People wonder if it’s a good idea to take AP classes; they wonder if they should and if taking AP classes are worth their time. They also wonder if taking AP classes could actually help them and their future. Danyka Walker and Charles Larssen talk about different ways taking AP classes could be effective towards both themselves and others.
Walker talks about how joining AP classes has helped her become more serious about her school work, and how it’s helped her become better academically and personally. “It’s made me more serious about my work even in my normal classes. AP classes aren’t necessarily that much harder but it takes a lot more effort to pass it and that trait has passed to my regular classes as well.” She’s trying to say that if you put effort into your work and don’t fall behind in class, then these classes are actually really easy and could really help you.
Walker also explains how before she started taking these classes she had never actually thought about taking them. She says that the only reason she started taking them was because one of her freshman year teachers pushed her towards taking them. After she joined, she started doing a lot better and started to try in her classes. She states, “I didn’t think I could pass one but my freshman year I took psychology with Mr. Butt and he told me I should take AP psych next year so I did and now I’m in AP Lit.” Walker also talks a lot about how it depends on who the people in your class are and who you choose to hang out with during those classes, can affect how much work you get done, whether it feels hard or not. “I think it’s the people in the class that makes the difference; being surrounded by peers that actually care about their work makes the class feel more like an AP class.” She says that so she can tell you how certain students can either help motivate you or drag you and even other students down.
While Walker mainly focuses on how AP classes have helped her and other peers, Mr. Larssen focuses more on how AP classes can help prepare you for college and how it can help you earn the college credits you need when you get to college. Something he mainly said and focused on is that “If you wanna be ready for college, I mean if your college bound or you want a challenge, take AP; it’s a tough class but it prepares you for secondary institutions.” Towards the end he also states, “It’ll help prepare you for college, like the studies have shown that people who go to college make more money than people who don’t fairly obvious.” He tries to focus on if you want to go to college and get somewhere in the future then think about taking AP classes because it can be a lot more effective than you think it could be.
Another thing he focuses on is how students who take AP classes can help the teacher understand what kind of abilities they have and how they fit in the academic field, whether they have a good work ethic or are willing to learn things they don’t already know. In thebeginning of the interview, he states it helps in “recognizing anchor techs and abilities and where they fit on the rubric.” He talks about this to let us know that students who take AP classes can help both them and their teacher whether it’s to understand us or to help us excel in our other classes and use what we learn and use those skills in the future.
Overall, AP classes can be a great way to get the credits you need to be able to graduate college and get all of the credits you need to be able to graduate from PVHS and get a good job AP classes are just a bit challenging then regular classes but they can teach you things that you can later be able to do in your future life.
