Are AP Courses Worth the Anxiety? Read Now and Decide

AP Courses. College Classes. On my son’s orientation night, that’s all the high school principal could talk about. It was enough to make anyone’s head swim. On and on. Why? The hard sell made me suspicious, especially as I had a less-than-stellar experience with AP as a high school student. Which then made me wonder if much has changed with AP (Advanced Placement) in the last few decades. So are AP courses worth the anxiety? Read now and decide.

My AP experience (and therefore, my bias)

I went to a small midwest high school and was in an “honors” English class my junior year. Who knows what made it “honors” exactly, but the students in the class were consistently on the honor roll. Anyway, I remember being thrilled at the opportunity to take AP English our senior year, and possibly earn college credit, too.

Well, the class stunk. The teacher did the same thing in AP English as she with the honors class the year before, which was basically nothing. She handed out thick packets of busy work, while she sat at her desk perusing yet another trashy romance novel. She read quite a few of those during the school year, or perhaps the same one over and over. It was hard to tell from the cliche cover art.

Anyway, there was no inspired teaching during our AP experience, much less any prep for the AP exam we took at the end of the year. I didn’t score well enough to earn college credit, and I don’t know if any of my classmates did, either.

In short, AP my-ass. It was a worthless course, where we learned that as long as we filled the space provided, we’d get good grades on that week’s assignment. No real learning happened, and certainly no love of literature or writing came from it (that would come much later).

So I was not terribly receptive to the principal’s infomercial for AP. But he did convince me to research the AP class system, as well as the benefits and drawbacks to taking such courses.

The History of Advanced Placement (AP)

Advanced Placement has been around a long time, getting its start in 1955. Its purpose?Bringing a standardized course curriculum to all schools, regardless of a school’s location, demographics or socioeconomic makeup. And second, to help prepare high school students for the rigor of university. Overseeing AP is The College Board, the same organization that oversees the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATS). There are currently 38 different AP courses offered around the world, and they include (but are not limited to) classes in psychology, science, languages and history.

A study of AP by a prominent Stanford professor sheds some light

In 2013 Denise Pope, a top lecturer with the Stanford School of Education and a founder of Challenge Success, a nonprofit that works with educational systems to improve the learning experience for kids, completed a review of 20 studies on AP courses. Here are some of her findings (and you can read more here):

• Does AP facilitate a level playing field? Yes…and no. The curriculum and final exam may be standardized, but any given school’s investment an AP course is not. Teachers are not required to be trained in administering the course. This education of teachers in any given AP course is strictly optional. But as long as the curriculum is used, along with the final exam is provided by AP, the class can be called Advanced Placement. In short, a course in AP history can look very different from school to school, meaning prep (and results) for the final can look very different as well.
• Do AP courses prepare kids for college? Students who take AP classes are more likely to do better in college. However, is this finding true because AP trains kids to be better students, or are the students who take AP more motivated to begin with? This is a classic “correlation does not equal causation” instance. Pope’s analysis of the 20 studies showed that this finding did not adjust for the inconsistencies mentioned above…how invested teachers and schools are in making a class challenging, rewarding and worthwhile. So does a schedule filled with AP courses meaning a student is better prepared for college? Well, it depends.
• How AP is integrated into a school also influences academic success. If AP students and students taking an honors or a traditional course are all in the same class, students can collaborate and learn together, enhancing everyone’s educational experience. However, when students are separated by aptitude, motivation, or even interest, the more talented and motivated teachers are instructing fewer students. And those valuable resources are likely concentrated with the more capable and motivated students, to the disadvantage of the rest of the school.

Pros to taking AP

• When taught by an invested teacher, an AP class can be a challenging, enriching environment to really delve into a subject of interest (read: not a class in which rote memorization and regurgitation are the MO (like my AP English class was).
• AP classes (and good grades in them) on a high school transcript make a student more competitive in college admissions.
• When an AP class is well-taught, students develop improved thinking and writing skills.
• Students who gain college credit through AP exam scores can go on to graduate sooner, have more time for job internships, and by placing in higher-level college courses, become more competitive for graduate school slots.

