For students taking AP classes, the countdown to finishing school doesn’t end with the last final or last day or with graduation—it ends with their last AP exam.

The pre-exam weeks of stress and endless pages of vocab are over. Hands have recovered from writing three essays in two hours. Summer is here.

Even the freshmen and sophomores, who usually do not take exams, can feel it in the air. School-wide morale lags and homework completion rates plummet. Despite our care-free attitudes, however, we still have final exams on the seemingly distant horizon. But by the time finals roll around a month later, many of us couldn’t care less.

The solution?

Final exams for AP classes should be taken between Spring Break and the start of AP exams. We are already in super-study, super-stress mode as we prepare for AP exams, so it just makes sense to translate that fervor into final exams. Finals, as long as they are graded and handed back prior to AP exams, are a great way to review for AP exams. It will allow teachers and students to recognize and fill content gaps before AP exams.

Taking finals before AP exams seems to give priority to AP exams (and it does to some degree—we all want that college credit), but it also helps us do better on finals. We’re more likely to study for AP exams, and putting finals near AP exams allows the studying to rub off onto finals. The longer finals are taken after AP exams, the fewer the students who will bother to study for them. We no longer have the motivation, and we definitely don’t want to see what we did wrong on the AP exam.

The light at the end of the school year tunnel—completion of AP exams—has been reached. We’re not going back, and it’s futile to make us try. Besides, after four quarters of grades, a final isn’t likely to have too much impact on our final grade for that class.

There still is, however, the problem of what to do with the last month of school, after AP exams and finals are over and done with. Teachers could give us range of topics related to the class and allow us to do projects on any approved topic we choose. Class time can be spent working on the projects and as well as doing fun and content-related activities. During the time set aside for the final exam, we can present our favorite project to the class.

But let’s face it: these projects and activities have to be fun and somewhat easy, or we’re not going to want to come to class. With all the doctor’s appointments, illnesses, and family events that somehow dramatically increase post-exams (and during, since we only get one half-day to study and/or recover), we need a reason to come to class. If we’re not relaxing and having fun, we’re not coming.

The gift of finals before AP exams is one students will be eternally grateful for. So teachers, give us all a break and end the year with AP exams.