All About AP Classes

"It's impossible," says Carolyn Mooney, sophomore at Jamesville-DeWitt High School. "There's a lot more work than there ever was last year." Mooney is referring to the transition from her freshman year to the challenge presented by the Advanced Placement courses she's taking now.

AP courses are available to students from their sophomore through their senior year. They are far more difficult than honors or regents courses. The classes cover a wider and more detailed curriculum and carry higher expectations and more out-of-class reading. They allow a student to gain college credit by taking them.

J-DHS AP US History teacher Marian Glauber says that at the beginning of the year, many of her AP students have grades in the 70s. Often this is because they aren't used to the more demanding workload. Her class, as well as many other AP classes, is very fast-paced, requiring students to be good at keeping up with the current topic. Later, students realize they have to adjust their work habits in order to improve their grades.

Whether a student qualifies for an AP course depends on many factors that differ for each subject. However, there are common qualities needed for each subject. "They have to be strong readers, writers, and workers," said Mrs. Glauber.

Rich Adler, earth science teacher, says that he recommends students for AP Biology based on behavior as well as how much a student contributes to class. He says it's based on whether they turn assignments in on time and, of course, "really high grades," such as a 95 or above. For those hoping to get in to an AP course, Mr. Adler recommends they "start doing all these good things right away."

When deciding who to recommend for AP courses, teachers and guidance counselors also note each student's potential. "Some people can balance a whole bunch of AP courses, while some people might feel overwhelmed," says Clete Gualtieri, a guidance counselor at J-DHS. "It's not for people who are overstressed." This includes people who are already sleep-deprived because of too much work or too many activities.

"About 35 percent - 40 percent of students take an AP course during their time at JD," says J-DHS Principal Paul Gasparini. He says that a personal goal of his is to see 100 percent of the student body enrolled in at least one AP.

To some, the idea of enrolling in AP courses seems necessary. "All the older successful people I know have taken some AP course at some time," says Holly Deng, J-DHS freshman. "I've heard that AP is definitely more challenging and before even considering it you'd have to be extremely organized. But I'd definitely want to take AP," says Deng.

"The switch between honors classes and AP classes didn't really bother me," says David Zhang, junior at J-DHS. He has taken six AP courses including Computer Science, World History, Chemistry, Biology, US History, and Language and Composition. These courses have given him a perspective on where he is in the academic world as well as reinforcing skills like good study habits, time management, discipline and, "Mostly how to rearrange my sleeping schedule," he says laughing.

"The workload isn't as bad as I expected," says Erik Davis, sophomore at J-DHS. "But you do need to stay on top of your work and review continually if you want to do well."

"If you're smart," says Mooney, "Then you should take AP, I guess. I take AP Biology and we just move a lot faster than the other classes. Right now we're learning something about ecology."

To some, a bad grade is the most stressful thing about the classes. But a low grade in AP isn't as low as Regents or Honors. This is because of weighting.

"Recently, J-DHS has started providing a weighted cumulative average along with an un-weighted cumulative average for any students in honors or AP courses," says Gualtieri. This weighting bumps up a lower average.
For example, if someone taking AP classes got an 88 average for the entire year, on their transcript it would show an overall average of around 91 percent. This is because each AP class is counted 1.1 times in the overall average and each honors class is counted 1.05 times in the overall average.

"AP classes look better on a college application," says Deng. "Since J-DHS has started providing weighted cumulative averages with your regular cumulative average, I don't really see any reason not to take any AP course offered to you."

Giovanni Malloy, freshman at J-DHS, disagrees. "I'll take most of the AP courses if they are offered to me," says Malloy. "But some, like AP World History, I might not take because it's not the most important subject to me." Instead, Malloy would rather put the time and effort into doing the harder workloads for classes that will further him in his chosen career path.

"Basically, I would take AP courses in math and science because I want to be an engineer. I also don't think it's necessary to take all AP classes. He feels that colleges would rather see a 95 in honors then a bad grade in AP.

The AP courses offered at J-DHS include Biology, Physics, Calculus, Statistics, English Language, English Literature, European History, US History, World History, French or Spanish, Computer Science and Music Theory.

Other advanced courses offered at J-DHS are the Syracuse University Project Advanced courses in English and Psychology. These courses are offered to qualify seniors and some juniors for Syracuse University credits. "It's basically like I'm a student at S.U.," says Sarah Lesser, senior at J-DHS. "I get a little ID, I'm allowed to take out books from the library and everything."

Like AP, the SUPA program allows a student to receive both high school and college credit. A major difference is that SUPA is a course run by Syracuse University, so AP credits might transfer to a wider variety of colleges more easily.

"It's all based on how people balance their schedule; making decisions about academic classes etc.," says Mr. Gualtieri. "I recommend students to challenge themselves to the highest level they can be successful at."