As May grows closer and closer, for many upperclassmen, there is a common task at hand: AP exam preparation. Seeing as this is almost the last year that the AP will be available at WT, it’s worth a brief investigation. 

AP classes have long been billed as a higher-tier grade to put on a transcript, meant to be a college-level class for those who want to set themselves apart with a more impressive course load. Yet from Art History to Chemistry, they all share one similarity: the AP test. And from my observations and experience, the AP test is a major reason why WT is moving away from the AP curriculum altogether, as, even as (like most standardized testing) the tests have been slowly devaluing, the classes’ orientation towards the test remains. 

And it seems that teachers were feeling limited by that. By this point, I’ve almost finished taking 6 AP classes, and while they obviously are very geared towards the content of the course, there is a significant element of each that is teaching students how to take the test. (AP Macro notwithstanding). And to be clear, this test has been refined with thousands of samples and teachers to review them, and years to get it right, so in most cases, it seems to be a well designed test. 

But it is still a test. And knowing how to take that specific test is generally only helpful for AP tests of the same subject, and once you’re through high school, you don’t take any more of those. So dedicating significant portions of class time and a curriculum learning how to take a test can end up feeling like a waste of time. 

Now I will give one concession: I believe that knowing how to take tests is good. The skills necessary for taking tests are often still relevant in other forms of knowledge expression, and anyone who continues education after high school will have to keep taking tests anyway. I’m just describing learning how to take the very specific AP tests. 

So then that’s just it. Other schools have already gotten rid of AP, and we’re about to anyway. Now, that won’t stop (some of) us from studying hard and trying to get 5’s on the AP tests while they’re still here. But I can say I understand why they’re on the way out. It does still make me a bit wistful, as I’ve generally had a good experience in the AP classes I’ve taken, and I know I’m not the only one. Every teacher takes to the curriculum in a different way, and the results have been generally very good. I just optimistically hope that that spirit maintains when those same classes are gone.

(Give it a year, I’m sure it will)