BY ROSA PRESTON

Truman High School is one of the many schools that offers AP Classes. And these aren’t just your normal honors classes. AP Classes are harder and faster-paced. These classes can help prepare students for college and even give them college credit. But it’s worth questioning if the stress and pressure of these classes is worth it.

One thing that stands out about AP difficulty is that while the work itself tends to be much harder there’s also less time to complete those more advanced tasks. Take AP Language & Composition for example. I personally am in the class, and it has a lot of work. And it’s not work that you can put off. If it’s late, you can’t submit it for full credit unless you have a valid reason for not doing it.

And it’s not just more work, it’s more tests too. It varies from class to class, but in Stephen Schlutow’s class, there’s a specific test to pass in order to get credit. “AP classes have a national test at the end of the year (Late April–May), Honors classes only have District Finals, and College Classes have College Finals (also in May),” said Schlutow. And if you’re wanting to do the course for college credit then it’s going to cost you money out of pocket. While it ends up being much cheaper than paying for the college hours, it’s also not something that every student can afford.

But that’s enough negative talk. Let’s talk positives, because there are a good handful of benefits to taking an AP Class. It’s different from normal college classes, particularly because of the second word. College. “Students who take AP classes can receive college credit if they score high enough on the test.  The score varies for different subjects. AP is accepted  everywhere. College classes are not accepted everywhere.  It is the students responsibility to check if their college they are attending accepts the college class taken at Truman’s,” Mr. Schlutow explained.

Overall, AP Classes are a mix of stressful and a beneficial experience. Although it may be a little fast-paced for some, there are some students who would like the extra challenge and would really benefit from the AP Credit later in life. It all depends on what the students’ plans and ideas are.