Are AP classes really a scam?

Monday’s post had to do with choosing your high school classes with an eye to college applications, so I thought today I would re-share a post from a few years ago about Advanced Placement classes. Enjoy!

If you are a teacher—especially an AP teacher—or a high school counselor I’d love to hear your reactions and understand what I may be missing.

It's not too difficult to find people telling you that AP classes are a scam. That's usually the word they use, too: scam. Look here, and here, and here.

So, let's ask: are AP courses a scam?

In a word, no. 

Scam is a little overblown. Scam implies fraud and malice, that the College Board is knowingly selling something worthless just to make a buck. And that's not true. But if the critics were to change the headline to "AP programs are a lot more complicated than they're often made out to be," they would be right (even if it made for a boring headline).

Let's look at the main arguments brought against Advanced Placement and the College Board, and let's think about what they mean for you, the college-bound high school student.

1. You don't know what you're really getting. The College Board is pretty careful not to promise you that a 3 on an AP Exam will automatically earn you college credit, but that caution doesn't always make it down to the counselors and teachers at individual schools. Plenty of students are promised more than might actually be delivered.

Each college decides for itself what to give students for high AP exam scores. Some will indeed give you college credit for a 3 or higher; some will give you credit only for a 4 or 5, and some only award credit for a 5; some don't give credit, but will let you use the exam to meet course requirements; some give you absolutely nothing.

So imagine two students at the same high school, who take the same 10 AP courses over three years, get the same grades in those courses, and get 3s on all those exams. One might start college with 30 hours of credit and graduate a year early, while the other may see no change in college. What's really frustrating for a lot of high school students that the critics rarely take into account is that you have to take the courses and sign up for the exams before you know what college you're going to and what they'll give you for good scores. While I don't think that's part of the College Board's plan and a scam, it definitely sucks.

2. AP classes aren't as good as they're made out to be. This is often true, for a number of reasons. Perhaps the teacher is new or just isn't that good. Maybe the students are a lot more interested in making their transcript look good than they are in actually doing college-level work. Maybe the students aren't prepared to do college-level work. Perhaps the school set up an AP class without committing the extra resources to make it a good AP class. I've heard of schools that actually labeled classes as "AP" without instituting AP curriculum just to use loopholes in the state "no pass no play" rules for athletes. The College Board is aware of these problems, and has been trying over the years to address them. Teachers are supposed to submit syllabi for an "AP Audit" to make sure they're up to standards (although the College Board can't really check to make sure the syllabus is followed). The College Board also has systems to let colleges know if your high school actually has students pass AP exams or just labels classes as AP.

Pretty much everyone whole-heartedly agrees that an AP class, even a good one, doesn't actually replicate a good college course. But most people will also begrudgingly admit that a really good AP class can be a lot better than a mediocre or remedial college class. For example, for two years I taught AP English Language using the exact same syllabus I used to teach freshman comp at the university where I went to grad school. Same reading, same essay assignments. But I had almost twice the amount of time with students per week, and much more dedicated students. (Plus, we had time to read The Great Gatsby on top of the rhetoric curriculum, and Gatsby is always a good thing.)

There's also no denying that AP courses--especially math and science courses--cover too much breadth to allow for much depth. This makes AP teachers feel a lot of pressure to keep going and make it through all the topics rather than slow down for good discussion and time-hogging projects that could help student understanding.

3. There are opportunity cost for high schools. AP classes generally cost high schools more money than regular classes. Even if the schools make students pay all the costs for tests, the training for teachers and time spent dealing with the audit paperwork and compliance means that schools have to pay more. AP classes often have much smaller student/teacher ratios than regular classes. The extra money and desks have to come from somewhere, and they usually come from regular classes. So AP classes take resources away from students who may need more help graduating high school and give them to students trying to get college credit. Add to that the disparity between upper-income and lower-income students in most AP classes, and the whole AP program can look pretty unfair and backwards.

4. The College Board makes money. The College Board regularly makes more money than it spends, and non-profit organizations are really not, by definition, supposed to make a profit. They also pay their executives a lot of money--the CEO makes around $1.3 million a year. These are valid and important concerns, but here's the thing: they have nothing to do with you as a high school student. "The company really ought to be taxed as a regular corporation instead of a 501(c)3" isn't the same as "AP is a scam." If their tax status changed, their exams would not. But what about all the money you pay for tests? Shouldn't the tests be cheaper instead of paying the executives a fat-cat salary? There were almost 4.5 million AP exams given in 2015. If all the executives gave back all their salaries and worked for free, just because it's the right thing to do...it might save you a buck on your exam. The non-profit status of the College Board is an interesting problem for policy-makers and consumer advocates, but it really doesn't affect you as a high school student.

