The month of May is the season of stress for many students taking AP (advanced placement) exams across the United States and internationally. But is undergoing this stress really worth the lost sleep and flaming pit in your stomach?
The first thing to know about the answer to this question is that it varies greatly person to person. Some have a clear-cut path to college and higher education institutions without advanced high school classes. Some attend schools that don’t even offer AP or IB, the international system for advanced placement in high school called the International Baccalaureate.
Most college counselors argue that selective higher education institutions expect that you take the most challenging classes available to YOU. That means that if your school does not offer AP or IB, they will not expect you to take it, and you will not be penalized in the admissions process. However, an increasing number of students are “self-studying” for AP exams, meaning that they take the college-board-designed Advanced Placement exams without taking the high school class meant to prepare students to succeed on the exam. This can be beneficial because a passing score on AP exams can be counted for college credit. This saves time, money, and stress when enrolling in and selecting college classes. Some students are even able to graduate college early because they rack up so many credits from AP exams.
However, it is important to remember that wile it is important to be academically stimulated and challenged during high school, it is also a time to explore the academic world and learn more about yourself as a student, leader, change-maker and social being. Thus, if studying for 9 AP exams sounds like it will cause you not to enjoy high school, then it is by all means encouraged that you do what would work best for you to balance enjoyment with learning. Along with hard classes, impressive extracurriculares are a great personality are considered attributes not only on college applications, but in life in general. So, aside from taking classes that interest you, AP/IB or not, find ways to explore and grow your interests during your time in high school.
As an incoming freshman, I did not receive much information on AP and had no idea what classes I wanted to take in high school, so here is a handy-dandy list from the college board itself that I wish I knew about coming into high school: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/course-index-page
And, here is an equivalent from the IB for those wonderful international students out there: https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/
As always if you take anything away from this article, remember that the number of advanced classes you take or score on your exams can never define your worth and level of intelligence. Only you can do that.
Best of luck to everyone on your high school journeys, and to everyone taking exams this month!
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