Anybody here who has sat through an entire AP course and grueling, four hour test knows what I mean when I say that AP is a strenuous experience for high school juniors. This past year, I took both AP courses that my school offers for juniors (yes, it is a tiny school without much variety, but that's another story).

The first that we tested for was AP US History. My teacher was great, and one of the best people I know to quote, but we had to blast through a 32 chapter history book (1,022 pages) between August 30, 2006 and May 12, 2007. One week for the Civil War? That's ridiculous! But no, not with AP.

That, of course, is the build-up to the test. First, there are 80 multiple-choice questions. In order to answer them all, you have to be better than one question per minute, and these are not easy questions. Do you know who wrote Silent Spring? That's the sort of thing that had to be answered (although, sadly, that question wasn't on the test). After the MC questions comes the DBQ. A series of documents are given and students have to write an essay about a time period in history, meanwhile hitting as many documents as possible. Luckily for me, I studied hard about the Grange, Alliance, and Populist Movements. After that, there are two half-hour essays. For each essay, there are two prompts, and each student has to choose one of the two. For the first, I choose a great question for me. I was born a few miles from where Shays' Rebellion ended, so I know that story from grandparents, never mind textbooks. The next was tougher, as I had to write a very argumentative essay about the second terms of LBJ and the Gipper.

That was one. The next week I took the AP English Language and Composition Test (my teacher for the course, by the way, is probably the best teacher I've ever had). This one has a very similar format, but instead of US History, it's focused on English writing. I won't spend as much time here because frankly, it was less memorable. However, my hand was certainly just as sore. Writing that much in such a limited (yet still impeccably long) amount of time takes a toll on the hand.

So, why in the world am I writing abotu the AP now? It's been two months since those tests! Well, today was the day that my test scores returned. I was incredibly nervous, so nervous, in fact, that I was shaking as I opened the envelope. And there it was: two 5's. I actually received the top possible score on both tests. It was exhilarating, really, and although I simply said, "Wow, I got a 5 on both" to my mother and then went back to reading TIME, I am simply ecstatic right now and had to let out the immense energy.