Making the grade

Wake up, learn, stay after school, do homework, sleep, repeat. Some students follow this basic routine during the school year. For some students, this is easy to handle due to their balanced schedules. Other students choose to have a more difficult schedule by filling most of it with Advanced Placement courses. By the end of the school year, these students will need to tame the beast known as the AP exam.

Still, students choose to add weight to their backpacks for many different reasons. Senior Aman D’Souza takes this weight to fulfill his goal of getting the highest GPA he can possibly get.

“My goal for this year is to finish my senior year having a 5.0 GPA,” D’Souza said.

D’Souza is currently enrolled in seven AP courses and will take nine AP exams in the spring. To handle the stress, he says he will “take it day by day.”

“You just have to stay positive and keep it practical if you want success,” D’Souza said.

Senior Nikhil Ailaney decided to fill his schedule with a total of six AP courses.

“I really just want to challenge myself so I can prepare myself for college to the best of my ability,” Ailaney said. “If you get used to not trying, you will slack off.”

Other students choose a stress-free workload as well.

“I’m only in one AP class,” senior Patrick Chase said. “I just don’t have the time to do all the work it requires.”

Some students have time and can dedicate this time to working as much as possible while others are busy with extracurricular activities and jobs.

“I’m in Touch of Class, and I’m still taking five AP classes,” senior Lauren McCue said. “I just try to do my best each day, and I can have a lot of work I need to manage, but I usually figure it out.”

Due to the high work needed to be exerted by students in these classes, the students can sometimes be competitive amongst each other. This adds an extra challenge and enjoyment to the nature of the tough classes.

“I challenge Anuj Ahluwalia to get a higher GPA than me by the end of the year,” D’Souza said. “I plan on having straight A’s, and he claims I won’t and he will.”

Director of Student Services Robyn Lady believes that the schedule a student chooses should be based on their individual needs to grow academically.

“Every single student and their academic journey are individual,” Lady said. “We are really misguided. There’s a lot of other choices made based off what looks good to colleges or what other friends are taking.”

The college decisions that approach seniors often affect how courses are chosen, but sometimes it can lead into grades declining, which won’t help with college admissions. Colleges look at the students’ ability to make the right choice on what amount of work is right for them.

“We are really misguided,” Lady said. “Colleges pass judgment on student judgment.”

AP, courses Academics, Issue 1, Print