You are on page 1of 4

Marie Grissom

Jose Paco Fiallos


LAE 3333
November 17, 2014
Mini- Paper 5: The Journalist
Do High School Literature and Language Classes Adequately Prepare Students For College
Writing?
Its soon going to be that time of year again- when high school students must decide what
classes they would like to take next year. Regular? Honors? Electives? AP? For high school
freshman Grace Grissom, the decisions are challenging. I just dont know. I want to take AP
language arts, but my friend whos a junior says its really hard, and I want to be able to have
fun.
Its the essential question- is the tradeoff worth it? Do high school AP language and
literature classes adequately prepare students for the rigorous demands of college writing?
Advanced Placement classes are college-level courses that are taught in high schools and,
if the exams are passed, can help students to qualify for college credit. In recent years there has
been great debate about the effectiveness of how these classes prepare high achieving students
for college. In 2007, Barbara Dodd and Linda Hargrove found, after extensive research, that
students who successfully participated in one or more AP tests and courses "significantly
outperformed" their non-AP peers (Dodd and Hargrove, 2007).
However, another study found that AP experience does not reliably predict first
semester college grades or retention to the second year (Klopfenstein and Thomas, 2009).
College board, who produces the AP Exams and all related materials, assures that students are

greatly benefitting from AP Classes- 82% of students say AP classes are more worthwhile than
regular courses But do they adequately prepare students for rigorous college writing?
To find what local college students have to say on the matter, we interviewed FSU
Sophomore Merrie Grace Harding. The interview is included here in entirety.

What AP English/Literature classes did you take in high school?


I took AP Literature and AP Lang.
Did you find the coursework to be rigorous?
AP Lang was very rigorous and challenging. I had a huge workload.
In AP Literature, the workload was more reasonable, and I learned a lot.
How much of this was dependent on the teacher, in your opinion?
For AP Lang, I had a very strict teacher with high expectations. It was mostly a hard class
because of her. The other class was less challenging.
On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being minimally and 5 being excellently, how well did the classes prepare
you for college writing? Why?
5, because even though the coursework was hard for AP Lang, it helped me progress into
the writer I am today. Because she (my teacher) was a challenging grader, it helped me
adapt to difficult college professors.
What challenges did you face when you began writing for college courses?
Passive voice was a difficult challenge, because I was never taught to avoid it in high
school. On my first college paper, I lost the most points due to that.

Do you feel high school AP classes adequately prepare students for college writing?
I think for the most part they do prepare you well for college courses. They challenge you
more, which is helpful. I think all students should take some sort of AP class, because its
been such a help to me- its not been such a big jump to college writing. The expectations
are pretty high in AP classes.

So, the jurys still out on the effectiveness of AP classes preparation for College
Writing. But it is apparent that, for the most part, AP Literature and Language classes can be
very helpful to high school students, and should certainly be considered by prospective students.

References
AP Students Significantly Outperform Peers According to Two Landmark Studies by
University of Texas at Austin Researchers. (2007, March 26). Retrieved
November 17, 2014, from http://www.utexas.edu/news/2007/03/26/education/
Klopfenstein, K., & Thomas, M. K. (2009). The link between advanced placement
experience and early college success. Southern Economic Journal, 873-891
Put AP to Work for You. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2014, from
https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/exploreap/the-rewards
.

You might also like