Cons to taking AP

• While AP courses are free, the final exams are not. For the 2021-2022 school year the AP exam fee was $96 (USD) per test. Students eligible for a subsidy in the same school year could take an AP exam for the reduced cost of $53 per test. While subsidies for AP exams do assist at-need students, the existence of a fee (or fees, when kids are taking more than one AP class) does not level the educational playing field for students experiencing the greatest socioeconomic hardship.
• Taking AP does not guarantee college credit. Colleges require students take the AP exam final and submit an adequate test score (and what is considered an adequate exam score can vary from college to college). Furthermore, colleges vary on which AP courses they consider eligible for credit, and in how many AP courses make a student more competitive in the eyes of the admissions committee. In short, AP policy is a moving college admissions target.
• The caliber and rigor of a given AP class can vary, as well as that across AP courses a given high school offers. As mentioned before but bears repeating, teachers don’t need any training or certification in order to teach AP. So how well AP prepares students for college, enhances their communication and thinking skills, and prepares them for the final exam (which determines college credit), can vary widely.

Questions to answer before registering for AP classes

• Do I want to take AP? This is the first, and most important question a student needs to answer. Parents, this is up to your kids. AP is not for everyone. Just like college is not for everyone. As hard as it can be, we as parents need to give our children space to make this decision. Let them read this blog post as a starting point.
• Why do I want to take AP? This is the next question every high schooler needs to consider before jumping on the AP wagon. Is it to save on college tuition? Is it to get into a highly-competitive college or university? Is it because my parents want me in upper-level classes? Do I have a real interest in the subject? Again, AP isn’t for everyone, and every AP course isn’t for everyone. (important side note: focus AP enrollment on classes that dive into a subject of interest…)
• What AP tests (and scores) do my top choices for university accept? As colleges vary on what they accept with regards to AP exam scores (if they accept exam scores for college credit at all), be sure you’ve done this research before committing to certain classes.
• I want to take a particular AP class at my school. How do I know the class will be interesting and challenging? Ask. Find upperclassmen who have taken the class as ask them about it, and parents, talk to parents of these same students. To relate a personal story, a friend of mine told me her daughter’s horror story in a particular AP course, where it was clear the teacher had no vested interest in teaching. Mental note made. It pays well to get the perspective of experience when it comes to enrolling in AP.
• Can I do well in AP? A loaded question for sure. This may be a good time for a parent’s guidance. Denise Pope addresses this in a short yet impactful video on YouTube from kidsinthehouse.com. Answering this question depends on many factors in a teen’s life, like extracurricular activities, job obligations, academic interests and the ongoing need for tons of sleep. AP classes generally require more homework than traditional high school classes, and may or may not be more difficult. So honestly consider whether AP fits into your academic schedule.

And one final question/consideration

Do I have to take AP classes if I want to go to college?

The short answer is no. The long answer still means no, but let’s qualify that. Number one, colleges accept students who don’t take AP classes. Really. And remember that colleges look at GPA for admissions. If a student is concerned about making the grade point cutoff for their top uni choices, and is concerned about how a grade in an AP class may hurt that, taking an honors or traditional course may be a better option.

A bit of advice from a voice of experience

Also, as someone who’s had experience with AP, this is the most important piece of advice I can give. I had an AP English teacher who invested next to nothing in providing a senior-level English education, much less an advanced placement one. I didn’t get the marks I needed on the AP final in order to earn college English credit.

So I took Freshman English. From the state poet laureate, and one of the most sought-after freshman English teachers at the school.

And it was fantastic.

I learned that writing could be fun, creative, and liberating. I had the opportunity to explore ideas and styles of writing not available in any other class. It would have been a shame to miss out on this experience, which I would have if I managed to score well on my AP exam.

Something to consider: earning college credit in high school may deprive students of some important, enlightening experiences in their higher education. If I hadn’t taken a class from one of America’s top poets, and been not just inspired, but encouraged to write, I doubt I’d be sitting here today, so many years later…writing.

Life is short. College is awesome. Why hurry it along?

Again, something to consider.

Want to read more about AP? Check out the links below:

AP and Honors Classes challengesuccess.org

AP Classes: To take or not to take? studypoint.com

Are AP courses worth the effort? An interview with Stanford education expert Denise Pope news.stanford.edu

How to Get an AP Exam Fee Waiver study.com

Is It Really Worth Taking AP Classes in High School? road2college.com