will be is out of her expertise. “There is a need for a lab safety video for first-time chemistry students. Our goal is to take the safety contract and put together a video that will be entertaining yet informative,” Dellaguardia said. “The ultimate goal is to have the video of such quality that we can make it available on the Buncombe County District site, so that any chemistry class can use one from TC Roberson as an instructional tool.” DellaGuardia also plans on having guest speakers who have graduated from Roberson and have taken the next level of chemistry in college come to help out. These students can find topics that were emphasised at their university’s freshman level course, but were not covered to the degree necessary in high school AP standards. “We are going to learn where the gaps are that we need to close to get students ready for a college course,” DellaGuardia said. 13 of the 17 AP courses offered this year at Roberson continue to have class sessions in the second semester. Therefore, 76 percent of the courses have excess time post exam. While AP chemistry student Jennie Boase said she would rather be doing nothing now that the exam is over, she understands the need for additional work. Erik Hanes, a student in the AP calculus class, wishes that the College Board would push the exams back a few weeks. But he also said that he enjoys the break from a rigid, AP level schedule. “We could have exams later--that would give us more time to prepare. But, it’s nice having about a month left with not much to do,” Hanes said. Hallman-Morris said that this problem of excess time will not change anytime soon. In fact, she said the 2016-17 school year will probably be worse. “Next year, we start two weeks later and the date of the AP exam will not move. That is an even larger percent of the class missing before the test, which is very frustrating,” Hallman-Morris said. “I’d love for the testing to be a little later.”