As students transition to high school, we are presented with various kinds of classes that most of us did not have the opportunity to take in middle school: for example, new electives like journalism, robotics, medical sciences, or speech and debate.

One of the most significant changes is the ability to take AP classes. AP stands for Advanced Placement, which essentially is a college class. For the most part, AP classes are limited to the common core subjects like math, science, history, and English.  de Toledo also offers AP classes in Spanish, computer science, and physics.

Students feel highly pressured to take these AP classes, as we are all told colleges expect to see them on our transcripts, and colleges want to see how much we challenge ourselves. As we continue through high school, students will usually increase the number of AP classes they take until, by junior year, students fill up their schedules with them. Even though these classes are exciting and important, they take up many slots in students’ schedules and, in a way, prevent them from taking new elective courses they could perhaps be more interested in. 

I had the opportunity to speak with some students in 11th grade at de Toledo to gather their insights on APs and if they feel AP classes limit their abilities to take other creative courses.

I first spoke to Rachel. L, who expressed that AP classes have and are going to continue to fill up her schedule, limiting space to take other creative classes: “I do think that taking AP classes has prevented us from taking classes because it’s important to build up our resumes in high school for college.” Rachel is currently taking AP Calculus, AP Chemistry, AP US history, AP Lang, and AP Spanish. Rachel said she wished she could have taken classes like creative writing and psychology, but she could not.

Matthew. L, who is in several AP courses this year, mentioned how he feels that he missed out on taking classes he’s personally interested in due to his APs: “I wanted to take personal finance this year, but I couldn’t because I’m in other AP classes, and I don’t know if that was the right decision for me.” 

Despite many students feeling that AP courses restrict their opportunities to take classes they are more interested in, junior Samara F. expressed that she does not feel AP classes are taking away from her schedule. “I don’t think it has prevented me from taking classes I am interested in just because the AP classes I’m taking are ones I’m passionate about .” 

AP courses are a sizable commitment that require extra time, so when signing up for them, a student must acknowledge that: “I do feel like it has prevented me from putting in more effort in my other classes,” Samara said.