<p>To start, congratulations to all the students on here who did well on the AP test! </p>
<p>Anyway, I think high school students are not taking these tests seriously. They don't realize the opportunity they're receiving when taking these tests. AP stands for Advanced Placement created by College Board to give striving students challenging and informational subjects that they excel in. It really pushes my buttons when these students are taking so many AP classes just to be on top. To tell the truth, most of these students don't even need these tests. In my school, the space for AP U.S History was full because students wanted the 6 college credits if they scored a 5. Only about 1/4 wanted to learn about history and the rest wanted credit. I'm only taking 2 my junior year, this fall. This is all I want and need. I have no need to take AP U.S, AP Euro, AP Stat, AP Gov, AP Art courses, AP Language courses et cetera. I don't know why I read posts on here, but apparently everyone scored at least 5 on their AP test (Yay..?) If I scored a 4 on my test I'll probably be called stupid. I also read how students are beat up and torn because he/she received a 4! That's nonsense, a 4 is a really good score, you don't need a 5 to succeed. I've also read that people are studying only once, the night before. Some students don't take the class and then they'll study the night before, (having no interest in the class whatsoever) and complain, complain and complain when they get 2's or come on here and brag and scream saying "I've got a 5! I only studied once. Yay! I'm so smart!" I have a good one, one student didn't want to take an ordinary art class, so she took an AP art to fulfill the art requirement. Art is art to me, AP or regular or honors, let other students who take art seriously take the class. Not people who only want a GPA boost.</p>
<p>To me, I think AP is being misused, that's all. I had this on my mind for about 3 days and it was really bugging me.</p>
<p>I think that in some cases you are correct but I also think people use the AP classes to get the college credit for a fraction of what they would pay at a university. Say that by taking AP art history I would be exempt from a stupid requirement from a college to take an art class even if I was a science major, why wouldn’t I get it out of the way in high school for a fraction of the cost? Sure some people do it just for the GPA but a lot of people do it for cheaper college credits/requirements and I don’t see a problem with that. Why not save college credits for classes you need or are interested in?</p>
<p>^Yeah, I do agree with that, because some students take AP Biology to knock out the science requirement. But, like I said, some students just want to get ahead which really ticks me off.</p>
<p>What sort of bugs me is that you are blaming the students for wanting to take as many AP’s as possible, but when in actuality it is colleges and society in general that is prompting them to take so many APs. For example, when college counselors decide how rigorous a student’s schedule is then you are damn sure that they are looking for APs and when colleges are looking at your transcripts, they want APs. “striving students” want to take the most rigorous courses(almost always APs) so that they can get into top colleges, so I don’t understand why you think that they “don’t even need these tests.”</p>
<p>(P.S. This forum is an online forum that anyone can join, so I’m sure that some of these achievements are bogus. Also, you have to understand that college confidential is designed to give students additional, insider information about colleges, so this will obviously attract the more intellectually gifted students who want to go to top universities and colleges.)</p>
<p>A lot of these courses are also a way for students to figure out what they want to study in college, since it’s like a preview to courses you may take in college. That’s what happened for me with AP Spanish Language, and I’m planning to major in Spanish now (and Biology too, thanks to my wonderful AP Bio teacher).
About the people who only studied once, for some classes that are more concept based or require a broad skill developed over many years (basically English and world language courses), it’s harder to “study” per se, so students in those classes may just look over one section they are having difficulties with, like one list of vocabulary words.</p>
<p>Our school does not offer honors or advanced courses, so all students are lumped together regardless of skill level. If you take a regular US History course here for example, you’ll be stuck in the course with kids who don’t want to learn, kids who were freshmen for 3 years, kids with learning disabilities, etc. Teachers have to teach to the lowest common denominator, and as a result, the learning is really watered down. AP at our school offers a way out of this.</p>
<p>I agree with you FantasyVesperia. Some of the AP classes you take you don’t even need. And I also say that AP shouldn’t even have been invented. Why? Well, AP courses are designed to give you a taste of what college level classes are like. Well if you are taking college level courses during high school, are you having any fun? Are you happy taking 5 AP courses in 11th grade? Answer me that question. AP classes drain your “happyness” in life away. And instead, they act like addictive drugs in some peoples’ minds. “Oh, I need to take a bunch of AP classes to get into a school like Yale or Harvard.” So they end up taking more AP classes than time can allow. AP classes require more time than hours in day. You get out of school at about 3:00 PM right? Well when you get home you have about 8-9 hours to do your homework and to study. Even that is not enough. So you end up staying up at about 1:00-3:00 AM just finishing AP coursework. So people on CC should really consider and ask themselves, “Do I really have to take so many AP classes? Will it be worth it? Will I still maintain a HEALTHY social life? Will I still know the meaning of having a ‘happy life’?”</p>
<p>Sure some people will object to what I have to say. And I have no issues with that. People think differently. People have different opinions. So it’s hard to come to one conclusion about any situation really. </p>
<p>I think that the AP program should be removed and schools should just create a curriculum to prepare students for the college level experience, not to give college level work right off the bat to students.</p>
