The SAT is an exam almost 2 million high school graduates take every year, and it’s also what many high-achieving AP students at CKHS prepare for all school year. Advanced Placement (AP) exams and SATs have many beneficial factors, but also a few downsides. Some AP teachers discussed how the effort students put into test preparation can sometimes be more challenging than the college courses’ material that they’ll study in the future.
AP courses are sometimes unnecessarily difficult for students and can leave them too worried about the finals at the end of the year. Teachers spend hours grading tests, but students often spend even more time studying. Some teachers wonder whether it helps them understand the subject fully and whether all of the preparation is truly necessary.
Betsy Gordon is an ELA teacher working at CKHS, and by her input, she said that the tests do help students in some ways.
“That’s why the SAT is used by a lot of colleges,” Gordon said. “And coming back, it’s the stamina of a student to be able to actually sit there and think and do work for an extended period of time.”
AP courses don’t only give high school students college credit, they also help students in numerous ways. All those assignments and study guides aren’t just extra work, they help students balance their workload and learn how to cope with stress influenced by due dates.
The final AP test can teach students time management, as most of the AP tests are timed. However, students can prepare with friends, and it’s recommended by teachers that they do.
“Study with friends, get a steady group, especially one that you can compete with, play around with, challenge each other,” AP Human Geography teacher Chris Kassler said.
Although the test does help strengthen students’ endurance, it can also be somewhat negative. Students who want to take the exam have to pay in order to receive a test. Not only that, but AP classes are sometimes more difficult than college courses themselves.
Kassler believes that the exam does not directly prepare students for college, but it can help with the SAT. He also believes that the classes are unnecessarily difficult compared to future college courses.
“AP Students will come back to us after they’ve gone to college and say, ‘Wow, the college classes are so much easier than AP classes’,” Kassler said.
Gordon also said that her students who had previously taken her course told her it was rigorous and fast-paced, which helped prepare them for college.
Even so, AP teachers urge students not to worry too much about the exams. They also explain that it helps students process the information and remember it after they worked so hard to memorize it.
“I think the good thing about the exam is it gives high school students a reason to really work to remember the information because they have to keep it for the rest of the year,” Kassler said.
Students benefit from studying yearlong and doing their best to keep up with the material assigned to them. Even if a college class is easier than a high school course itself, it still dutifully helps the students overachieve and do their best in order to attain real careers in the future.
“It will benefit them in other areas of their life, and it will also aid or be a great benefit as they’re down the road applying for colleges,” AP and Honors chemistry teacher Paul Birkenfeld said.
Ultimately, while high school AP exams may have their drawbacks and advantages, they still prepare students for real-life skills and assemble their talents and ideas into a more intelligent person who contributes to society.
“… I think the rigor and the need for them to organize their efforts to be successful is beneficial on all their future endeavors,” Birkenfeld said.
