Students nervously file into a sea of folding tables. They take out their Chromebooks and tap the floor with their feet, glancing at each other. After a year of hard work, PHS and MHS students took 847 AP tests in 2025, according to the College Board.
This number of tests has increased from 746 in 2022. Additionally, the scores on these tests have improved, with 92 percent of PHS and MHS students who took AP tests in 2025 receiving a score of three or higher, improving from 82 percent in 2021.
AP classes, also known as Advanced Placement classes, are rigorous college-level courses designed to allow students to further their specific interests and earn college credit, according to the College Board.
“AP classes are pretty fun because it is intellectually stimulating, because you talk about things more in depth, and generally speaking, students are more interested in that particular subject, and a lot of people are thinking of pursuing it as a major in college and perhaps going on after that,” AP Biology teacher Shelley Seto said.
However, senior Niko Kalamas said he believes students have other motivations to pursue AP classes.
“I think people’s main motivation to take AP classes is for college,” Kalamas said. “Maybe students take more APs in areas they are interested in, but in general I think the motivation is college applications, not further education.”
Seto said she sees a problem of students stretching themselves too thin, taking weighted classes because they are weighted, and not because they are interested in them.
“A lot of people really try to take too many AP classes. And really, you should be taking the [AP classes] that you’re interested in, that makes the classes more fun and more interesting for everybody,” Seto said.
AP and Honors Chemistry teacher John Savage said he sees a similar problem.
“There’s obviously some college pressure for kids to take as many weighted classes as possible. Which is an unfortunate stressor, but a true stressor. I would hope that students would understand that they should take things that are interesting to them and not stress about college, because they’ll be fine,” Savage said. “Kids are taking four or five or six weighted classes, which is silly, because if you think about an AP class, it is supposed to be a freshman year college class. When you’re a freshman in college, you only take four classes. So how is a high school junior, a senior, taking five freshman classes? That doesn’t make sense.”
A struggle of teaching AP classes is balancing between preparing students for the AP test specifically, and teaching students the content deeply.
“My main worry for an AP class is the test, I would rather teachers focus on preparing students for the test, and naturally you will learn the subject as you go,” Kalamas said.
AP U.S. History teacher David Keller said he tries his best to teach a curriculum that finds the balance between prepping for the test and teaching the full content.
“I try to balance those two things. If you were to look at my syllabus and what I’m teaching and how I’m assessing it, you