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WC's AP Courses: The Hardest Tests Most High School Students Will Ever Take

Superior SAT and ACT scores are impressive to colleges, but few academic credentials are more desired than an excellent score on one or more of the AP exams.

The juniors and seniors at Worthington Christian High School that are enrolled in Advanced Placement classes began taking the AP exams the week of Monday, May 3rd.

Our school does not offer an AP class for each of the 33 AP subjects that are available; but Worthington Christian does offer several AP courses: AP English Literature and Composition, AP English Language and Composition, AP Spanish, AP Calculus, AP Studio Art, and AP Music Theory. Mrs. Johnson, who teaches AP Literature, said “We certainly have AP classes that we could add; and I hope that we will.”

There are many reasons why a student would be motivated to take these challenging tests. Senior Abby Camp said “I’m taking several AP exams because if I get a good score on these tests, then I can test out of certain classes in college; and I also like to challenge myself.”

When colleges look at students’ academic qualifications, one of the most impressive things that you can have on your application is an outstanding score on several AP exams. Anything that can get you a step ahead in the process of getting into college is a huge motivation for high school students.

“I would absolutely love to see more WC students challenging themselves by taking AP courses,” Mrs. Johnson said.

One of the most common AP subjects for students at Worthington Christian to take is English; WC offers AP Literature at the junior level and AP Language at the senior level. Mrs. Johnson teaches the AP Literature class, and Miss Bell teaches the AP Language class; both have been excited to see the large number of students that took the AP exam for English this year. These classes are not only more accelerated than a normal English class, but they also cover more information, preparing the students for the exam.

The AP Literature exam took place Thursday, May 6th, in the morning; Amara Taranto said “It lasted 3 hours; my hands really hurt.” Even though the exam was long and difficult, almost all of the students were confident with their performances and felt that they were very well equipped for the exam. Senior Abby Camp said “Mrs. Johnson did a really good job of preparing us for the AP Literature exam, when I took the exam last year.”

Taking the AP English exam is difficult enough; and most students couldn’t even imagine taking a test in which some portions are written entirely in Spanish. The AP Spanish exam, which took place Tuesday, May 4th, is the final challenge for an adventurous student taking high school Spanish. The exam contains a wide variety of sections, including portions where the students must speak the answers to the questions in Spanish, as well as sections where the students must be fluent enough to be able to understand directions written completely in Spanish. Mrs. Montgomery, who is a native Spanish speaker herself, teaches our upper-level Spanish classes, including the AP Spanish V course.

On Wednesday, May 5th, many of our school’s math-savvy seniors took the AP Calculus Exam ; the class is taught by our school’s upper-level math teacher, Mr. Pifer, who has spent the entire school year preparing his students for the exam. Senior AP Calculus student Alex Whitt said “Preparing for the calculus exam is easier than preparing for the English one; it’s as easy as doing a ton of practice problems.” This does not mean that the exam is not difficult; however, when asked how he felt about his performance on the AP Calculus Exam, Alex said “I feel shaky.” His advice for any student preparing for the AP Calculus Exam is to “do a large amount of the practice questions.”

Many teachers at Worthington Christian are very excited about the newest AP class to be available at the high school: AP U.S. History—which will be offered next year. AP U.S. History will be taught by Mr. Heath, the current U.S. History teacher; but will be dissimilar from the regular history classes. The AP U.S. History course will take a more in-depth look at our nation’s history in an extremely accelerated environment. Any student who feels that he is ready for a more challenging study of history should take AP U.S. History.

Several of our school’s great artists submitted their cumulative portfolios on Friday, May 7th for the AP Studio Art Exam. The exam for AP Studio Art is not like most of the other AP exams: only a very small portion consists of multiple-choice or short answer questions. The majority of the grade is determined by the quality of the art in the portfolio, which the students have been working to build all year. The AP Studio Art Exam could make the difference between acceptance and rejection for students interested in enrolling in a prestigious art school such as CCAD or the Art Academy of Cincinnati. AP Art student Lyndsay Heminger said “I would like to go to college for art, so I hope to get at least a 3 on the exam.”

These exams are extremely difficult and take much preparation; but students feel that they are worth the challenge, particularly in order to get ahead in the increasingly competitive college admission process.