A new school year brings new challenges, and one of these can be AP classes.

AP, or Advanced Placement, Courses are college-level classes that are available for high school students to enroll in. These are generally geared toward college-bound students who are looking for a challenge.

For many students, the jump from regular to AP class is a big one.

“It’s definitely a lot more work than some other courses might be.” AP Chemistry teacher Melissa McCarty said. “Especially for AP Chemistry, the students are coming from just a general chemistry course, so it is a big change, a shock to reality I suppose.”

Junior Erica Christie is taking four AP classes this year, including AP US history and AP Literature. She says a big change she has noticed in AP is that the workload is much bigger, and the expectations are much higher.“[In] an AP Class, the teachers expect a lot out of  you, but they give you a lot of freedom, so it is up to you to balance your time.” she said.

And with extracurricular activities such as theater and mentoring, Christie said she has no room to procrastinate. The typical workload a night is three to four hours, and up to eight hours on the weekend depending on the number of courses being taken.

Balance is a fear of sophomore Jessica Bitteker, who is new to AP. She is on the cross country team, and is planning to play basketball in the fall.“I am nervous that from my sports and that perspective of my life, it won’t balance out equally, and I would either fall behind in my academics or fall short in my athletic goals.” she said.

According to the College Board, a not-for-profit organization that oversees most all standardized college prep testing, including AP Exams, over 2 million students took AP classes during the 2011-2012 school year. This is a 6.4 percent increase from the previous school year.

Why the increasing trend? The rewards of taking an AP Class appear to be tremendous. “When I’ve had students come back and talk they’ve always felt prepared for college chemistry [after taking AP Chemistry],” McCarty said.

Christie feels that AP is one of the most rewarding experience she has had. Although there are sacrifices that must be made to keep up with the class, she said she believes that the knowledge gained from AP courses is the most important.

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