Students in AP Art History and AP Music Theory will be taking a mock exam during their 5th-8th period classes Tuesday. The required exam will allow students to experience what the real exam will be like in May.

“The mock AP exam is required because we are a part of the AP strategies grant,” AP art history teacher Amanda Beller said. “They pay for every student to take the mock exam, and then they pay 50 dollars towards the AP exam. History classes and things like that have to pay the full amount.”

The grant isn’t something available to all schools as it has to be earned.

“The grant is provided by a private foundation called AP strategies funded through the O’Donnell Foundation,” art teacher Brice McCasland said. “The arts part of the grant was founded by Edith O’Donnell. She was really focused on trying to highlight how important of a role arts play in kids success everywhere.There are only 10 schools involved in the grant in Texas and we are one of those. Usually for a school to be a part of that grant they have to be well established or successful in the AP fine arts and they have to have all facets of the program, so they have to have the AP Music Theory, AP Art History, and AP Studio Art.”

The mock exam will allow students the opportunity to evaluate where they stand on the material covered in the class.

“Hopefully the exam will give the students a gage for where they are in terms of what they need to go back and review more,” Beller said. “For example, they might get all of the Gothic questions correct, but they realize they missed several Romanesque questions so they will spend more time on that subject. It will give them an itemized breakdown of each section and what part they need to re-visit.”

Tuesday’s test will mimic the testing environment students will face in May.

“The mock exam also allows the students to experience what the time constraint feels like,” Beller said. “We do 10 minute writings and 30 minute writings in class, but when you’re doing them in that setting it’s more like the real test.”

Exposure to this mock exam gives the students a considerable advantage for the real exam.

“It will give them exposure to the types of questions they are going to encounter on the real exam, and allow them to get feedback on how well they do now so then they can figure out what they need to improve on before the real exam,” college and career counselor Addison Snyder said.

Just like the real exam, the mock exam will take place during the school day.

“The mock exam is taken during school so that all students will be able to participate because if we put it before or after school or on a Saturday we can’t guarantee that everyone will take it and part of the grant requires that every student takes the exam,” Snyder said.

Most students appreciate the opportunity and plan to take it seriously.

“Having someone invest in our success in the exam is not only really encouraging, but gives me a sense of responsibility,” sophomore Ellie Hager said. “We have to take the exam more seriously now because people have invested in our success and we have to show them that their investment was worth their time and money.”