Ever since fifth grade, I have always been put in accelerated classes and have done well in all of them up to this point. With my entrance to high school came the introduction of AP classes, and I figured they would be a good option for me. I started off my first year of taking AP classes by jumping right into three of them: AP Chemistry, AP Language and Composition and AP Spanish Language and Culture.

From the get-go, I knew that these classes would be a challenge. AP Chemistry is known to be one of the hardest AP classes, AP Lang requires precise thinking and writing skills and AP Spanish Language and Culture would force me to take my Spanish-speaking skills to another level. However, many of the expectations I had for these courses did not become reality. As the school year comes to an end, here are my honest opinions on the AP classes I took this year.

AP Chemistry

I took Accelerated Chemistry as a sophomore and finished both semesters with A’s. I was already thinking about taking AP Chemistry my junior year even though I knew it would be tough. From what I heard from past AP Chemistry students, it was very similar to Accelerated Chemistry and that those who did well in the accelerated class would do just fine at the AP level. I even heard the same thing from Jaws, the AP Chemistry teacher himself. So, I figured I would do about the same as I did in Accelerated Chemistry, right? Not so quite. I finished first semester with an 86% and will likely finish second semester with about an 85%. Don’t get me wrong, these are not the worst grades ever. But when you have had straight A’s since seventh grade, a B can sting a little. With that being said, although the content of Accelerated and AP Chemistry are very similar, AP requires you to take everything you already know about chemistry and take it to another level. Although very difficult and time consuming, AP Chemistry was a class that I enjoyed especially since it challenged me and forced me to push myself to a whole new level. 

AP Spanish Language and Culture

Though I have been in the Spanish Immersion program since I was five years old and have been fluent in Spanish since third grade, I still figured an AP-level Spanish class would be pretty difficult. I took Spanish Language and Culture my sophomore year, so like AP Chemistry, I went into my AP Spanish class already familiar with the topics of the curriculum. During my first few weeks being in this class, I quickly found out that it was very similar to all of the other Spanish classes I had taken my first two years of high school. Rather than having unit tests, we often presented projects on certain aspects of the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries which allowed us to practice our Spanish-speaking skills while learning more about Spanish culture. Like my other two AP courses, I had prepared myself to have hours of homework every night for this class. However, while we still had homework almost every day, it was never overwhelming or stressful to complete. I am glad I decided to take this class, as I know it helped me maintain my Spanish-speaking skills which are hard to keep ahold of when I speak English everywhere else. 

AP Language and Composition

Mostly referred to as AP Lang, AP Language and Composition was not what I expected it to be. When I imagined what this class would be like, I thought of nightly homework assignments and writing six-page long essays every week. To my surprise, this class was actually way more laid back than I expected it to be. I rarely had homework for this class, since almost everything was done during the class period. What is unique about this AP course is that it practically serves as a year-long AP test review session, since the majority of our time in class is spent using old AP test prompts to practice writing the types of essays that appear on the AP exam. With that being said, I definitely feel as though my writing skills have improved along with my time management skills due to the limited time we are given to write each essay. The learning structure of this class can get a bit repetitive and boring, but in my opinion, it is in students’ best interest to learn this way and will prove to be worth it in the long run. I do not necessarily regret taking this class, but it does seem a little pointless compared to my other two AP courses. It is almost certain that I will continue to speak Spanish into my adult life and taking AP Chemistry makes sense due to my interest in science, but I can not seem to think of a time in my life when I would need to sit down and write a synthesis essay in 40 minutes. 

As I look back on my junior year, I look back on a year full of challenges and new experiences that would not have occurred without my AP classes. While there were definitely moments where school got stressful and I began to rethink my decisions on the classes I enrolled in, I am glad that I took the courses that I did. AP classes have proved to be tough, but are equally rewarding.