by Chloe Jordan | feature editor
Have your parents ever pushed you to take a bunch of AP courses? Like REALLY want you to? Like, already reading and filling out the syllabus for five different courses and paying exam registration fees.
If you’re feeling lost as to how to handle AP classes, here’s some advice from various students from different grades.
If your parents wanted you to take AP classes, but you didn’t feel up to it or felt overwhelmed, what would you do?
“Well, I think, well if they force you to take it and you don’t want to, you know it’s your choice to not take it, you know. At the end of the day, just don’t take the class or just take it to see how you would do, and if you’re really good at that specific class, continue taking it. And if you don’t feel like you’re doing well, then just talk to your parents, you know, to see if they agree or not. And, well that’s my experience.” – Dibanhi Medrano, 12
“Well, my parents are rather understanding, so I’d try to explain to them that I don’t feel like I can do this or that the stress is getting to me, and inform them that I wouldn’t want to take any more AP classes.” – Augusto Almeida, 10
“I would still take the classes because I know that I’m better off by taking them, rather than not, not only because of the GPA multiplier – but also just the rigor of the courses will prepare me better for my future. And my parents typically know what’s best for me.” – Anna Claire Frolichstein, 12
“Well, I think maybe I would start off by telling them why I wouldn’t want to do it and then maybe have them and my counselor and I kind of have a meeting to discuss whether or not it’s a good idea for me going into the future.” – Alex Hanson, 11
“I would tell them that I could take some AP courses and I would say I’d choose the ones that would improve my endorsement, and kind of back up my reasoning for why I shouldn’t do all of them, especially the AP courses that are not in my endorsement.” – Erin Kim, 12
“I don’t know. I would try to explain to them how I felt about it and that it just felt like too much, and then hope they’d support me in that decision or like if they did make me take the AP’s, help me figure out how to get through it I guess and get good grades.” – Christina Sutton, 11
“I just took AP classes because I want to challenge myself.” – Ken Furukawa, 11
“I wouldn’t take them. I wouldn’t take the classes because it doesn’t feel like I have the ability to do it. I would only be doing it because my parents wanted me to.” – Jonathan Coutee, 11
“I’d still take the class because I want a good future.” – Jasmin Buenaseda, 11
How many AP courses do you recommend taking per year?
“I recommend taking no more than four, just because you’re going to have to study for every AP exam, which is cumulative: and I know a lot of people don’t even take four because it’s just a lot of work.” – Elizabeth Carmichael, 12
“I’m only taking one this year. I think that like two is probably good, maybe three, but three is probably pushing it.” – Kate Hanson, 10
“At least four or five.” – Dylan Zhu, 10
Which AP courses do you recommend taking?
“I recommend taking all of the history AP exams, because that way you can just get them out of the way and you’re saving money. They’re honestly not that hard to study for just by the textbook, Princeton review, and things like that. I also recommend taking the science ones. I took the science ones and I typically did well on them, and now I don’t have to take those in college. The most manageable AP class is probably psychology because it was only a semester, which means I only had to study a semester’s worth of work.” – Elizabeth Carmichael, 12
“AP world history is hard, but it’s good. I know AP computer science people said it was fun, but pretty easy; and AP music theory, that was easy too. I’ve heard people say not to take AP psychology.” Dylan Zhu, 10
