AP Courses at 'Metro': What Does the School Community Think?

The Advanced Placement Program (AP) has long been a significant feature of high school curriculums around the United States. According to College Board, the organization that designs the curriculum, the goal of AP courses is to “enable willing and academically prepared students around the world to pursue university-level studies while still in high school, with the opportunity to earn extra credit (points toward an undergraduate degree) or advanced placement (the opportunity to skip an introductory level university course).” 

Many high school students around the country are taking advantage of this opportunity and its benefits. Although, like most opportunities in life; there comes a price. Students enrolled in AP courses are given an extensive workload and college level assignments that require a great deal of dedication and persistence. Many crack under the pressure, while others are successful. If you talk to different educators, students, parents, etc., it is guaranteed they will all have differing opinions on AP courses. Like thousands of high schools around the country, Metropolitan Business Academy has an AP curriculum. So what does the “Metro’ community think about the AP curriculum at their school?

One AP course that Metropolitan Business Academy currently offers is AP U.S. History. The AP U.S. History and Government and Politics curriculums alternate every other year. For example, in the 2012-2013 school year, Metro offered only AP Government and Politics. This school year, Metro has offered only AP U.S. History. Next year, AP Government and Politics will be offered again.  To get some insight into the course, I interviewed Malik Harris, a junior currently enrolled in AP U.S. History.

Malik was recommended to enroll in AP U.S. History by a teacher who recognized his impeccable work ethic. Ultimately, Malik decided to take this course because of its appeal to colleges on applications and the possibility of earning college credit on the AP exam. He also felt ready for the challenge. When asked to give a brief summary of the class, concerning the day to day lessons, concepts, and skills, he stated, “Before the AP Exam, we have to cover material from Pre-Columbian America to Reagan’s presidency. As far as daily activities, we have in-depth class discussions, role play, structured academic controversies, group assignments, and primary source analysis.”

 In Malik’s opinion, the main difference between AP U.S. History and his general courses are the challenge level and quantity of homework. “On average, I spend about 2-3 hours a night on homework just for AP U.S History. My biggest challenges are time management and figuring out how much effort to put into each assignment.” Despite these challenges, Malik keeps up with his work by setting goals, making plans, and ultimately prioritizing what needs to get done. On a positive note, he finds the course interesting and appreciates the productivity of the students.

As a whole, Malik would recommend AP U.S History to others, as long as they are up for the challenge. He is already reaping the benefits of the course: “It has helped me become more efficient at getting work done. The challenge is definitely worth it because I feel prepared for college.” A word of advice that Malik gave to students wanting to succeed in this course is: “Keep up with your work! It is very important to keep up with your work, or you will fall behind.”

Malik gave some great insight into the AP curriculum in regards to the student point of view. So, it was just as important to get the perspective of an educator. I interviewed Mr. Sacco, the sophomore English and AP Literature teacher. Mr. Sacco has a great deal of experience with AP courses, having taught AP Language and Composition for five years and AP Literature and Composition for four years.

According to Mr. Sacco, AP Literature covers a variety of concepts and skills, such as literary analysis, classic and contemporary literature, epics, rhetorical writing, literary devices, author’s craft, vocabulary, etc. “When I am evaluating students for AP Lit, I first look at their grades. Generally, students must have a B average or above. I also look at their writing portfolio and samples of their work. I like to have a one-on-one conversation with potential students to see if they can truly handle the work.”

Prospective students of AP Literature should be cognizant of the high expectations Mr. Sacco has set. Expect increased work and reading, as well as the responsibility that comes with completing the work. Students must be on time to class and have good attendance. “Most of all, I need students with self-direction and good time-management. I also need students who don’t make excuses.” AP Literature also requires students to take challenges and actively participate in class: “You can’t sit in my class and look to others to answer all the questions. You have to be able to speak and communicate your ideas.”

Mr. Sacco is currently preparing his students for the AP Exam by exposing them to many pieces of literature and actual released practice exams. His focal point is teaching students how to effectively dissect questions and figure out what they are asking them to do. In terms of the benefits of the AP exam, Mr. Sacco asserts that this course prepares students for college. “In regards to life in general, this course makes you a better thinker.  In life, you have to argue and prove your point. This course helps you become more articulate.” The most important advice that Mr. Sacco gives to students thinking about taking AP courses is: “Take AP courses because you want the challenge, not because of the title. Do it because you want to challenge yourself.”

I conducted my last interview with Ms. Angelica, the AP Calculus AB teacher and her student, Peggy, together. Ms. Angelica is a first-year teacher of AP Calculus AB.  According to Ms. Angelica, AP Calculus teaches the concepts and ideas from introductory level calculus in an accelerated manner. “A student can get accepted into this course for one, being good at algebra. They also need to be hard-working and focused,” said Ms. Angelica. Peggy chimed in: “I chose to take this course because I am good at math and I wanted the challenge.

In terms of difficulty, Ms. Angelica and Peggy both agree that AP courses are definitely complicated and require more dedication than general courses. “The class is definitely more of a priority. I receive about 20 to 25 homework problems a night,” stated Peggy.  Ms. Angelica jumped in the conversation: “I am not looking for homework to be perfect. I just want to see students at least attempt to do the problems. Effort means a lot.” Daily activities in the class include homework review, assessments, vocabulary practice, and book work. “I would definitely recommend this course. It prepares you for college and helps you build good time management skills,” stated Peggy. Ms Angelica agrees: “AP Calc is a great course. It’s a good shock into higher level math and prepares you for college.”

Students and teachers were asked about the changes they wanted to see to the Metro AP curriculum and the possibility of adopting more courses. Malik and Peggy fully support adopting more courses to the AP curriculum. “I would really enjoy getting more AP courses at Metro, especially AP computer science. But in order to implement these changes, we need qualified teachers, more classrooms, and students who are willing to take a challenge.”  Peggy stated, “I think we should offer AP biology, chemistry, psychology and engineering.”

Ms. Angelica and Mr. Sacco had very different opinions from the students. “Adding more AP courses is not necessary because there are lots of opportunities for students to take college courses, like the independent study the program. Students can take classes at Yale, UNH, Southern, and Gateway.” Mr. Sacco believes that Metro simply does not have the necessary resources to expand the AP curriculum: “We would need to hire more teachers and I am not sure if that will happen.”

Suffice it to say, the Metro community has very strong opinions about AP courses. Some students take the challenge and run with it, while others struggle. Nevertheless, most students seem to benefit in some way from the extra work and responsibilities. The idea of adding more courses to the AP curriculum still remains a possibility, but it is up to the students to take the initiative. If you really like a subject and want a challenge, you should go to a teacher or administrator and share your feelings. If enough students show interest in adopting an AP course, it could possibly happen. The power to make a change in our school lies within us. Every member of the Metro community should play an active role in making our school the best it can possibly be.