Many people likely don’t know of the hidden stress students with AP classes face. Advanced placement classes, or AP for short, are very popular subjects when it comes to getting into colleges or getting a scholarship.
With AP classes, the grading scale is higher. In regular classes, the grading scale for an A is 90 percent while in AP classes, it’s 91 percent. There is also an F1 grade, which is anything in between a 60-63 percent, and it still adds one credit to a student’s GPA.
Many students at Delta High School take advanced placement classes. There are many in the school that are available, and many also come with scholarship opportunities. School counselor Shawna Magtutu said that before students have taken an AP class, they feel like it would be one of the hardest things to do, but afterwards, students admit that it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be.
Along with that, Magtutu has also had former students come to her with the wish that they were more prepared for college by taking those AP classes. Some former students have even come to teachers to ask for a review on a certain subject they may have forgotten in high school. Therefore, it is certainly not rare for teachers to have to re-teach their former students for another short time.
Sarah Clark, a student taking two AP classes this year, said “Don’t fall behind.”
AP students, unlike others, get a two week time period to change their class if they don’t find it suitable for them. The dropping rate for AP classes is surprisingly low, only being 5-8 students every semester.
“Classes really depend on teachers, as well,” Magtutu said. “The right teachers can make the class less stressful for a student.”
In Delta High School, the most popular class is AP Lit with Robert Ames and AP Lang with Laurie Ranum. The smallest is AP Calc with Teresa Davis.
“During seventh hour, I have a planning period, so that’s when all my students come to see me,” Davis said. “I have a study class every Tuesday, and some students come and see me at lunch too.”
“On a difficulty scale, I’d say the class is an eight or a nine. I still encourage my students to do their best,” said Davis.
Just like Davis does, other AP teachers have the one main goal of setting their students up for success for colleges and scholarships. AP classes are a fantastic way to get noticed for a good college, especially depending on what a student takes. However, to do that, students must take a test. Both AP and Pre-AP students are required to take an exam on what they’ve learned throughout the course.
This year at Delta High School, there will be 450 total AP and Pre-AP exams handed out. Eighteen of those exams are just for AP students. Counselor Holly Teyler-Crowder is here to help those who are having trouble with AP stress. Crowder is an expert here at Delta High School with AP exams. Students often come to her for help. She is also the one who hands out AP exams.
“The one thing counselors and teachers want students to know is that AP classes aren’t as stressful as people make them out to be,” said Crowder.
