It’s the morning of May 15th 2024, the majority of Leonardtown Juniors wake up with aspirations of passing a test. This isn’t a normal test, this is an AP exam which students have dedicated their entire year to studying and learning for. After the past nights of vigorous studying I Grady Mason woke up around 6:00 to continue studying from the night before. I read over notes and watch videos hoping that this little bit of knowledge I consume before the test will allow me to pass. 6:45 rolls around and I jump in the shower and brush my teeth. At 7:20 I leave my house in search of a tropical Red Bull from the gas station in hopes that it will lock me in for my exam. At 7:40 I reached the school and began to study a little more before walking in. Now the walk to school is the most challenging of all, as you talk to your friends about the upcoming test you begin to feel nervous and anxious about what is to become. I walk past a group of waiting testers in the hallway and continue to the library where my test is being taken. Around 8:15 all of our phones and book bags are put away and the test begins. Little did I know this test was going to end in tragedy.
AP classes are college level classes which high school students can take to earn credit toward their University or Community College they attend. In every AP class there is a final exam at the end of the year which determines if you receive college credit or not. The grading scale is based on two types of questions: multiple choice and FRQs which determine if you receive a five or all the way down to a one ( five being the best one being the lowest) These tests are hours long and require students to face all kinds of testing adversities. Usually AP tests go by soundly and orderly but the AP World test on May 15th 2024 did not go as planned.The AP World exam was given Countrywide on the same day and at the same time but for Leonardtown high school tragedy struck as a power line collapsed causing the power to go out in both the Middle School and the High school. 9:40 the power in LHS started to flicker which then followed by complete darkness. I sat at my table wondering what was next, the proctor in the room told us to continue so I did as she said and continued writing my essay. Something was off though I looked around the room at all of the teachers’ faces and each one of them told me the answer that I was waiting to hear. At around 10:00 we were instructed to stop our test and turn it into the proctor. Each student in the library waited for around an hour not knowing if we were going to continue the test or if they were going to send us home and have us retake the test on a later date. I sat there on one of the comfortable Library couches thinking there’s no way I just took half a test and now I have to completely restart. Unfortunately, this thought came true and for most of the students in my library we will be taking the test on May 24th. leading up to that date no one would have ever thought something like this could happen but it did and left me and my peers stunned. This is a tragedy I would never wish upon my worst enemy so now as I write this article I begin to study again for a test I have already taken.
