Adapting APs: Integrating Freshmen into AP Classes

Transitioning from eighth grade to freshman year at Stuyvesant is daunting, to say the least. To most rising ninth graders, a local middle school is a stark contrast to a reputable high school with over 800 students per grade, many of whom have come from the top of their graduating classes. Some of the persistent concerns voiced by Stuyvesant students are centered around homework, stress management, and sleep (or lack thereof). What is surprising, however, is that many current freshmen have opted for an even more demanding schedule, choosing from the three Advanced Placement (AP) classes available to them: Biology, Environmental Science (ES), and Human Geography (HUG).

At first glance, the rigor and college preparatory skills that AP classes promote appear to be perfect for the traditional Stuyvesant student. By taking AP classes as freshmen, students can both experience the weight of an AP class early on and ease their schedules in the future. Many of the classes that are now being offered to freshmen, such as AP Biology, were previously reserved for upperclassmen; by completing them beforehand, freshmen can pursue other courses of study or obtain free periods in future years when the workload is heavier.

Unfortunately, these details only tell one side of the story. Freshmen, who already face transitional stress and are potentially inexperienced at seeking outside support, may not be able to handle the immense pressure of AP classes, which do not abide by the 30-minute per night homework rule.

Because AP classes are difficult and prestigious, students want to pursue them for social clout or college admissions, rather than for a sense of genuine excitement for the material. These classes may be a privilege in the sense that they only accept top students, but they also demand sacrifices (e.g. commitment and time) in return.

AP classes require skills like studying, managing time, and handling pressure—all of which are teachable skills. As important as these practices are, not everyone has them in spades, especially in freshman year. The rigidly defined schedules of ninth graders don’t help; for instance, freshmen in AP Biology have a double period every other day, whereas juniors and seniors have a double daily. With classes as rapidly paced and challenging as APs, time means everything, and the loss of a double period every other day means that freshmen in AP Biology have only three-quarters of the class time of upperclassmen.

In recognition of the difficulty of AP classes, the school administration has introduced screening systems to make sure that only those who are prepared to take AP classes can take them. However, a number of these screening systems are not perfect indicators of preparation. For example, the biology department uses eighth grade Regents scores to determine an incoming freshman's suitability for AP Biology. Though Regents are by no means a breeze, they reflect a simpler, significantly less difficult curriculum than AP classes. It is possible to do quite well on them with a rudimentary, non-AP understanding of the material, with one social studies teacher even describing the social studies Regents as “basically a reading test.” As a result, the students chosen for AP classes can be academically unqualified for the courses.

The social studies department has offered AP HUG to freshmen since the 2016-2017 school year. AP HUG is designed to be for ninth graders; it covers one semester’s worth of material over the course of one year, which allows teachers and students to spend more time on certain topics. Originally, incoming freshmen were required to write an essay as a placement exam, but the social studies department dropped the essay system in favor of middle school humanities grades. Additionally, the humanities are fundamentally different from the sciences; it is difficult to imagine the essay-based screening system that the social studies department used for several years working for AP Biology or AP ES.

Instead, the biology department should look to the mathematics department for inspiration. While there are no AP math courses available to freshmen―very rarely, there is the calculus-ready ninth grader―there are honors courses and the math team. To select admission to these classes, the math department administers an in-house placement test. This test is more effective than the Regents examination at sorting incoming students into regular and honors math. By adopting a similar approach, the biology department would prevent freshmen from making the decision to take an AP class solely for the prestige. Students would be placed into varying biology classes based on the mandatory placement exam, an objective and accurate metric of their suitability for such a class. This approach would help to ensure that incoming freshmen are appropriately challenged and learning new material in their biology class, whether it be an introductory course to modern biology or an AP class.

Additionally, students should be informed repeatedly about the difficulty level of AP classes. Before they apply, students should be told in accurate and realistic terms how much work AP classes require by those who have taken the courses. Some elective teachers will (truthfully) frame their classes as extremely difficult on the first days of the term to scare off unready students; teachers of freshman AP classes should do the same.

Public spaces like Facebook can be helpful at informing incoming freshmen about the holistic class experience. Incoming freshmen can also utilize the Stuyvesant website, which provides a description of each course. However, the descriptions generally do not accurately reflect the reality of an AP class. They detail the goals of the class and provide an overview, which is similar to the list of objectives at the beginning of each chapter in a textbook. In the few months preceding a new school year, incoming freshmen have limited options to inquire more about the nature of AP classes open to qualified students. The resources that are currently available should provide information not only about a course’s objectives, but also about its grading policies.

While it is true that certain AP classes like AP HUG are more suitable for freshmen in terms of content, it is still important that freshmen have the ability and resources to make well-informed decisions regarding those classes. Though high school can be perceived as a compilation of decisions, the choice to take an AP class as a freshman should not be the deciding factor of an exciting and memorable first year at Stuyvesant. A balance must be struck between maintaining the difficulty of the classes and making sure freshmen don’t become overwhelmed under the weight of everything Stuyvesant has to offer. It’s sure to be a delicate balance, but the administration, which has proven itself receptive to students’ voices in the past, should be able to strike it.