This past year, LM has decided that sophomores would not be able to take any Advanced Placement courses, commonly referred to as AP’s, unless extenuating circumstances arise. For instance, a student could be really passionate about numbers, but might be in integrated 3 math, so they talk to the administrators and try to persuade them into letting them take stat. Classes like AP Biology, AP Computer Science, and AP Psychology allow students to challenge themselves with accelerated, college-level course material. Instead of limiting the amount of AP’s to students, LM should allow more AP’s for underclassmen, AP’s also offer students the opportunity to potentially earn college credits by performing well on the AP exam, which sophomores are not currently able to do due to limited access to AP’s. Sophomores at LM should be allowed the opportunity to take advanced placement courses so they can participate in challenging classes, build relationships with upperclassmen, and prevent academic burn-out.
Giving sophomores the opportunity to take AP courses will push them intellectually and help them develop better studying skills. For instance, basic material is taught in regular biology classes, but AP Biology teaches more advanced concepts. Students learn about advanced concepts like those of cellular organelles, complex cellular structures, and natural selection. It is not an easy course, but if a student is willing to work hard, they can succeed. Rachel Price ’27, a sophomore currently taking AP Biology said, “I really loved bio and did well and I wanted to go deeper on the topic and pursue my interest more and push my knowledge, and I’m enjoying it.” Price’s enjoyment of the topic shows that allowing sophomores to take an advanced placement class can be a positive experience for them.
Allowing sophomores to take AP courses would offer them the possibility of making connections with older students in the class, as the majority of AP classes are filled with upperclassmen students. The different age groups would be able to form connections with one another, strengthening the LM community and making us more unified. The sophomores would even be able to learn from the upperclassmen’s study skills and be inspired by their older peers, creating a more interactive learning environment. Currently, most underclassmen are not taking AP’s and this has resulted in a more divided atmosphere between the underclassmen and upperclassmen. If LM were to allow more sophomores to take AP classes, the different age groups could communicate more often, ultimately unifying the school.
Taking an AP course also allows students to take a culminating AP exam at the end of the year. If a student scores highly on it, they could receive college credit, allowing them to skip the equivalent of that class in universities that accept AP scores from that course. The goal of receiving AP credit results in juniors and seniors cramming four or more AP’s into their final two years of high school. If sophomores were able to take AP’s, they could choose to distribute their AP courses throughout sophomore, junior, and senior year. This would eliminate the need to cram so many AP’s into their upperclassman years, helping to prevent academic burn-out. Taking fewer AP’s over three years rather than more AP’s over two years also reduces the amount of AP exams to study for at the end of the year, allowing students to devote more time to each exam and score higher.
It is undeniable that all sophomores should be be given the opportunity to take AP classes. Advanced placement courses challenge students, and it would further enhance LM’s course offerings for sophomores and their learning opportunities. The opportunity to spread out the amounts of AP’s taken during the course of three years would also be extremely beneficial for all students. For all of these reasons, the school district must allow sophomores to enroll in AP classes.