MHS Musings: The Truth Behind AP Classes

At Millburn High School, students have a fantastic opportunity to take college-level courses while still in high school. However, this Advanced Placement (AP) program may cause too much stress, anxiety, and sleeplessness among high school students around the nation. If you want the real truth behind AP, keep reading. 

Filmmaker Vicki Abeles posted a video editorial on the New York Times' website earlier this year discussing her view of AP classes. Her piece "features the stories of students and teachers of AP classes and the pressures they face in our achievement-obsessed culture."

Being a student at MHS, where there are more than 20 AP classes offered, her video got me thinking. Do AP classes provide motivated students a good way to get ahead in their studies, or do they just bring advanced pressure? 

The AP program is a high school program instituted by The College Board, a non-profit organization that is also responsible for the SAT and PSAT. Through this program, students can take very rigorous and time-intensive college-level classes in their high schools, and receive college credit.

At the calculation of GPAs at MHS, a grade of a B+ in an AP class is weighed equally to an A- in an accelerated course and an A in a CPA/CPB (College Prep A/B) course.

At first glance, the AP program sounds like a nice easy way to have a pretty impressive college résumé, and be able to take fewer courses in college. If I take 15 AP courses during my four years at MHS, I'll be able to get into my dream Ivy League school and breeze through my college years, right?

Not quite. There's a catch. In May of each year, the College Board distributes annual AP examinations to students who wish to take them. Plain and simple: if you don't take the exam, you don't get credit for the class, and the possibility of college credit is gone. This is why MHS mandates that all AP students must take their respective AP exams towards the end of the school year.

And in order to get college credit, you must not only take the exam, but score a 3, 4 or 5 (depending on the college you choose to attend), out of a possible 5. Exam grades do not directly correspond to students' raw exam scores, but instead, they are a measure of students' scores compared to all of the other students' scores across the country.

According to "College Confidential," students who scored 65 percent or higher on the most recent AP Biology exam received a 5, accounting for only around 19 percent of students who took the test. It is clear that AP classes and exams are extremely difficult, and in order to succeed, you must not only score well, but perform better than approximately 60-80 percent of the nation who have taken the same test.

Advanced Placement classes are offered at MHS in Art History, Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, Chinese Language & Culture, Computer Science, English Language & Composition, English Literature & Composition, Environmental Science, European History, French Language, Latin Vergil, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Music Theory, Physics, Psychology, Spanish Language, Spanish Literature, Statistics, Studio Art, United States History, and United States Government & Politics, each with its own unique exam.

The Studio Art exam requires handing in an extensive portfolio, the Music Theory exam requires a recorded sight-singing section, and the foreign language exams require recorded speaking sections to be sent to the College Board.

Since the exams are given in May and not the end of the school year, AP students are only given about 110 school days to learn and master an entire college-level course. All AP teachers at MHS distribute a large amount of work to students over the summer, to introduce the first few units of each course. Summer homework can vary between writing essays for a history AP, reading novels for an English AP, or visiting and reviewing art museums for an art AP.

These AP students, especially in our township, are absolutely driven to succeed: often devoting much of their lives to the AP classes they're taking, so they can master the subject, ace the coursework and exam, and distinguish themselves on their college résumés. Some say that students are driving themselves crazy by taking multiple AP classes.

And it is because of this presumption, that students are under too much pressure and stress, that many (including Abeles) believe the AP program is more detrimental to students than it is beneficial.

Dr. Minaz Jooma, MHS's AP English Literature and Composition teacher, disagrees. "I believe that most students at MHS are adept at balancing the different aspects of their lives, and are very skilled at managing many activities and interests," says Jooma. "While I do see some stress, I think the world has become so much more demanding of each of us in a technologically advanced age that is echoed in the stress seen around you."

MHS AP English Language and Composition teacher Patricia Arnold agrees that AP classes can be very stressful, but says "most teachers try to work with students' needs." In her AP class, where the primary purpose is to learn to write on a college level, Arnold allows students to rewrite as necessary to improve their writing and increase their grade.

While it is understood that taking one or more AP classes can cause enough pressure in itself, can students still balance their huge academic workload with extracurricular activities? Surprisingly, the answer at MHS is a resounding yes.

Among the students who finished in the top 10 percent in the MHS Class of 2010 who took multiple AP classes to gain this distinction are John Zahka, star of the lacrosse team; Katie Veneziano, president of the Make-A-Wish club; Julianna Brunini, the concertmaster and first violinist in the Orchestra and Chamber Strings; Tim Matchen, captain of the Public Forum Debate team; and Samantha Meskin, writer of a high school column with the Independent Press.

There is another major issue tied to AP classes concerning parents locally and around the nation: lack of sleep. Especially with students who are also active in athletics and many extracurricular activities, doing homework and studying for AP classes can easily cause students to be awake past 1:00 or 2:00 am on a regular basis. This can often lead to sleep deprivation, which is harmful to students' physical health, not to mention their attention span and ability to absorb new material in class.

On Facebook, you'll find that a daunting 56,390 people "like" the page titled "Advanced Procrastinators, also known as AP students." If this statement is true, why would students who are willing to go out of their way and take a rigorous, challenging course procrastinate in their studies?

Could it be that some students take AP classes just for the merit, for the credit, and for the distinction on the college résumé, and aren't actually interested in the AP course they elected to take?

Jooma thinks some students do this, but also thinks that "a lot of students find APs a genuine challenge. There are so many other ways in which students can distinguish themselves and, having had ties with the university college admissions process at one time, it is often clear when a résumé has been padded. However, given that students across the country are using the same logic to get themselves accepted into college, having APs on one's transcript probably is expected these days."

If students think they would not be able to keep up in AP classes, they wouldn't be applying for them. To ensure that the classes are filled with those students who are ready to take such rigorous courses, MHS holds qualification exams in the spring for interested students. AP teachers select only those who, based on the exam results, score high enough to prove their readiness for the course. Arnold thinks that this qualification process "makes it easier to ensure that the students in the class will be able to keep up with the rigorous demands and are interested in making the necessary effort.  It is difficult to see some student who would really like to take the course frozen out because of (perhaps) one bad test taking day, but opening enrollment to everyone would definitely change the course."

Especially through this qualification program, in which only the "qualified" students are able to take the courses, I believe that the AP program is certainly beneficial for students who are up for the challenge.

The AP program instills responsibility and perseverance in students, not to mention immeasurable academic growth. Though the program has its flaws (sleep deprivation; taking the courses only for college credit), I believe students can find great benefit through this program, which will undoubtedly ready them for the intensive courses offered in college and beyond.

Arnold agrees, but thinks that AP classes are in fact more intense than most college courses. "Many students have returned to say that they never worked so hard at college as they did in high school, especially in AP courses.  In content driven AP courses, there is usually MUCH more material to cover in a year than one would in a similar survey course in college - and all of it must be covered because no one ever knows what information the AP test will expect students to have mastered."

Though the "advanced pressures" of high school can be quite daunting and may seem overwhelming at times, the AP program is a great way to introduce advanced academic material to students before college even begins.