Disclaimer: These descriptions are intended to be light-hearted recounts of the AP classes that I’ve taken that weren’t covered last week to offer some more insights. Like that article, these descriptions should not be taken seriously. These are simply my views of my experience with these classes and do not reflect the work of the teachers or the real content of the classes.
AP classes really seem like life or death for high school students. They’re a confusing maze of strategy, interest, and lots of hard work. Taking AP classes is often rewarding: they offer the allure of college credits, (mostly) no interims/cumulatives, a high level of content, learning, discussion, and a large range of diverse classes. The teachers of these classes, like any other Chatham High School class, are great and the AP test score averages at Chatham soar far above the national averages. However, some classes might not be exactly as they seem from the descriptions you read or teachers give you, so here is a continuation of last week’s article with a description of all of the other AP classes I’ve taken:
AP World History:
Probably more reading than AP Literature, the reading quizzes will without a doubt make or break your grade, and for a “modern” history course, there are only so many ancient guys and gals you can keep straight before your head will explode.
AP Biology:
Worth taking it just for the feeling of superiority from using a real lab notebook, and the labs you do in that notebook are actually really cool, mostly because you can design a lot of them yourself (Pill Bug Lab is a classic).
AP French Language and Culture:
Somehow created by the same “non-profit” who created AP Spanish Literature and AP Spanish Language, yet the classes could not be more different: you have never uttered a confident word in French while the AP Spanish kids could single-handedly execute a trade deal with Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister of Spain.
AP Seminar:
Not for the faint of heart: friends who suffer together, stay together, and while we don’t believe in grades, we will all instantly freak out if we get anything below an A on an assignment.