As the school year comes to a close, many students at Henry J. Kaiser High School moved from the classroom to the library for Advanced Placement examinations. These students would be testing to see if they could earn college credit for entry-level courses ranging from history and psychology to English and environmental science.
While the experience varied from student to student, the consensus between both students and teachers was that AP courses brought both challenges and rewards.
One of the largest changes this year came during the math exams. AP Precalculus and AP Calculus featured a new hybrid exam format where students completed the multiple choice section digitally on Bluebook while writing the free response answers on paper. Sophomore Jeff Pitathawatchai believes that the change was a necessary one.
“The practice FRQs on CollegeBoard were all digital and I found them to be clunky,” Pitathawatchai shared. “It was hard to notate and made the test artificially harder. I’m really glad the exam was hybrid and it definitely helped me perform at my best.”
Senior Jace Hashimoto recommends that students consider taking AP courses as they progress through school. “[AP Courses] definitely help with college applications, and I had a lot of fun with them.” Hashimoto took AP Psychology and AP Literature this year.
“Psycholgy was a really fun course, and it wasn’t too difficult either. As long as you take notes during class you’ll be fine. AP Lit on the other hand was quite a bit more difficult.”
Other students shared Hashimoto’s sentiment about difficult APs. Sophomore Chase Ellis took AP US History class but found that the struggle outweighed the reward. “Personally, I don’t think all the stress was worth it. I found that a lot of my time was spent on busywork.”
However, Sophomore Charles Schulberg had a different mentality towards APUSH. “I found the course to be a good challenge,” Schulberg said. “While it was really difficult, it helped me build good study habits and improved my work ethic.”
Ms. Sarah Shiroma, who teaches AP English Language and Literature shares a similar mindset with Schulberg. “AP courses are challenging, but if you put in the work you are guaranteed to get something out of it. If you pass the test, that’s great! You get college credit and save some money. If you fail, that’s still great. Now when you take that class in college it will be really easy for you because you already have a lot of the skills and knowledge.”
As AP testing concludes, Kaiser students have to ask themselves a question. Is the challenge worth the reward?
