It's All About Balance at BHS

You might wonder what academic life at Broadneck High School is like. Being at Broadneck is a weird mix of being stressed over grades and having fun. Many students’ schedules are hard Advanced Placement and honor classes, coupled with more laid back "filler" classes.

Most juniors I know are taking two to four AP classes. I am taking two this year, Calculus and English. The worst part about AP classes is the AP tests at the end of the year - college level, three-hour-long tests scored on a scale from 5 to 1, 5 being the highest, 1 the lowest. Last week and this week are AP test weeks at Broadneck. All over Facebook you see students panicking on their statuses about how they should've studied more, how they're going to fail, how there's no possible way they will survive the whole test. You would think the world is ending!

As much as people pull their hair out over these tests, the tests don't count for anything except college credit. AP test credit can't even be used except for getting exempt from freshman level college classes. Most colleges only take 4s and 5s. A few might take 3s, some don't take AP credit at all.

Luckily, the stress of our harder classes can be lessened by our easier classes. One such filler class is guitar. I have never taken this class but the people I know who have told me that they enjoy sitting and playing whatever songs they want. It's a stress reliever. One of the easy filler classes I am taking is Astronomy. Though we do have a substantial amount of work every class, it is always very easy class work compared to my Calculus work.

If I have learned anything being at BHS for two years, it is to develop a class schedule that allows a balance of hard classes, easy classes, and "in the middle" classes. Never overload yourself, never "underload" yourself. This is the key to success in the academic life at Broadneck.