Every May, Tabor Academy unofficially becomes “AP Month,” a four‑week sprint of early‑morning exams, late‑night study sessions, and hushed hallway whispers about free‑response questions. Juniors and seniors trade tips on calculator modes while sophomores peek ahead at next year’s syllabus. Teachers adjust lesson plans, the library is packed with hard workers, and the café sells out of double cheeseburgers by second period. In short, the entire campus pivots around Advanced Placement testing a high‑stakes rite of passage that shapes the academic calendar and, for many students, defines the spring term.
Introducing Our Featured Student: Alex Hu ’26
Amid this whirlwind stands Alex Hu ’26, a quietly confident junior whose schedule epitomizes AP Month’s demands. Known for balancing varsity sailing with robotics club, Alex agreed to share a firsthand account of living and surviving Tabor’s AP gauntlet. “I figured if I’m going through all this stress,” he joked, “I might as well turn it into a good story for next year’s test‑takers.”
Alex signed up for five APs: World History, Chemistry, Calculus BC, Physics 1, and English Language & Composition three of which fall in the late‑testing window because of an outside competition. “The calendar looks insane,” he laughed.
Asked to grade his stress on a ten‑point scale, Alex doesn’t hesitate: “Nine during the first week, six once I got my rhythm.” The worst moment? The night before AP Chemistry, when his notebook disappeared under a mountain of flashcards. “If you can find a tiny ritual that resets your head, you can survive,” he said, adding that he kept a study routine before the test.
Alex started content review over winter break, but the real grind began in March. He built master spreadsheets of every unit, color‑coding chapters he needed to revisit. “Flashcards for dates, whiteboards for derivatives,” he summarized. Group study filled weekends AP Chemistry problem marathons and rhetorical‑analysis workshops in the student center.
The school’s support network, Alex says, “made me a little more relaxed about the tests.” Departments ran after‑school review sessions, and teachers posted curated slide decks and question banks. “Mr. Becker printed a packet every class so we could review,” Alex recalled gratefully. Still, he feels the after school schedules and sports commitments left some classmates overwhelmed.
AP Month at Tabor remains a formidable challenge, but students like Alex prove it’s also a formative one. From color‑coded spreadsheets to midnight pep talks, their efforts testify to resilience and community spirit. As the campus exhales and looks to the end of the year, Alex offers a final word to next year’s cohort: “Start small, pace yourself, trust your teachers and remember that a good night’s sleep can be just as powerful as another hour of flashcards.”