There are other points that critics make about the AP program, and this quick summary obviously lacks the nuance and detail of the whole argument. But this is the gist of it. And based on these very real problems, many people conclude that AP is a scam. So how should you feel about that?

Let's think about something completely different for a moment: cars. Cars make a good analogy.

Cars are dangerous. Around 35,000 Americans die each year in car crashes, and that's just the deaths. When you add major injuries and property destruction to the figures, you see that driving cars is one one of the most destructive , dangerous, risky things people do. And yet there are over 250 million cars in the United States. You can legally drive years before you can legally drink alcohol or even vote! Car companies advertise their products everywhere, all the time, and (usually) make a lot of money.

Are cars a scam? Of course not.

While driving is indeed very risky, it's worth the risk for most people. It's pretty hard to imagine modern life working without cars. Chances are that you've already been in at least one car trip today. The trick, of course, is to get the full advantage of cars while minimizing the risks. You have to drive safely.

For high school students, AP courses are similar. While not a scam, they come with risks, and you have to be smart about them. The sky is not falling, but you're not guaranteed safety either. There are things you can do to get the most out of an AP program without feeling like you got scammed.

1. Understand why you're taking AP courses, and be ready to explain yourself. There are plenty of reasons to take an AP course. If your reasons are more in the range of "it's a strong class at my school in a subject I care deeply about," then you're great. If your reasons are in the realm of "because someone said I should" or "it looks good to colleges, right?" then you need to do some more reflective thinking.  Explain to yourself and be prepared to explain to others why you are taking a specific course or not. If you elect not to take an AP course that's available, then you will need to be ready to explain that choice to college admissions. If it's a good reason that you can explain well, then you run very little risk of it "looking bad" to colleges.

If your reason for taking or passing over an AP course includes the word "just," stop and think through what's going on.

If your reason for taking an AP class is because you think it will make you seem more worthy, then stop and think through what's going on.

Going back to the car analogy: it would be pretty silly to choose a car based only on the fact that a magazine called it "car of the year." It would also be really expensive to decide that, because you don't know exactly what kind of driving you'll be doing over the next five years, you'll go ahead and buy a sports car...and a minivan...and a pickup truck...and a motorcycle. Be thoughtful and realistic about your choices, in cars and classes.

(Sometimes you have to take an AP class you don't want to take, or cannot take an AP class you want to take, for reasons out of your control. It happens, and it stinks. Everyone understands, if you'll explain the situation and make the best out of it.)

2. Consider the risks. What I consider the two biggest risks to balance when deciding on how many AP courses to take are these:

  *  for most AP exams in most years, about 40% of students only get a 1 or 2. Only 10-20% get a 5 (foreign-language exams have higher rates). Taking an AP course does not come close to ensuring you get anything for it from colleges. 

  * there are colleges who will not give you credit for AP scores, but who still expect you to take AP courses in high school. They do this not because they believe the AP course is a good substitute for a college course (obviously), but because they see AP courses as "the most rigorous" classes available, and they want to see that you avail yourself of the most rigorous. If I were going to point fingers at the scammers, it would be these schools more than the College Board, but that's for a different post.

3. Think about opportunity cost. For every AP course you choose to take, spend some time brainstorming about the opportunity costs. If not for the more demanding class with more studying, what would you be doing with the time and energy? If it's something productive that helps you achieve your academic goals, then you may well choose to skip the AP class. If there's a good chance you'd waste the time in whatever manner you waste time, then don't sell yourself short by missing out on the better class.

4. Don't be a part of the problem. The critics are right: in most schools, advanced classes get better-trained teachers with smaller student loads than regular or remedial classes. While there are sound arguments for why this is ok, there are also sound arguments for why this is unacceptable. If you're getting the most from an AP class and can be a more valuable and productive citizen over time, you can feel fine about yourself. But if you're taking up resources just to goof off, knowing you're not going to take the exam seriously, you're contributing to the problem. Sure, it's the system that makes it easy for you to take advantage of inequity; you didn't set up the system. But you're still a part of the inequity if you don't take your AP classes at least as seriously as your school does.

