The Benefits of Taking AP Classes in High School Why spend hours doing homework in college, when you could have done it in high school? “The Advanced Placement program has revolutionized high school classrooms around the United States. The program offers rigorous, college-level education to motivated students, and offers the benefit of college credit.” (Mattimore A33). AP classes can be very beneficial to students. These courses reduce the amount of money and time spent in college. They also are more beneficial than college intro classes. Lastly, these classes help prepare you for the workload of college. AP courses reduce the time you have to spend in college. Students who participated in AP courses in high school, …show more content…
Some people say that high schools should not be allowed to teach AP classes. Some people think this because students are taking advantage of the weighted credit. They also argue high school teachers are not capable of teaching a college level course. Finally, they argue that AP courses reduce the opportunity of the exploration in college. The first argument they give is AP classes give a weighted credit to a student, even if the student did not take the AP exam (Honawar 2). Students who do not take the AP exam do not deserve the weighted credit since they did not see the course to the very end. The next argument that was said is “High school teachers lack the expertise of teaching college-level classes.” (Mattimore A33). Teachers that have never taught at a college are not capable of teaching a college level course. (Mattimore A33). The final argument is “Awarding college credit reduces students’ chances for wider intellectual exploration in college.” (Mattimore A33). College is a lot different from high school. Professors and teachers might teach and grade different depending on their personality. Since they are learning, a college level course and not in college they will not experience all of the ideas and techniques that professors will
According to the article Blending High School and College Can Sharpen the Focus of Each by Joel Vargas, it states that “early college experiences increase college success rates.” In other words, these early experiences allow a student to prepare for the challenges of college work while still having that support from their teachers and tutors. Throughout my high school career, I had the opportunity to take honors and Advanced Placement courses for the majority of my classes. The Advanced Placement courses allowed for a better understanding of the subject as well as providing the extensive work often similar to college classes. Learning the subjects from college in high school, such as English 101, even if not receiving the college credit for it, allowed for an understanding of the skills taught.
My freshman year of high school was difficult for me to adjust to and I did not perform to the best of my ability on my biology honors midterm. Due to this discrepancy, I was unable to be accepted into the Science Honor Society in junior year. Although disappointed that a singular grade had the ability to decide a part of my future two years later, I continued to work hard, especially in my science courses. Junior year, I decided to challenge myself and take an AP Physics course, even though I had never taken a physics course prior. This class was excruciatingly demanding and a new experience for someone who had never taken an AP class before.
Is college still important and relevant? The question is answered and confirmed when Liz Addison, author of “Two Years Are Better than Four”, wrote a counter argument in order to disprove the opposing views of Rick Perlstein, the author of, “What’s the Matter with College”. The topic that is being brought to light is the subject of whether or not college still matters. Perlstein that college is no longer what it used to be. It was after reading Perlstein’s article that Addison masterfully wrote her counter argument which successfully contradicted the opinionated, inaccurate views of Rick Perlstein.
If a student wants to take an AP class, let them take it. AP classes prepare students for college and allows a classroom to be excused from interruptions, because all of the students have the same purpose for taking the AP class. Fremont High School should not punish those who seek a successful future. These “service classes” can be seen as punishments for those who wish to go to college and create careers. Not every student wants to be a hair dresser, not every student wants to be a sewer (720).
AP English and Dual Enrollment Government have prepared me the most for college. My AP English teacher opened my eyes to different types of literature and sources that is constantly referenced in my first college classes at Tidewater Community College. for example, Karl Marx is quoted a lot in the many theories of sociology. My Dual Enrollment Government course prepared me for this ample amount of reading in college. My professor would provide my class with multiple reading assignments to push our reading limits.
AP courses are supposed to be hard. Their curriculums were designed by the Collegeboard to challenge motivated students and build up essential academic skills. However, aspects like the cost of taking AP exams, Arlington’s policy requiring students to take the AP exam with the course, and the north’s late school year start often create unintentional difficulties, adding stress to already difficult classes. To start, the exam themselves are expensive. At $94 per exam, even students who are able to afford the fee might think twice about dropping hundreds of dollars on AP exams.
They suppose that the people students taking these classes will fail, causing them to retake the course again which wastes time and money. However, any student who wishes to take ACC classes in high school must complete and pass the Texas Success Initiative test, also known as the TSI. The TSI measures the students reading and writing ability, which demonstrates that the student has the ability to do well in college classes. It is then up to the student to be responsible, work hard, earn good grades, and continue in college classes. Anyone in Dual Credit Classes can pass; if the student slacks off and fails, it is their own fault.
I learned new writing styles, test taking techniques, and how to be a true AP student. European History allowed me to see what else was out there. In life you need to be able to see the big things in order to know what 's really small and that 's exactly what the class did for me. Taking the risk showed me that if I was able to take AP European History, then I was definitely able to take a class like AP U.S. History, or any other class for that matter. It boosted my confidence and showed me what I was able to do for myself.
School is a place where you go to spend about half of your life learning about topics that simply do not interest you or that truly won’t help you in the future. The U.S government tells the teachers what they need to teach in their schools for the class curriculums, so that the students can learn a healthy amount of material. The best thing is that many high schools fail to teach their students important things. Many teachers just pass students along through their class, because they don’t want to hold them back and deal with them for another year, but soon enough most of us move onto college. I’ve seen many people fail during college, because their high school did not push them to try to achieve great grades.
I only took total of 4 Ap classes in high school compared to many other classmates who took in their senior year alone. I feel very overwhelmed because I read a lots of informations about Class of UNC 21 and of those previous years who have the extremely challenging course loads in high school. This made me feel a bit of slacker; however, I want to tell the Admissions more about my story. One of the reason is that Ap classes conflicted my schedules, so I have to choose between a lemon and a lime. Ap classes will help me impress college more and save more money.
These days students seem to think that if they don’t have the highest grade they won’t be able to get the job of their choice. He also stated that a stats professor got flak for proposing a new system to recalculate the grade point averages. This proposal made it seem that students would dodge the harder classes to take easier
Preparation, completion, and understanding of the material are important to me as it has a direct impact on my grades. My grades are something that has always been important to me as I began to apply pressure on myself about them at an early age. Mrs. Fleming would hopefully say I would be a solid addition to an AP 12
Secondly, the schools can’t meet their federal requirements. Finally, students can have an increase in test scores without electives. The electives shows quite the opposite. In fact, test scores improve, according to Laurie Futterman, author of ‘’ Beyond the Classroom: Electives in school - essential or entertaining?’’ because students are more likely to be in attendance every day.
I am competitive; I look for the chance to run the extra mile. My competitive nature has aided in everything I commit myself to. Regardless if I am participating in a sporting event, competing for a solo in a musical production, or preparing for a final, I will indubitably devote my time and efforts to perform as well as possible. I take every opportunity that is presented to me and attempted to better not only myself but my community as well. I am confident that the Honors College at the College of Charleston will enable me to devote my attention to my studies, become actively involved within campus activities and academic assemblies, and offer my time and abilities to charitable events and organizations.
There was no doubt in my mind that I tried my hardest in the classes; I just did not have as much faith in myself when it came to the test day. In AP U.S. History, I did my homework religiously every weekend on Sunday afternoons by delving into each chapter as much as possible and enjoying what I was reading. For AP Language and Composition by creating a word wall in my room in order to improve my vocabulary. All the weekends spent doing homework and more for these classes paid off in a way I never would have imagined. I finally was able to believe my hard work towards achieving a goal could actually be rewarded.