Usually only 3 or 4 people pass (only 1 person passed in our grade last year and it wasnt me)out of the whole school (approximately 60 or 70 people take ap here ) and they usually get a 3 and rarely a 4. Our school gets low ratings on almost every website that rates us ( we get 2/5, 1/5, 2/10 and a lot of unranked or no ratings ).Almost everyone outside of ap or honors classes(some of our class is lazy but talented) are lazy ghetto failing or barely making it.We have a 40% graduation rate and are somewhat in behind in tech and resources.And shamefully we are still one of the top schools in our district.So should i continue Taking ap at a school with mostly bad teachers and low performance and less resources.I dont mind independent study but we are not geting quality education while we are in school
What are the alternatives you are considering? Do you have a better educational option or are you just planning to drop out or what?
No just to stop taking ap here do you have any recommendations or should i just keep trying?
Which AP class(es) are you considering taking? Are you sure you’ll be able to completely study on your own? If your school allows study periods, it might be a good option for you to schedule a study period to learn the AP coursework independently.
Also, if there are other kids as motivated as you who you think you might work well with, maybe you could form a weekly study group or tutoring thing? That would actually look pretty good on college apps.
I took ap world history last year and unfortunately i Didn’t pass ( i got a 2 because i wrote about the wrong topic on the exam i realized that after talking with classmates) right now im taking ap bio and ap calculus .
I know it’s disheartening to get low scores, but I doubt the non-AP track would have better educational opportunities than the AP track at your school.
For AP Bio help, bozemanscience.com is supposed to be good.
Stick with the AP’s. My school has a <5% pass rate for some classes too. For really good free prep type in “getafive” on google and click on the website that’s affiliated with PR.
If your teachers aren’t good, look for other resources to supplement your learning. There are test prep books available for every AP class–are you using them? Look in the library or find used if you cannot afford to buy them. There are all kinds of online resources available. Form study groups with other students who are determined to succeed. Your situation is certainly not ideal but there are students who successfully prepare for AP exams without any class at all, so it’s a bit of a cop out to say you cannot succeed because your teacher isn’t the best. When you go to college you will have some good profs and some bad ones and you still need to learn the material, either way. Don’t give up.
Also, keep in mind that many schools don’t have a uniformly good student population. There is a school in our area that gets a 1 on those great schools lists, but their honor students do just fine. Those ratings are often more a measure of the average SES of the students rather than the quality of the teaching. The fact that your school even offers AP classes puts it well above average in offerings.
There is a style of essay writing for the AP history classes for which it does help to get informed feedback. But this year you are in calc and AP bio and there is no mystery there–you just need to learn how to solve the problems and master the factual material. Those are hard APs but they are also more amenable to independent learning than one of the essay based APs. Good luck.
Certainly you should keep taking AP classes. Just the exposure to higher level academics can be beneficial to you.
The suggestions above about how to maximize your experience and perhaps motivate some of your classmates to work with you are excellent.
Good luck.
Keep taking the AP courses…but if you want to do well on the AP tests, you have to self-study…like with AP study books, online resources, etc.
Colleges will look favorably on students who took the most challenging classes available to them in their high school. They understand that schools and quality of teaching vary. If you are at a low socioeconomic level or are an underrepresented minority, it is understood that lack of educational opportunities may result in lower test scores. Work hard in school to make the most of what opportunities you do have, study for the exams on your own using review books or free online sites like Khan Academy, and do your best. Schools may be very favorably impressed by your efforts.
If hardly anyone passes the AP tests after the AP courses, then the AP courses are of poor quality. However, the non-AP courses could be, and very likely are, even worse, so the AP courses may be the best available to you. But supplement with other resources mentioned above if you want a better education.
it’s definetly still worth it to take the AP’s. colleges look at students within the context of their high school, so if you’re part of the 5-10% that’s taking AP’s and showing that extra effort, even if you dont pass, they will see that and it will look a lot better. also, you will be attempting to challenge yourself and it will ultimately be more beneficial to you because you’re choosing the more challenging route, even though the AP classes arent of great quality. don’t drop down to regular classes because those are probably of even worse quality.