“AP classes differ from regular classes because they’re more rigorous and the content is a lot more specific. You just have more work in general,” said Roselyn Hoskisson, a sophomore in Advanced Placement (AP) Humanities and who took AP Biology her freshmen year.

AP classes are college-grade classes that one can take in high school. After completing the class, students can take the AP Exam for the subject. If they do well, they earn college credits and accelerated placement in college. “[AP classes] involve more out-of-class work and more projects to do,” said Grace Hess, a sophomore in AP Humanities.

Yashu Pericherla, another sophomore in the same Humanities class as Grace said, “I would say AP classes are much more difficult than regular. For starters, the classes are more fast paced and there isn’t as much time for questions since the teachers sort of expect a level of preexisting knowledge from you beforehand. Also the homework is a lot heavier as the class requires college level skills from the student.”

Roselyn said, “AP teachers are harder on their students because there’s a lot more expectations because you’re in an AP class and you’re expected to keep up with the work and be responsible. They don’t necessarily teach better because teachers are different.”

AP classes are demanding and unyielding, homework can sometimes take a student over two hours each night for one AP class alone. “I usually do the reading guides and the bulk of the stuff on the weekends and it takes four hours. If [I] have other homework that I have to do during the week it takes an hour and a half,” said Roselyn.

“Homework, as I mentioned before, is a lot more rigorous with more of a do-it-yourself kind of research in [AP classes], and takes me about three hours, at least, to finish,” said Yashu.

The main bonus, for some students, would be the GPA multiplier that comes with taking the class. “I can tell you first hand that it is not worth having that multiplier if you are doing bad in the class. It’s 1.3 because it’s so much more work and effort, if you are even a little hesitant that you won’t want to put in that much effort then taking a lower-multiplier class would be your best bet,” said Yashu, “So don’t take AP unless you really, really like the course.”

Other students, however, would take AP classes regardless. “I would probably still take AP classes if I didn’t have the [GPA] multiplier because I enjoy challenging myself with more projects. I find them more fun.” said Grace. Roselyn said, “ I would still take AP classes if they didn’t have the GPA multiplier because I like learning and usually with the AP classes I’m taking, I’m taking because I’m interested in them.”