Schedule, study, and drive safely!

**Advanced Placement, Pre-AP, AP, and College Board are trademarks owned by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and which does not endorse, Apply with Sanity.

**Full disclosure: over the years, I taught Pre-AP English 1 and 2, AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, and AP Art History. I've taken many many hours of AP training. I was a reader for the AP Art History exam three times, which means I was technically an employee of Educational Testing Service. 

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Don’t just get into college, finish it. What are good test scores?

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Zoe Herring.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

What high school classes should you take?

It’s only the beginning of March, but it must already be the time when high schools are asking students to choose their classes for next year. I say this because I’ve already fielded several questions this week about class choices. Which of these two AP classes should I take? Which of these electives is better? Which classes are better for my college applications? What makes these conversations fun for me—but really frustrating for the students—is that there’s usually no clear answer. They’re choosing between two high-quality classes, and which one is “better” is really down to their own preferences or the nuances of the classes; there’s not an objectively correct answer about which one will help their college applications more.

The general rule to follow is that you should take the most rigorous classes available to you. But that’s awfully general. It doesn’t necessarily mean you should take five AP course per year, and it doesn’t exactly answer “should I take AP Calculus or AP Statistics?” Assuming you’re already on board with the general rule, let’s give some more guidelines to help you choose the classes that are right for your path to college, but also choose classes that are right for your present situation.

The first guideline: choose your classes for doing well in college, not just getting into college. I know it’s obvious, but it’s also really easy to forget: getting accepted to college is the beginning, not the end. If your high school strategy is just to get accepted to college without thinking about what you’ll do when you get there and how you’ll do it, you’re really setting yourself up for a rough time. You’ve got to think about the bigger picture and your longer-term goals and aspirations.

One big way students fail to plan for finishing college and only focus on getting in is by playing The GPA Game. I’m sure you’re familiar with that concept, but I’ll give a specific example of what I mean. For a few years I was in the position of teaching two classes of English III for juniors and a single section of AP English Language & Composition for juniors. I also had two sections of Honors English III, which had the same curriculum as regular English III, but also included more reading and usually an extra project or two. The Honors class had the same grade point boost as the AP class; it was a five point class, while the regular class was a four point class. Sometimes I’d ask “why are you in this class instead of the AP class?” I’d get answers like “I’m in all honors classes, and I also have band practice for two hours a day, and I also have a job. I don’t have time for the extra homework that comes with the AP class.” That’s reasonable. I’d also get “I’m going to take Dual Credit English next year, which I know transfers to Texas A&M, but I don’t know what I’ll get from A&M for my AP exam score or if I’ll do well enough.” That’s reasonable. But I’d also hear “Why would I take the harder class when I get the same extra points for this one?” That’s The GPA Game, and it’s not as clever as it seems.

First, anyone looking at your transcript can see that you took the lower-level class when a higher level was available, and they’ll keep that in mind when assessing your GPA. Admissions offices don’t fall for that trick. Second, the honors class wasn’t nearly as strong for college preparation as the AP class. (I know this for sure, because I taught both.) And finally, we are what we continually do, and continually playing games and trying to be sneaky doesn’t make you into the person you want to be. If you’re planning on college and have the capacity for the more rigorous course, then take it. Even if it risks lowering your GPA. Even if you can coast along in a less rigorous class. Don’t play The GPA Game.

Remember, though, that there are completely appropriate reasons for taking the less rigorous course. It’s ok to think about your personal development and not just your GPA. It’s ok to think about your long-term mental health and not just your GPA. It’s ok to take classes that are interesting and/or useful to you, not just classes to maintain your GPA. If you start college burned out because you pushed yourself too hard to take too many rigorous classes, then you haven’t done yourself any favors. Likewise if you begin college filled with shame and self-doubt because you cheated and took shortcuts to keep up your GPA. If you begin college with an impressive resume but no social skills because all you did was study alone, college isn’t going to be easy. This is why you have to choose your classes for more than just looking good to college admissions offices. You have to think about how you’ll be successful as a college student, not just a college applicant. It’s far better to graduate from your safety school than drop out of your dream school.

