Hi, I am Mikayla and throughout high school I have taken 8 AP classes. Most courses were a positive experience, but teachers and classmates definitely had a big sway in making or breaking it. Trying to take away bias, here is my perspective of the AP classes I have experienced!

AP Chemistry

To cover all the material, the class had to go at a fast pace while also completing labs. The material was difficult because it was a combination of memorization of equations and compounds while also needing to apply concepts to problems. Despite being challenging, you learn a lot and working in the lab was fun.

APUSH

Most of the learning required reading the textbook, which was boring and time-taking. If you are good at memorizing facts and dates, you will do great! Otherwise you will need to put in a little more work to get the same outcome. 

AP Calculus

You have no preconceived knowledge, and everything you learn is new. Once you get over that hurdle, and practice the problems that are most challenging to you, you will do great! At least in my experience, staying up to date is the most important, especially since the material builds up and can use several concepts within one problem. 

AP Biology

Compared to chemistry, biology is much easier. You are able to learn the material in multiple ways and allow for a better understanding. Some units were definitely easier to learn than others because some we have learned in previous classes, but I highly recommend taking this course!

AP Psychology

Although it is classified as a science course, the class acts more like a history course. You work on reviewing famous psychologists, experiments, and techniques through lectures and discussions. Some units were definitely more interesting than others and definitely had different opinions of the class depending on what unit we were studying. 

AP English 11

Once you learned the terms and concepts, the biggest challenge was getting the practice in order to detect them in literature. With more practice of writing essays and annotating the essays, the better you got. Everyone should take this class mainly because by the end, your writing improved significantly. 

AP Human Geography

The information needed was easy to learn and parts could be considered common sense. Additionally, it’s a great class to take for your first AP because it isn’t too overwhelming and the test is shorter compared to others.