Written by  Maddi Roman|

It takes a bold leap of faith to take a challenging AP class. Have you ever wondered why students take these rigorous courses? There are numerous reasons that some choose to learn at an advanced placement level. Curious about their reasoning, I asked Senior Francesca Moran, Senior Rory Smith, Junior Catie Lemontongue, Senior Kaitlyn Conway, and Senior Riley Cronan, about their involvement in AP classes. They are all promising students. Francesca will be attending Bryant University in the fall;  Rory will be attending the University of Delaware. Catie is undecided. Kaitlyn will be attending Lasell College, and Riley will be attending Seton Hall University.

–What is the difference between AP classes and CP classes?

Fran: More homework, harder tests, occasional crying, and you contemplate dropping out once a week.

Rory: AP classes are a lot more fast paced. AP bio versus regular bio- you just cover alot of material in a short amount of time because you need to learn all of the information by the begining of May. Tests and homework are more difficult because the AP test is so challenging in itself.

Catie: In a CP class, you get a lot less homework, and any questions on a CP test are a lot more general than an AP test, which is a lot harder.

Kaitlyn: You’re learning to take a test in an AP class. In Spanish, I still feel like I am learning how to speak the language too.

Riley: I take AP bio and AP Spanish. The AP classes definitely need the most attention. There is easily a larger workload and much more studying necessary because it is meant to be a college course.

-What are you doing to prepare for the test?

Fran: I took APUSH last year. We did a lot of work throughout the year, so then at the end all we did was review our packets and such. I passed, so now I can use it for college credit.

Rory: I’m only taking the AP Spanish test,and we do a lot in class. Yesterday we did an AP style essay and we’ve practiced with old AP exams.

Catie: I use my AP book to study a lot because it’s a lot more condensed than the textbook. There are videos online that are very helpful and are geared toward the test.

Kaitlyn: My teacher makes us do a lot of the practice things in the book and for homework. The whole class is worked around parts of the test. On my own, I study vocab and grammar.

Riley: For AP Spanish, we have been doing a lot of preparation in class and a lot of studying out of class. In class we do a lot of listening activities and essays. Outside, we mainly study vocab and politics from the book.

-Are you nervous?

Fran: No, we’ve practiced a lot in class (listening, reading, and writing).

Rory: I’m not nervous; we’ve prepared a lot in Spanish, so it should be easy.

Catie: I feel as it starts to get closer I will begin to get more nervous because I don’t really know what to expect.

Kaitlyn: I’m not nervous, but I don’t particulary like the tests because it feels like the SATs in Spanish, if I were to compare it.

Riley: Yes, I am. Mainly because it is in another language even though we can speak it, that is still a daunting fact.

-What is motivating you to take them?

Fran: So it would look good for colleges; I’m not going to lie.

Rory: Often, there’s kind of not really a choice. I’m in the honors program so if I wanted to take honors history junior year you had to take APUSH, same for AP physics and AP calc, and AP Spanish. I would have taken the classes anyway to get college credit, and colleges look for a challenging senior year schedule.

Catie: Not having to take biology in college, and AP classes look good for college, honestly.

Kaitlyn: I really like learning a different language, and if I pass and get credit, that would be very nice.

Riley: Taking biology is going to help me in college because I am majoring in excercise science. The same thing goes for Spanish, which I am minoring in.

After interviewing these select candidates, I have come to realize that AP classes are like hurdles: they are difficult to jump over but only lead to victory. I have confidence in each of my peers that have taken these classes; they are driven and are going to accomplish their dreams.