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Ap Course Advantages

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Most critics, when looking at AP course, focus on the workload and how students deal with the material, but AP isn’t one sided; teachers are one of the key features of how AP courses are provided to students. Katherine Leal Unmuth believes that “offering more training for teachers” can benefit students by increasing the passing rate on the AP exam with more experienced teachers providing better learning techniques. Mr. Stewart agrees with his own experience stating, “I don’t think there is a ‘perfect’ design, but I am always tinkering and trying to find what works best for my students, because in the end they are what’s most important.” He continues saying how “teachers and students need to use class time to its full potential... I think the …show more content…

However, Katherine Leal Unmuth believes “[i]f it doesn’t benefit the average kid, then maybe the average kid shouldn’t take AP. AP are college-level courses, not college preparatory.” Essentially, those students that aren’t capable of learning the material just aren’t cutout to be in the AP course, since the teacher has a set time frame in which they can’t slow down for anyone that needs the extra time. AP courses are meant for the strong willed that are able to trudge through the workload and difficult material to take the exam to earn the college credit. Although, AP courses aren’t even necessary to take the AP exam, thus making the course seem …show more content…

Students must cram vital information that is already tough to accomplish, but is exponentially worse when multiple courses are involved. As a result, the AP exam is essentially another standardized test on extremely refined details of the course material that requires many hours of study and review that most students couldn’t handle if they’re fully engaged in 2 or more other AP courses. Julianne Micoleta and Elk Grove both concur that “one of the major flaws in the AP system is that every class is geared toward a standardized test. The result is that comprehensive learning is sacrificed for the sake of test preparation, with teachers spending the most time on topics likely to appear on the AP exam.” Seemingly, teachers are gambling on what will appear on the actual test and cannot teach every aspect, in detail, of what the course description entails. Multiplying this factor with other AP courses and students anxiety to study everything just to cram all the miscellaneous material would completely burn any student out. Mr. Stewart believes that “the teacher needs to do a really good job of preparing the students academically, mentally, and emotionally” both in engaging completely in class as well as preparation for the exam. Fundamentally, teachers can have a profound effect

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