AP, college classes provide free credits for future

Although tough, one of the most popular ways of saving money amongst high school students is to take advanced classes that provide college credits.

“I wish teachers emphasized the importance of taking college credit courses in high school more. People’s knowledge and the amount of money they save when they go off to college is crazy,” CFHS alumni Aisha Parpucu said.

 Taking courses as such can have multiple benefits to it, such as scheduling flexibility, college preparation, scholarships and saving money in the long run. If possible, taking time and studying over the summer to finish classes can be a very efficient step to take advanced classes during the school year. This way, instead of having to juggle with all classes at once, they can be spread out through the whole year, which can keep students a little busy, but productive year round. 

“I got accelerated one year back in seventh grade like most of my peers, but after that I worked over the summer and finished algebra I and pre-calculus, so I ended up taking AP calculus last year so that this year I’m finally taking classes at UNI. I took linear algebra last semester, and I’m taking calculus III right now,” junior Niksa Poleksic said. 

The motivation behind every student taking advanced classes is different. Some are inspired by their elder siblings, some by financial needs or some, like senior Demir Tuken, want to impress the college they want to go to. Students are able to excel as early as middle school, so it is never too late. 

“I decided mainly because the colleges I want to go to want to see them, and it was a challenge for me. I decided taking advanced classes when I was in ninth grade I think. I had higher grades in my honors classes and wanted to challenge myself a little more,” Tuken said. 

With the addition of advanced classes to their schedules, students also have additional responsibilities; however, the most important trait is to not procrastinate.

“I like to use my time wisely, so I get my work done pretty quickly. If I do poorly on a previous test, I would definitely study more for the next test. I don’t really procrastinate, I just want to get the work over with as soon as possible so I can do other things like hanging out with my friends, so, on a daily basis, these classes don’t stress me out as much besides once or twice in the semester,” Tuken said.

Taking advanced classes can teach students the time-management skills, study skills and the discipline students will need in college. 

“I end up leaving after fifth period, and I have to get to UNI, so I guess the workload compared to other classes is a lot more challenging since it is a UNI class, like just the amount of studying I have to do outside of class, so it’s always kind of on my mind, but it is also a good thing because it really prepares me for college and improves my study skills. At least it gives me an idea of how it is going to be in college sort of. I also get these releases every other day, which I normally wouldn’t get, so I also have more time to work on it,” Poleksic said.

Some also see advanced classes as a little better at preparing students to get enough exercise in so they can fly once they’re kicked off the nest. 

“The advanced classes have more relation to life, like taking AP biology, AP chemistry and AP physics. We can relate more of it to our daily lives, and going more in depth, it helps you figure out how processes work, and I guess it makes the science behind it cooler in a sense. Regarding math, again you can relate it to things that happen every day. It doesn’t even have to be big stuff. It can be as simple as buying something from a store, or even the relation between those advanced classes are great. For example, English is something we use every day to speak, to write, like text people, talk to people, so being able to converse freely, being able to understand communication is really good, and those AP English classes help a lot,” Tuken said.

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