Spring Grove High School provides students the option of taking Advanced Placement (AP) classes. AP classes are known for their college level curriculum and cumulative national exams in May. A survey was send out to all students enrolled in AP classes to see how rigorous not only the classes themselves are, but the impact they have on the students lives.
31 students responded, with 51.6% taking one AP class, 25.8% taking two, 12.9% taking three, and 9.7% taking four. As a freshman, generally there are no opportunities to take AP classes, as it begins in sophomore year with AP United States History (APUSH). In junior year, once students have taken more prerequisites, the class selections open up, allowing for the four AP class course load.
Student responses had varied levels of workload, depending on how many classes they took, some students reported up to eight hours a night while others reported less than an hour, though both of these were extreme examples. On average, the students reported receiving 2 hours and 33 minutes of homework a night, with an average of 68.7% of that work being from AP classes. It is important to note, that these are total averages, the averages by class load are a little different. Students taking one AP class report 2 hours and 36 minutes with 46.1% being from their AP class. Students taking two classes report on average 1 hour and 58 minutes of work, with 72.9% of it being from AP classes. Students with three reported an average of 2 hours and 8 minutes with AP contributing 81.0%. Students taking four AP classes reported 2 hours and 15 minutes, with 100% of the load being from AP classes.
These students are not only academically involved, but 97% of them are engaged in other after school activities. 87% of them are involved in school sponsored extracurriculars while 33% are involved in outside activities. On average this took up 4 hours and 5 minutes. With multiple students reporting their after school commitments can take up to 8 hours. On top of school and extra curricular activities, 56% of the students also have a job. On average students reported working 17 hours a week, however multiple students reported working over 30 hours a week.
Looking at average sleep, the most popular time to go to sleep was 11pm, with 43% of students, then 23% going to bed at 10pm, and 6.7% sleeping at 9pm. However, 16% of students go to bed at midnight, 6.7% sleep at 1 am, and 3.3% of students go to bed at 2 in the morning. The most common time for students to wake up is 6 am, with 73.3% of the students. 16.7% wake up at 5, 6.7% wake up at 7, and 3.3% of students wake up at four in the morning.
Students reported having to skip activities due to their workload twice a week, with one student saying up to 10 times in the past two weeks. Most commonly however, students say they try to find a balance and not skip either activities or homework.
The majority of students have also had to seek outside help with their classes in order to understand material. With frequencies ranging from once or twice a month to a few times a week. 45.2% of students report stressing about their AP classes once or twice a week, with 19.4% reporting every day, 19.4% reporting once a month or less, and 16.1% reporting stressing every other day.
Students reported that on the whole, they wished that their workload was focused more in class than out, and that they had less busywork and more in depth learning. Another common wish was that the AP test was free, instead of the $97 it currently sits at. Despite all of this, only one student regretted taking an AP, and said it was because “I don’t need it for my college’s requirements.”
