Advancing Yourself in the Classroom
High school. It is the place where you start to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life. Throughout all of high school, most people get told things like, “get involved”, “challenge yourself” and “it will look good on college applications.” There are classes that people take to challenge themselves and to get colleges to notice that they do so. These would be Advance Placement (AP) classes.
Over the past 10 years, studies have shown that there is an improvement in AP classes throughout schools and states. College Board wrote an article about this improvement and how there is an increase in participation and results in the final exam.
Their studies show that 33.2 percent of public high school graduates in the class of 2013 took an AP Exam, compared to 18.9 percent of graduates in the class of 2003. With such this drastic increase there also has been an increase in final test scores. 20.1 percent of public high school graduates in the class of 2013 earned a 3 or higher on an AP Exam, compared to 12.2 percent of graduates in the class of 2003.
The purpose of an Advanced Placement class is to offer another class to those who feel they are not being challenged enough in their regular or college preparatory (CP) classes. High schools all around the country and even in Canada offer AP classes for many different subjects, including here at Licking Valley. These classes include AP Language and Composition, KAP, AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP Government, and many more.
Compared to a regular or CP class, AP classes include a lot more work and it seems to be harder to get a perfect grade. The teachers of these classes challenge their students to go above and beyond, and it involves more critical thinking from the students. There is definitely a much greater workload for these AP classes, and if you are not going to commit to do this work, then AP classes may not be for you. Most of the time, depending on the class, you will be given homework every night and will be expected to have it done by class the next day.
Junior at Licking Valley, Lexie Stough, currently takes 4 AP classes. When asked what she believes the difference is between a regular class vs an AP class, she said, “An AP class is a lot more information and you are basically studying for a test all year. AP classes definitely have a lot more work and they also hold a lot higher of a standard of the quality of the work.”
At the end of the year, all AP students take a test for whichever class they were in. During the year, the teachers are overall preparing us for these tests in hopes of us passing them and getting college credits for the class.
As students begin to schedule classes for this next year, they will have to make a decision on the level of class they choose, whether it be regular, CP, or AP. Students will choose the class that challenges them to do their best in the class, while allowing them to learn and grow academically.
