Advanced Placement students have been getting a little testy.
Bear River students look to further their education by taking Advanced Placement classes. If the students pass, these classes allows them to skip general education in college, and also provide them with the opportunity to achieve a Grade Point Average (G.P.A.) bump.
Teachers and students discussed the importance of AP testing.
“The AP classes do two things,” said Activities Director Matt MacDonald. “One is you get a grade bump, and the other one is that if you pass the test which is on a five-point scale with three or better, then you basically get college credit.”
“The AP test helps me prepare for college,” said Kayla Toft, a junior. “Because of the challenging classes and then, if I pass them, then I will have some college credits. The purpose is that I worked hard all year so I can pass and get college credits. (I aim) to challenge myself and to work with harder material.”
“The AP test helps me get college credit,” said Hunter Kennedy, a junior. “Well I don’t know what the actual purpose of taking the AP test is, but for me it’s just to get the extra credits.”
“Well we go a lot more in depth than the regular courses,” said Asa O’Callaghan, a senior. “You get to spend more time focusing on how things work and the way it all goes together. It’s mainly to show how well you know the material.”
Students described why they took their AP class.
“I personally took it because I’m interested in biology,” said O’Callaghan. “I mainly just want to know it a bit better and I’m gonna be doing a lot of studying.”
“I pretty much take the class to save a lot of time in college,” said Kennedy. “I’m preparing myself by a lot of studying and hopefully some study groups.”
Teachers talked about the advantages of taking the AP test when students are planning on going to a university.
“Like AP history for instance. (Universities) would allow you to not have to take history in college,” said Mr. MacDonald. “It could potentially be used as an elective. As a volleyball coach, it’s like the competitive thing. I like the fact that kids have something to work forward to, kinda like a reward and kids being able to save all of that money in college. … All their hard work gets paid off at the end.”
According to the HuffPost, the AP test is scored “on a scale of 0-5, with 5 being the highest score you could get. Most schools will give credit for scores of 4 or 5, and some even accept the occasional 3. You should expect to receive exam results online in July. If you’d like to cancel scores or keep them from being sent, you can always check the College Board’s website and find the correct number to call and do so.”