<p>I understand what your guys are saying, but I think AP will mean nothing anymore, it’ll just be like a Honors class. Yeah, colleges like to see AP classes but not just a bunch of random AP classes to impress the admissions office. There are many factors than just “AP” classes that go into admission in an institution. What happened to doing what you love? Going by some responses, I guess I should take “AP” everything even though I hate it to death, just to impress colleges…? No. I should be able to excel in the subjects that I’m good at and that alone should tell colleges that this kid is serious in (insert subject(s) here). It’s just my opinion. I’m not going to take AP Art to fulfill an art requirement when I won’t take it seriously. You have to think a little, when fulfilling a requirement in History, I don’t have to take AP just to get accepted into college. There are other Honors/Merit classes that are available. I get it, we students like to challenge ourselves, but it gets out of hand and ridiculous. Like I said before, if you want to take EVERYTHING high level, then every class offered should be “AP” if you guys want to impress so much. </p>
<p>Future dialogue: </p>
<p>“Hey buddy, what’s your schedule like?”</p>
<p>"I have AP Gym, because colleges don’t like regular gym. I also have AP Art, I hate art but it has to be done, colleges don’t like regular art 1…3 or jewelry making, AP English Lang, AP Woodworking, colleges hate regular woodworking 1…4, AP Gov, AP Calculus, AP Chem., AP Physics and AP Euro.</p>
<p>"Wow~ that’s pretty rigorous, especially AP Physics. What do you want to be when you grow up? </p>
<p>“I want to be a clothing designer.”</p>
<p>This is stuff I mean. It’s hard to explain, but I get why would anyone would take SO much AP classes. But I understand that I can’t control what others do, and I understand that CC and other students out there want to be overachievers and try to skip freshman year of college which is understandable… -.- This is what I feel and completely an opinion…</p>
<p>^^ I agree 110% with you Geography123. Kids these days lol. You summed up what I’ve said, it’s just hard to explain. Thanks :)</p>
<p>@FantasyVesperia</p>
<p>You’re welcome. I just feel that the issue of taking so many AP classes is something that everyone should know about. I want to spread the word about it, just like you do. :)</p>
<p>It’s much worse at a school with multipliers. At my school, an AP class gets a 1.29 multiplier, meaning that anyone who wants to graduate at the top of his/her class is essentially required to take as many AP classes as possible. Pretty much everyone here takes US History, even though most (including me) hate it.</p>
<p>AP classes have a lot to offer. They expose students to some of the most stimulating educational material they’ve ever been offered i think. Sure, many students will take them for the credits, and do alright or even good, without appreciating the information, but some will also take them because they’re the hardest thing to take - and be happily surprised and enthused by the content of the class.</p>
<p>i can sympathize with the people who take them mainly for the college credits though - college credits are serious business and being able to get a good number of them in hs definitely is advantageous to some people. </p>
<p>I don’t really agree with geography that AP calsses are what is messed up with education. most kids don’t even take them, and for the ones that do, the vast majority do not obsess over them, or become neurotic about sacrificing their social life for them, or anything like that.</p>
<p>and college board is listening to some of the criticisms of the classes and improving them accordingly, so they can make them more enjoyable, relevant, etc. the fact that they are updating AP bio, for instance, makes me optimistic about the extent to which the people designing these classes have the kid’s interests at heart…</p>
<p>AP is Advanced Placement</p>
<p>I hate science and math but I’m not going to be the idiot who gets rejected from his dream school because he took no math or science senior year instead of Bio and Calc.</p>
<p>I’m not a high schooler, I’m an old parent of a high-schooler, but for those who say “how can you succeed in college if you don’t prove yourself with AP classes in high school?” – I never took an honors or AP class in high school. No one did. I went to a highly-ranked school and took regular college prep classes. And I went to Penn State, Univ Park and did fine. The highest math I took in hs was Algebra 2 and I took Statistics and Econ in college and got As (and I’m not a math person.)</p>
<p>So I think the reason so many kids take APs is the heightened competitiveness of college admissions. I think most could do just fine at college without APs but feel they have to take them just to get admitted. And kids who aren’t ready for APs in 10th or 11th but would be fine once they get to college? They’re screwed.</p>
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<p>I agree what you’ve said there. “AP” isn’t the golden ticket to college they’re are other factors that effect admissions. Some schools don’t accept certain AP credit. This one girl I knew she only took TWO AP classes and got accepted into Wake Forest and William and Mary.</p>
<p>Sometimes, APs can even hurt you.</p>
<p>I got C-'s in AP chem and a B and a C in AP physics. </p>
<p>While science is my strong point, i think there were probably other classes i would have done better in.</p>
<p>i did love the AP chem curriculum though. i could give it so much praise :p. you really got a feel of how complex chemistry is + learned a lot of fundamentally important things - like how batteries work.</p>
<p>^Yeah, I’m taking AP Chemistry this fall, Junior year, and I agree with your statement:
</p>
<p>AP’s can make you and/or break you, some students don’t see this.</p>
<p>I appluad both you great sirs, Fantasy and geography.</p>
<p>I completely agree with everything! Ive also had this in my head for a long time.</p>
<p>Im one of the rare ones who has just taken one AP class ( Ap Calc) because i want to major in engineering. </p>
<p>But everyone else in my senior class has taken every AP class offered at my school, only because of the GPA boosts and needless credit. Ppl end up coming to school like zombies because of the work. But " oh its worth it because i dont need to take it in college" </p>
<p>I say just take classes you either need for your major or ACTUALLY want to learn more about …</p>
<p>^Exactly. I hopefully want to go Vet school, and I’m only taking AP Biology, AP Chemistry (this fall) and AP Calculus 1A/1B (senior year). Those are probably the only three I’m taking. I don’t want to take AP physics because I believe it’s taught best in college lol. Thanks by the way lol.</p>