From sophomore to senior year, SCHS students are provided with opportunities to take Advanced Placement classes. Although the classes are commonly associated with highly academic and successful students who aim to be their best, some find the classes overly challenging.
Sophomore Rhys Clayton is taking his first ever AP class, AP European History, and despite taking the class in order to challenge himself and bolster his GPA, he finds balancing the class reading and his extracurricular activities difficult.
“The course load and amount of work you have is definitely a jump,” Clayton said. “I thought I could use the challenge. I did it for the grade boost and also to get ready for harder classes.”
Junior Mykese McGee is taking both AP English Language and Composition and AP Environmental Science, and he is very interested in science.
“I chose AP Environmental Science because it helps me with my major, which is marine bio, which I hope to take in college,” McGee said. “I chose AP Lang to help me prepare for the SAT that is in spring.”
McGee also participates in sideline and competitive cheer, making finding time and energy in his schedule to complete his work difficult.
“It kind of gives me less time to study, especially with competitive cheer being so much both mentally and physically,” McGee said.
Some students are stacked with more APs than regular classes, making their workload overwhelming at times. Junior Hannah Allas is taking six AP classes this year while also participating in extracurriculars, including Girl Scouts, marching band and winter guard.
“I found that this year, especially, I didn’t really have any time for anything else outside of those extracurriculars and schoolwork,” Allas said. “Especially with me taking six AP classes and doing sports, it’s a lot of time management, which I’m still trying to master.”
Workload can vary depending on the level of commitment a chosen AP class takes and the level of coursework assigned. Senior Avy Balanza is an AP Art student who dreams of having a career in video game design. She finds the pace of AP Art helpful, making her time management and personal schedule simpler than other AP students.
“With other classes, you end up having to read a lot, work on a bunch of different assignments. With art, it’s just solely working on your pieces,” Balanza said. “It’s still pretty demanding compared to other AP classes because there is definitely the pressure to keep pumping out different pieces. It’s just a different type of work.”
AP Seminar teacher Arielle Martinka expressed her love for teaching an AP class alongside Marine Biology, giving her the opportunity to interact with more students.
“I feel like sometimes teachers only see some of the student population. Whereas I feel like I see one side of the student population in Seminar, and then in Marine Biology. I see a totally different side,” Martinka said. “I have some overlap students, but it’s a much more diverse population in Marine Biology.”
Clayton noted that he believes an individual should only take the class if they think they can handle the workload, as well as favoring the APs they have a passion or interest in.
“Take a class that you’re willing to put in the work for,” Clayton said. “Pick one that you actually want to do, and don’t just do it to get the grade.”
Allas is passionate about her AP classes and feels everyone should challenge themselves as much as they can.
“You should only take as many AP classes as you personally think you could handle even if it’s not as much as you hear other people saying because every person has their own limits. Just know yourself and know what you can handle,” Allas said.