Many of the advanced students at Kelly Walsh choose to take AP (advanced placement) classes. These students have the opportunity to gain college credit while taking classes at the high school. To earn college credit the students must test and place high enough to earn the credit for the college that they are choosing to attend.

Some schools only accept high scores from the AP, so that would require the students to have to retake the class, but if they can pass it then it’s worth it.

Junior Caden Allaire,  wants to attend UNC Chapel Hill where the AP test scores must be high said, “The stress it adds on top of all my other stress is not something fun to deal with. Then again it is totally worth it knowing that I’ll be ahead, and it might even cut some time off of my schooling.”

At Kelly Walsh, honors and BOCES classes are also offered so some of the more advanced students choose to take those instead of AP. BOCES is a program set up by Casper College to receive college credit there and sometimes that transfers to other colleges.

The honors and AP classes look the same in the gradebook which is based off of a 5.0 scale.

Senior Dom Gray said, “Sometimes taking the honors classes are an easier way out which is definitely what I thought when I was younger, but now having some BOCES and AP credit heading into college I’m seeing how much money I’ll be saving so that has me pretty pumped.”

Unfortunately it’s hard for lower classmen to truly understand the benefits of receiving free college until it’s almost too late therefore most kids don’t even realize the opportunities they missed by not taking AP or even BOCES classes. 

AP classes often better prepare students for college, as they push them to have to comprehend faster, and be more diligent with their work. With the AP test often being placed weeks before school ends they have less time to gather more information than just a typical high school class.

Junior Raquel Miner said, “It’s scary going into the test not knowing who will be grading your test, but it’s also good because then they won’t put your relationship into the grade.”

This also prepares students for college because majority of the time college professors don’t take the time to get to know their students and so they grade their students papers in a more unbiased way. With that being said students who take AP tests are more experienced than students who just take the ACT or SAT.  

After taking one AP class you realize the advantages it presents to you, it is hard for students to go away from them.

Allaire said, “Yes, AP classes are definitely worth it. Even though they can be very stressful, it is a good preparation for the future, and an experience that most students don’t get at such a young age.”

Kelly Walsh is fortunate enough to offer AP classes, according to CollegeBoard.com only about 22,000 schools in the U.S. offer them, so Trojans should definitely take advantage of the opportunity they have in front of them.