| Should the school limit APs per student? Yes(5/05) | | Print | |
| Written by Galina Yudovich | |
|
Listen up, kids: When signing up for future courses, skip an all-Advanced Placement schedule. It is unnecessary pressure. And for those of you who, like me, are incapable of limiting yourselves, the school needs to limit the number of APs a student can take to prevent numerous meltdowns. Students feel pressure to load up on these AP classes in an attempt to wow college admissions boards. However, Lick-Wilmerding High School, which limits students to two AP classes for junior year and three during senior year, sends students to the same prestigious universities that Lowell does. If students are taking APs to escape college requirements, they need a reality check; more and more colleges don’t even give credits unless a student has a top score. For example, UC-Berkeley does not grant credit for economics classes unless the student receives perfect scores. Stanford grants AP credit only for calculus, physics and economics. And in order to get this credit, students must receive a four or five on the exam.  Limiting the number of AP classes students can take would force them to take only the classes they truly want to take, without feeling pressured to upgrade every one of their required courses. This would drastically improve the AP class dynamic. Students would enroll because of genuine interest in the subject, not because of a desire for a weighted GPA or an exemption from future classes. In-class discussions would improve, and teachers wouldn’t feel obligated to teach directly to the test because students would be concerned with more than just passing the exam. AP classes should be taught and handled like real college courses. In college, students take approximately three to five classes a semester — not six or seven a day. It isn’t believable that kids can handle such a loaded schedule — unless these classes are watered down, which would defeat the whole purpose. The fact that Lowell students pass exams at such a high rate is no argument: Many, like physics and calculus, are graded with a heavy curve. Like many others, I am a victim of taking too many APs. My first two weeks of May were crazy; I had four days of testing, three of which were in a row, two of which had both morning and afternoon sessions. Was it worth it? No. If the school had limited the number of APs I was allowed to take, I would have better assessed which classes I really wanted to take and which I could have really benefited from. The school may receive extra funding from every AP exam it administers, but students’ mental health and actual education must come first. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
to listen.
