Advantages of AP classes
In this day and age, it’s imperative that you have a few AP classes on your transcript to show that you can handle college level classes.” said Philip Amur, a Las Lomas Alumni.
AP, advanced placement, courses are classes that offer college-level curriculum and tests to high school students. College credits can be earned for passing an AP exam, which are scored between one and five, anything above three is considered passing.
“With successful passing of the AP exam, depending on the score, a student can get college credit. A student feasibly who has a lot of AP credits can enter college with an advantage because they’ve already earned a fair amount of college credit,” explained Mr. Cautero, who teaches AP literature and composition to seniors.
While AP classes are beneficial if you are interested in the subject and are willing to take on a more rigorous course load, they are not necessarily the right choice for everyone. Ms. Bloodgood, one of the Las Lomas student counselors, said “I think what students are typically thinking is ‘I need to take AP classes’ or ‘colleges want to see a certain number of AP classes,’ which really is not the truth. Some colleges may consider the weighted grade that can come along with an AP class,” explained Ms. Bloodgood. “Other colleges may look at an AP class and consider that a more rigorous course load. So there could be some potential advantages through the college admissions process but again, it really depends on what college you’re applying to.”
An article in The Atlantic, written by John Tierney, a former professor of American government at Boston College, stated that; “AP courses are not, in fact, remotely equivalent to the college-level courses they are said to approximate. Before teaching in a high school, I taught for almost 25 years at the college level, and almost every one of those years my responsibilities included some equivalent of an introductory American government course. The high-school AP course didn’t begin to hold a candle to any of my college courses.” Mr. Tierney also said that they squelch creativity and free inquiry.
A minority of schools do not accept AP credit, meaning that students are not allowed to opt-out of lower-level classes. But even if they don’t accept them as credit, that doesn’t mean that your AP grades won’t matter. Some schools might not accept or even look at a college transcript if it does not have a few AP classes listed.
“You should take an AP class because you’re interested in the class and not just to take an AP class,” said Ms. Polivka, who teaches AP Biology. “It is rigorous. I think that there’s a lot of places where I can remember exactly where I learned what I’m teaching the kids In my first year of college so, I definitely think that taking this will prepare them for biology in college if that’s what they wanna do.”
“It is an English literature and composition class so the focus is on literary analysis at a college level” said Mr. Cautero. “So while we do read some non-fiction, newspaper articles, and literary criticism, the class focuses on the analysis of novels, plays, and poetry.”
Taking an AP class just to gather the potential college credit and not because you are genuinely interested in learning more about the subject can lead to a whole lot of unnecessary stress. “If math is really your passion, there is no expectation that your taking AP classes in history or in English if you don’t like those areas,” said Ms. Bloodgood.
Clubs, summer camps, and internships are all ways to learn about a subject without taking an AP class.
How profitable and how stressful a class is varys from student to student. It may be enough for some to keep up good grades with no AP classes, while others find no problems in juggling AP work along with other obligations. After school activities or jobs may make keeping up with an AP class difficult. Balancing schoolwork and extracurricular activities as well as personal care is important and while other obligations should not discourage you from expanding your knowledge about a subject you are interested in, it is a good idea to take a look at your schedule before choosing to take an AP class.
“If your putting all of your energy into school, or a sport or music, you need to make sure you have time to take care of yourself,” said Mrs. Bloodgood.
