You Don’t Have to Carry AP Exams Alone

This is that time of year when everything seems to come together at once. AP exams are here. Finals are close behind. Class projects are due. There is a feeling—sometimes subtle, sometimes overwhelming—that everything you have done all year is now being measured in just a few days.

It is natural to feel the weight of that. You have worked hard. You care about your test scores. You want to do well. But somewhere along the way, it is easy to take on more than what is actually yours to carry. You begin not only to do the work, but to carry the results—the score, the outcome, even what it might mean for your future. And that is when the weight of that becomes too much, Jesus asks a simple but direct question:

“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27)

Worry can feel like responsibility, especially during exams like this. It sounds reasonable. It feels necessary. It tells you that you should be thinking more, preparing more, controlling more. But worry does not actually prepare you. It does not sharpen your thinking. It scatters it. It pulls you away from the very clarity you need. There is a quieter, stronger way to move through this week.

Your responsibility to is real, but it is also limited. You are asked to prepare as best you can, to show up ready, and to give your full attention to the work in front of you. That is your part. But the outcome—the exact questions, the curve, the final score, how everything unfolds—does not belong to you in the same way. As Scripture reminds us, you can place that weight somewhere else:

“Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7).

When you try to carry both your effort and the results at the same time, something tightens within you. When you let go of what is not yours, your effort becomes clearer, steadier, and stronger. Before each exam, there is a small moment available to you. Just before you begin, before the paper opens or the first question appears, you can pause. Be still! Not long—just enough to take a breath and center yourself.

In that brief stillness, you might say: "I am prepared for this moment. I do not carry this alone." That pause is not wasted time. It is what allows your best thinking to come forward. During the exam, your mind will naturally want to run ahead—toward the result, toward what it all means, toward whether you are doing enough. When that happens, gently bring your attention back. Back to the question in front of you. Back to the next step.

Jesus’ words about not worrying about tomorrow is not abstract thinking—it is practical. You are not being asked to solve your whole future in this moment. You are being asked to be present to what is in front of you, right then and now. After the exam, there will be a strong pull to replay everything—to second-guess, to compare answers, to carry it forward into the rest of your day. But there is another way. You can let it go. You can allow what is finished to be finished.

Even a quiet thank you—not because everything was perfect, but because you showed up—can shift something within you. It allows you to move forward without worrying about what is already done.

At the end of all of this, it is worth remembering something deeper. Your life is not defined by a test score. Your worth is not measured by a number. This week matters, but it is not everything.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart… and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Your job is simple: prepare, show up, stay present, and to do the next thing well. The rest will take care of itself in time. In the end, the strongest students will not be the ones who handle the most pressure. They are the ones who understand what is theirs to hold—and what is not—and who have the courage to let go of everything else.

Good luck during these exams. May God bless you.

Dr. Colosimo