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AP classes: Advanced Placement or awfully pressured?

Photo Courtesy of Oakton Outlook

AP classes are Advanced Placement courses in the U.S. and Canada created by the College Board corporation to prepare students for the vigorous pace and curriculum of college education. Based on a 5.0 grading scale, there are a variety of AP courses provided at MC, but unfortunately, students tend to take too many of them at once.

There are a lot of benefits to taking AP classes, such as increasing GPA, earning college credits, improving chances at college admissions, and augmenting overall academic rigor, but AP classes can be detrimental as much as beneficial.

 

Although AP classes are helpful, there is a significant difference between regular classes and APs. The workload is heavier and the classes keep up a faster pace, but students only tend to focus on the benefits rather than the detriments that  come along with deciding whether or not to enroll in them.

With an opportunity to take as many AP classes as you would like to, there are always students overloading on APs, making them more stressed than they already are. Teenagers are pressured enough by trying to keep up with a social life, academics, extracurriculars, sports, a healthy body and mind, and a set plan for the future. On top of that, parents emphasize doing well in school, so students overwhelm themselves by taking an absurd amount of AP classes to boost their chances of getting into their desired college.

In this day and age, it is difficult for parents to understand how balancing these elements can be more difficult than before, and school should be a priority among other activities. So, it is important to think of how AP classes will affect students mentally and socially before taking an overwhelming amount of them.

There should be a limit on how many AP courses a student should take: three. If students want to exceed the amount, they should show that they are capable of handling more than the limit and maintaining an exceptional GPA.

There are certain elements to being able to take these courses, and students should thoroughly think about their choice to take APs.

Written by Lenie Yoon

Lenie is a junior and a staff writer for the MCSun. She is passionate about ASB, Netflix, and coffee.

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