Kelsey Ambrose – Currently at North, there are 12 AP classes with approximately 350 students taking these classes. These classes are more advanced, and provided for students who want that extra push.

This year, AP seminar was added as a skinny which is for students with these AP classes to help with note taking, and how to deal with the classes they are taking. Everyday, students cram into a room with a specified thing they need to do.

For example, Mondays are for reading comprehension, Wednesdays are meant to be teaching time management and study skills, and Thursday is a “move” day, where you move to one of your AP classes that you need help in.

Some may feel that this is a great idea, and it helps students a lot with their harder classes. But in all honesty, how much work are students actually getting done? Most students don’t pay attention, do their own thing.

Instead of having a study hall, and being able to get work done this is one more added class being graded on tasks most all students already know how to do, or are completely useless in their classes.

“This class is stupid. I don’t feel as if I should be graded on my studying/organization skills,” junior Aminah Lothi said.

At the beginning of each month you choose which class you want to move to on Thursdays. What if you have multiple AP classes and you’re struggling in more than one of them? You can only choose one to go to for a whole month.

It’s understandable that administrators don’t want a handful of students running around to different places all the time, but there needs to be some thinking going and planning as well.

There are also students who find this class helpful. One student, Glenna Whiteman a senior, thinks this class is better than a study hall. “It’s nice to have work to do, instead of just a plain old study hall,” she said.

The tasks being taught are Cornell Notes, analogies, and then introducing apps to use that enhance the studying part. I understand the whole class which helps learn techniques, but they aren’t useful.

Being graded on things that each person does different isn’t right. Each person has their own way of remembering something and doing well at it. I’m trying to get my GPA up, and this class is not helping that. If anything, it’s bringing it down more.

Yes, at times there are things that help. But I’m not the type to use Cornell Notes, or use apps with index cards, etc. So it doesn’t necessarily help me that much.

Administrators should sit in on an AP class, and realize this idea for skinny isn’t too effective. It’s a waste of time.

Maybe, later on down the road there could be potential. But in all honesty, I don’t see it. A student now, in high school I don’t see changing the ways they study, because of a class. If they can read it and comprehend it, that’s great. Being taught to take cornell notes, or using index cards isn’t going to get through to them now. They’re set about how they’ll take these notes they need. A class will not help.

I suggest making AP seminar a study hall, so work can be done and done right instead of wasting forty-five minutes of time. Time being used to teach techniques that aren’t being used throughout the year.

Lets give students more flexibility with what they want to do, if they want to go to another class to get things done, it should be allowed, if help is needed, or a test needs to be re-taken is should be able to be done right away instead of later, or after that AP Seminar work is finished. Classes that are actually needed should come before a class that’s not needed and is just teaching study skills.