What’s it like for the freshmen of Wauconda Highschool to be in AP classes? Many of the freshmen at Wauconda Highschool are placed into their first AP-level class with no preparations. How does this affect their experience, and how do they feel about the class?

Right after eighth grade, many freshmen are put in an AP class; however, our district has no AP prep course for them. On top of adjusting to highschool, these students now have to adjust to the AP environment as well. When asked about the workload in the class Andrew Kimpton responded that “the workload is definitely a lot for a freshman”. 

AP-level classes are very different from middle school honors classes, in the words of one student they are “very free-form like a college class”. While some students enjoy being in an AP class most seem to agree that they are given a lot of work. The workload is just one aspect of AP classes though. 

A major part of every class AP or not is the teacher, so what do students think makes a good AP teacher? When asked Karissa Spry said she thinks “a good AP teacher is someone who is kind and understanding as well as knows how stressful it is to be a teenager in High School”. She said another important trait is “understanding that we have personal lives of our own as well as have other classes to do homework for.”. 

Overall, it seems that most students don’t necessarily hate AP classes but they don’t love them either.