Sure they look good to colleges, they challenge you, and you learn more than you would in an on-level or honors class, but are advanced placement classes worth the stress?

If you are like many of the students taking AP classes, you see them as challenging courses that, quite importantly, look good to colleges. Colleges want to see that you are taking rigorous courses for both acceptance and for scholarship money. However, while most think that AP courses are a key part of what colleges want to see, according to the article “AP Classes to Take or Not to Take?” only 31% of colleges look at a student’s AP courses.

Yes, it is true that AP classes make your transcript look better in regard to rigor and show colleges that you are a hard worker and like to challenge yourself; but whether or not that makes a course worth the stress is debatable. In the article “A Parent’s Guide to AP Classes” by Sonali Kohli, a parent who noticed that her child has been struggling with an AP class asked Kohli, “My kid is up till 3 a.m. doing homework for APs every night. What do I do?” Kohli responded, “Look into tutors, and/or drop a class.” Kohli’s advice was that getting a tutor can definitely help with understanding the material; but even with this, the student will still be up late studying and preparing. Depending on how many AP classes they are taking, this fix may be only temporary or partial. Also, dropping a class is hard to do, and colleges may not want to see that on your transcript.

Another consideration for AP classes is that the exam comes toward the end of the school year. Each test cost approximately $98, so that can be tough for people, especially if they’ve taken more than one class. Of course, for most schools, if you pass the AP test with a score of 3 or higher, you get college credit. However, if you don’t do well and score below a 3, it can feel like taking that class was useless. Of course, the weighted GPA aspect of the course – if you score an A or B – is a nice bump on your transcript.
In AP Language and Composition, I’ve learned that it is not just about knowing what to do, but also being careful with your work.

Ultimately, taking AP classes are about personal preference and desire to challenge one’s self. The article “AP program isn’t all it’s cracked up to be-study” by Valerie Strauss states, “Though we found some rigorous studies that after controlling for certain variables showed positive results of the AP program, especially in the sciences, we believe more research needs to be done before we can verify the broad claim that taking AP classes makes students more likely to succeed in college.” Strauss’ point that studies do not prove that AP classes ensure more success in college is important for students to remember when they are deciding how many AP classes they need to take, and before they sign themselves up for too many.

Overall, AP classes are not all that they are cracked up to be. Between making enough time and effort to stay up late most nights to handling the challenging work in preparing for the test, AP classes are more than many bargain for. No one wants to struggle like this. A good choice is to limit the number of AP classes you take. Only take what you know you can handle. This will definitely relieve some stress, especially if you are someone who likes to do other things inside and outside of school.