<p>Next year, I'll be a junior. I plan on taking AP Lang and AP Enviornmental Science. At my school, everyone says AP Lang sucks and Environmental is easy and fun, plus we get to go to Key Largo for a trip to study the marine habitat there. I do love English, but I want to know what people outside of my school have thought of it.
If anyone here has taken these two classes, can you tell me your experiences?</p>
<p>This is the answer you’re going to get from everyone: It varies greatly from school to school. Ask your peers who have taken the class before.</p>
<p>As long as your AP Language teacher grades timed AP prompt essays harshly, then you’ll do fine. My teacher always graded us harshly, because she knew that a 5 from her would be like a 7-8 on the actual exam. It gave us a lot of confidence and really improved our writing.</p>
<p>AP Lang requires a lot of analysis. I would write my heart out on essays, and always get a B-B+ (and English is my best subject). You can’t afford to forget many vocabulary terms in that class (mainly rhetorical strategies). It also requires a great deal of reading.</p>
<p>It is possible to pass, though. I scored a 4 on the exam.</p>
<p>AP Lang isn’t a big deal at my school, but that’s probably because my teacher is good enough to not need to assign massive loads of homework. So it really depends on the school and the teacher if there’s more than one at yours. For example, cattink said she’s had to read a lot, while the only book I’ve had to read the Scarlet Letter. </p>
<p>I do agree about the harsh grading though, that’s helpful.</p>
<p>AP Lang is really big at my school: Over 120 sophomores take it each year and it’s practically a prerequisite for IB HL English and AP Lit. In most cases, AP Language seems to be the most skill-oriented English Class, with effort being less recognized than ability in terms of essay scores. My school tends to be fairly solid with AP Lang test scores (Only a handful fail each year).
As for APES, my school considers it to be more of a science class for those that cannot handle the rigor of other IB and AP science courses.</p>
<p>AP Lang REALLY REALLY varies from school to school. At my school, it’s considered one of the most challenging courses. At other schools in my area, it’s considered a joke class that everyone gets As in. The 5 rate is pretty low so if you have a tough teacher he/she may prepare you better for the exam.</p>
<p>Actually, light shining, that’s actually very similar to my school with Lang. What I meant when I said it wasn’t a big deal was that it was normal for pretty much everyone who even challenges themselves a little to take it. The alternative is surviving through English III Honors (nobody really takes standard) with the HARDEST TEACHER EVER! I made the mistake of taking Eng III Hon my Jr. year instead of Lang and I regret it so much. We had a new book just about every 2 weeks, a project every week, a very large and involved paper every 3 week and smaller essays every few days. Plus, half the questions her tests were actually from the AP Lit tests, which is also considered the next level after Lang in my school. I was one of the very few to actually get an A and that is highly uncommon in Honors classes at my school.</p>