After their first year settling into high school life, upcoming sophomores can begin to include Advanced Placement courses in their schedules. Students taking AP courses have the challenge of adapting to learning at the college level and balancing the heavy workload that comes with the class. For sophomores, this means doing college-level work years before they go to college.
“AP World is one of the first AP courses students coming out of freshman year can take. As such, students who used to do great without much work have to adjust and learn how to navigate the expectations and workload of an AP class,” AP World Teacher Sorya Or said.
The transition from Gen Ed or Honors to AP can be difficult. Not only are the topics more in-depth, the pace is faster than the average class. Students do intensive studying outside of class to keep up.
“AP courses are paced at a self taught level, and students are responsible for learning the material. While most students can pass Gen Ed or Honors courses without rigorous amounts of effort, college level courses require time and attention span for long lectures,” Emily Nguyen (10) said.
With the extensive effort put into the course, students experience obstacles and errors along the way. Students new to the course may struggle with balancing their work which adds on to stress and exhaustion, forcing them to adjust to this new way of balancing their time.
“With a lot of extracurriculars, managing two APs and all honors courses was extremely difficult. Most days I felt tired and out of energy. This course taught me to adapt to new learning habits and time management,” Nguyen said.
Difficulties managing the course-load are expected, but this allows students to discover new ways to persevere and overcome challenges. Sophomores who choose to take this AP course will be able to use what they have learned in their life later on.
“For students who never struggled, this is one of the most efficient ways for them to understand that challenges will come at some point, and it is better to face them in high school with all the support that it offers, than facing those challenges the first time in College. Happiness and fulfillment comes from overcoming struggles and not from always choosing the easy way,” Or said.