The second guideline: choose the higher quality class. Here I want to distinguish between rigor and quality. When we talk about rigor in high school classes, that usually has to do with classifications. AP classes are considered more rigorous than regular classes. High Level IB course are more rigorous than Standard Level. Core classes are more rigorous than elective classes. Those have to do with general classification, but they say nothing about the actual quality of an individual class. Quality has to do with preparing you for college and life beyond. Quality has to do with the experience of being in the class, which differs from school to school, teacher to teacher, year to year. There may be a lower-rigor elective that will actually provide much more knowledge and wisdom than a more rigorous core course. Which class is higher quality is often only known at the specific school level. You know which classes are higher quality, and you have to trust yourself (within reason) to choose those classes.

At your high school, does being on the yearbook staff provide useful training in publishing and leadership, or does it provide a free period where you mostly drop someone else’s photos into pre-made templates? At your high school, is AP Physics a place to explore the workings of the universe with interesting discussions and labs, or is it a place to do endless multiple-choice practice while being berated for not having enough natural talent? Let the quality of the courses guide you, not just the rigor labels.

Thinking about quality classes is especially useful when choosing between different courses within the same rigor classification. For example, I got an email last week from a client asking if she should take AP Biology or AP Environmental Science. She said she might have room for both, but the scheduling would probably work out so that she could only take one. She’s hoping to go to vet school after college, or possibly into agricultural policy, so this is an important decision. Which is better? I didn’t have a clear answer. I said:

If all else is equal, then I would recommend Bio as the priority, and adding Environmental Science if you really think it's feasible to do both. However, if there are circumstances that make you think Environmental Science may be a better choice for you, then trust that instinct. For example, if you know that the AP ES teacher is good about lots of hands-on field work, while the AP Bio teacher is just focused on drilling for test prep, then definitely take the higher-quality class. Or if taking both means letting go of one of your extracurriculars that you're passionate about, then AP ES probably isn't worth it.

It wasn’t a clear-cut answer, but it was the right answer. She almost immediately replied that she would

go with AP Environmental Sciences, because the teacher facilitates more learning. The AP Biology teacher is notoriously cruel and generally bad, she doesn't have many kids pass the AP test. Unfortunately I can't do both, I have to take Economics as well.

Once I asked her to think about quality and not just what would look best on an application, she knew exactly what to do.

The third guideline: how you explain your choice is at least as important as the choice. You will have opportunities in your college applications to explain class choices you made or grades on your transcript. A lot of people only think about this defensively—if they had a low grade or got put into a class that they didn’t really want or think was good enough, then they can plead their case. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you made a choice that you think might raise eyebrows, in either a good or bad way, then feel free to explain yourself. Let the colleges know how you think about things, not just the list of your choices. For any time when you had to pause to decide which was the better class to pick, be prepared to explain that decision.

Especially for the choices where there isn’t an objectively correct answer, the explanation will carry a lot of weight. Say you’re having a hard time choosing between one more year of soccer or taking a history elective that isn’t an AP class. “Even though I knew the history course is more academic than soccer, I decided to stick with my team for senior year because on the field is where I get to practice skills like self-discipline and teamwork that jut don’t happen as often as regularly in the classroom.” That’s compelling. “It was hard to say goodbye to my teammates, but I knew that if I was serious about going to college I needed to spend that time on more upper-level academic classes.” That’s also compelling. Either of those makes sense. “I’m good at soccer and get a lot out of it, but my counselor said it would look better to colleges if I take a history class I don’t care about, so I did.” That’s….not compelling. The explanation is a lot more important than the choice, and many times simply explaining your options to yourself will help make the choice much easier.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: Don’t just get into college, finish it. Are Advanced Placement classes a scam? Questions from students.

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.

What happens in high school stays in high school

Graduating high school and going to college is pretty major life achievement. Not everybody does it, for lots of reasons. Only around two thirds of Americans have a college degree. But if you found your way here to this website, then I assume that crossing the stage and going to college—probably moving away from home to go to college—is something you’re planning on.

College is a new start. You’re no longer confined to the strictures and bell schedules of high school, no longer looked over every hour. You get to leave a lot behind, and that’s wonderful. But let’s pause and take stock of some things you leave behind that you may not be thinking about. When you leave high school and go off to college, what stays behind?

Your high school grades. You’ll need to send an official high school transcript to your college once the final grades are in. And, if you’re like a lot of people, that’s the last you’ll ever see of your high school grades. The bad news is that they truly are part of “your permanent record.” The good news is that nobody is likely to look at, or care about, your permanent record. No matter how good, bad, or mediocre your high school grades were, you get a fresh new start in college.

