For many high school students, enrolling in Advanced Placement (AP) courses is a no brainer. The laborious classes not only introduce students to how college courses work, but they also can offer a chance to amass college credits before graduation. CKHS offers twenty-one AP classes ranging from studio art to calculus. And in 2009, 947 AP tests were administered to students at CKHS

There are clear benefits to taking AP classes, but these benefits don’t mean all students should load up on as many rigorous AP courses as their schedules permit. The right amount of AP classes to take, whether that be none or six, depends entirely on the student. While some can handle an entire day of difficult classes, others can only handle one or two. Chances are, if you’re staying up until midnight every night studying and doing homework, you are taking too many advanced classes.

Balancing AP classes can also prove difficult. If you participate in extracurricular activities, it becomes harder to find time for homework. “Keeping up with all five of my AP classes gets harder as I get busier outside of school with church, sports and other things,” said senior Colin Gillespie. Madison Largey agrees, saying, “When I have work after school, I rarely have enough time to finish all the work from my AP classes.” Many students feel the pressure to take advanced placement courses when they simply don’t have enough time in their busy lives to do so.

So where does that pressure come from? The answer is: peers, parents, and even teachers. If your friend group is capable of harder classes, it can pressure you to take those classes to be with your friends throughout the day. Parents can also be a lead cause in pressuring students who aren’t ready to take hard classes. Most students want to make their parents proud, and students feel that they can do this by taking more advanced classes. On multiple occasions, teachers can suggest students take a higher level class. Teachers might not see how many hours of studying a student needs in order to be passing their normal level class. So they may suggest someone for a higher level class when the student isn’t ready. “I remember having teachers in junior high pressure me to take the AP classes once I got to the high school, I didn’t feel ready, but I didn’t want to disappoint them.” Said Senior Alex Evans.

The AP program here at CK can work for some and not others. It has benefits and it has drawbacks. Just listen to the wise words of Junior Courtney Murray “Take AP classes if you want to and feel ready, but if you don’t feel ready or don’t want to, then it’s simple. Don’t take AP classes.”