As next school year approaches, students are beginning to prepare for their upcoming AP classes attending AP meetings. The AP meetings, at lunch and organized by AP meetings are designed to help students become aware of the workload the rigorous courses they are planning to take require as well.

Some students believe this to be very helpful, while others consider it somewhat discouraging.

“I like the meetings because they show you what you will be going up against,” Spencer Kim said. Who is planning on taking three AP courses next school year.

Some believe these meetings are what students need to make the important decision on whether to take these courses.

“I believe AP meetings are a step in the right direction in my opinion. Nowadays, so many students are just taking AP classes because they feel like they need to take them to get into college. It’s become less about the class and more about the GPA, which is dangerous because it threatens the goals of the AP program,” said Kia Azar, who has taken more than a dozen AP courses.

Azar believes that AP classes should be taken for the learning experience and not for the benefits that come with taking the courses.

This school offers more than a dozen different AP courses for students and it is important for students to know exactly what they should be preparing for, while encouraging the students to take on this responsibility.

“These meetings are just one more place where students can be reminded that the class is more than just a grade boost,” Azar said.

At the meetings teachers describe what the benefits are of these courses and the dedication and responsibility it takes.

AP courses offer students the ability of taking a college course and the experience of what a real college course is like. This is one of the first times students are able to experience the real world in school, and makes for a very difficult course in which students need to be informed of what they are signing up for.

However many students also believe that these meetings are not very important and don’t help prepare the students who wish to take these courses, but rather scare them away.

“The meetings give you very little information about what the courses are like, and only seem to try and persuade you to not take AP classes,” Cian Yap said.

Some believe they are trying to scare students away by providing unrealistic “estimated” hours of homework per week, and emphasizing the difficulty level, and work ethic required to take and complete the courses.

by LOGAN WATKINS