There’s a catch, though. Your college GPA is very likely to be about the same as your high school GPA, or slightly lower. There’s a pretty strong correlation between high school grades and college grades. If you want your college grades to be different, you’re going to need to plan ahead to make that happen.

But unless there’s a change, your college GPA will probably be the same as your high school GPA. If you want to change, start planning now. Being a better college student than you were a high school student will require extra focus and organization. Time management skills will be incredibly important.

Your standardized test scores. Once you begin college, your SAT, ACT, or AP scores really don’t mean anything. They may have helped you get admitted to college, and they may even have an effect on your required classes in college, but they become useless after you begin. If you have scores you’re not proud of, that can be a nice burden lifted. If you invested a lot of your self-worth or self-identity in high test scores, though, the transition can be a bit more uncomfortable. But either way, those scores are done with.

I have to warn you, though, that that done-ness can come back to bite you sometimes. If you transfer colleges, either from a community college to a four-year college or from one four-year college to another, then those test scores may be meaningless.

Say, for example, you get admitted to a university based at least partly on your high test scores, but then things don’t go well. For whatever reason you fail a class or two (or three or five), and you realize the school isn’t a good fit. Your transfer application is going to rely much more heavily on your college record—which isn’t so hot in this example—than your high school record. The college may not even consider high school or SAT/ACT at all. This can be a big problem.

When I went to college, I placed out of the required first-year math and first-year composition requirements based on my SAT scores. That was wonderful! But then, when I transferred to a different college my junior year, they didn’t have the option to skip those requirements. And I didn’t have a math credit or freshman writing class on my transcript. So I had to take College Algebra and Freshman Comp my senior year. It was no fun.

Your boyfriend/girlfriend. I don’t doubt your affection for, and commitment to, your boyfriend or girlfriend. I do, however, doubt that you’ll be together for long once you’re in college. It just doesn’t usually work that way. Yes, you hear about people who married their high school significant other. I know people who have been with their spouse since they were in high school. But that’s what they call “the exception that proves the rule.” Think about it this way: when a couple has been together since high school, that’s noteworthy. People will call them “high school sweethearts.” It’s rare enough that it’s got a name and is something people bring up. Couples who met and together after high school? Nobody mentions that. There’s no special term for that, because it’s the norm.

I don’t think there’s any good reason to put your romantic life on hold until you’re done with high school (unless, of course, you want to, which is great also.) Nor do I think you should treat romantic partners as disposable, someone you’re just going to get rid of once you get to college. But far too many recent high school graduates are caught off guard by this dilemma. It’s okay to start thinking about it now. And talk about it. And plan for it.

Your family’s input and intervention. The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, guarantees that you and your parents have access to your educational records. You may have a Permanent Record, but you’re not supposed to have a Secret Record. What this means for you in practical terms is that if you or your parents have questions or concerns about your grades, the school has to respond. A teacher can’t legally say “your grades are your grades and I don’t have to explain them.” It also means a teacher can’t legally share your grades with others.

Once you’re in college and a legal adult, however, you get all the privacy. Not your parents. So the good news is that if your parents try to call one of your college professors to get answers about your grade and performance, the professors aren’t allowed to disclose anything (here’s a succinct graphic). The bad news is that you still have to deal with your parents about your grades and performance, and your professors won’t provide any context or support. It’s just you.

Some of the most important things and people to you in high school will suddenly get really un-important to you, really quick. Sometimes in ways that are freeing and glorious, sometimes in ways that can be a pain in the butt. I’m not trying to scare anyone or tell you that what’s important to you now isn’t really that important. I just know that there are sometimes situations where people ask “why didn’t anyone warn me about this?” You’ve been warned.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

1. Share it on your social media feeds so your friends and colleagues can see it too.

2. Check out these related Apply with Sanity posts: “The Glossary: summer melt” and “The two things you need for success in college and beyond.”

3. Ask a question in the comments section.

Apply with Sanity doesn’t have ads or annoying pop-ups. It doesn’t share user data, sell user data, or even track personal data. It doesn’t do anything to “monetize” you. You’re nothing but a reader to me, and that means everything to me.

Photo by Angela Elisabeth.

Apply with Sanity is a registered trademark of Apply with Sanity, LLC. All rights reserved.