You see them in the halls, going toward their classes in a hurry. Their faces are pale with tiredness; their bodies are bent under the weight of a dozen textbooks. They are the ones struggling to hold back a yawn during class. They are the chosen few. They are the Advanced Placement(AP,大学预修课程)students.
The truth is, honors students are no longer a select few. Over half of university-bound students take AP classes, and of these, most take at least two. The AP system drills it into us that our college success depends on taking as many advanced courses as possible, but is it really worth it? “On average, I spend three to four hours each day on homework,” says one senior who is taking five AP classes. “With the number I'm taking, I really doubt whether I will be confidently going into each test.”
With increasing pressure to attend AP courses, not only for college credits but also for the weighted GPA(平均成绩), it is no wonder that students often find their grades suffering and their stress increasing. In reality, AP courses have become mere rewards, adding little to a competitive college application.
One of the major disadvantages in the AP system is that every class is fitted into a standardized test. The result is that comprehensive learning is sacrificed for test preparation, with teachers spending the most time on topics likely to appear on the AP exam.
And that a student receives a high grade on the AP test does not mean he or she will receive the college credit. Many universities now don't consider an AP class in high school to be the same as an actual undergraduate college-level class, which is usually a three-hour, lecture-based course with varying degrees of homework.
