AP Literature is the highest level English class here at Wilsonville high school. Many students wonder whether or not this class is a good fit for them and their academic needs.

This year’s AP Literature students started the year off with a college essay and have been reading, annotating, analyzing and discussing short stories. This is what the college-level introductory course is focused on. 

Ms. Hanlon, the current AP Lit teacher recommends that “anyone who loves to read should take this class.” She also mentioned that one of the benefits of taking this class is that it prepares you to read challenging texts in college. Many college students have textbooks reading weekly and AP Lit can teach you how to get accustom the workload.

Alyssa Sun, a senior currently taking AP Lit said she would recommend this class to upcoming seniors in the next year because “it gives you the opportunity to read literature in a way that allows you to discover and see things from new perspectives.” She also stated that this class will help prepare her for college because “this class requires a lot of self-motivation and independence.” Both are valuable skills that are needed to be successful in college and here in high school.

Many students have questioned whether AP Lit would be a good class for them even if they hadn’t taken AP Language and Composition during their junior year of high school. Ms. Hanlon says that she has had many students that haven’t taken AP Lang decide to take AP Lit. The foundation of AP Language does help with the writing aspect of AP Lit, but this class can stand on its own with many benefits in store for students. 

Ainsley Mayes, another student taking AP Lit this year, and someone who took AP Lang last year said, “ I would recommend this class to any seniors who enjoyed the analysis aspects of AP Lang.” She also continued to say that people who want to build on those aspects and concepts would benefit from this class.

Despite the many benefits that this class has to offer there are possible reasons why this class could not be a good fit for some students. Ms Hanlon stated that students in her class have reading homework almost every night. This can be a challenge for students who don’t like reading. But this class can be great preparation for what is to come in college in a high school setting, making it easier for students to ease into a college-type environment.

Both Alyssa and Ainsley are looking forward to discussing and learning in this class with Ms Hanlon as their teacher. Many other students relate to this and are looking forward to the year ahead.

With all these considerations many students should figure out if this is what they want to sign up for as a class. If students are unsure they should talk to their school counsellor about it during registration for the upcoming school year. Peers should also talk to other students taking AP Lit to more fully understand what this class has to offer.

This class overall has impacted many students to be successful in college with how they read and analyze the texts they encounter. This base platform can be paired with the strong discussion aspects that can help students communicate their point effectively on how they interpret what they are reading. It is also great to hear the opinions of others and how they interpret something in a way that you hadn’t thought of.  AP Literature is a good class to take for these college-bound seniors and has many great aspects for each student to take something on with them into their future classes.