The Issues with AP Psychology

AP Psychology is a half-semester course available at the school and is recommended to take sociology for the following semester. AP Psychology is a heavy vocabulary course and the AP test usually starts around May. Typically, the class begins in spring, however, recently the class has been offered during the fall which leaves students to forget most of the information they’ve learned for the exam. 

The school system should change the format of AP Psychology and make it mandatory that all classes are only offered in the second semester. By making this change, students will find it easier to learn the material for the exam in May along with helping teachers manage one course at a time instead of teaching both simultaneously, leading to an increase in AP score averages. 

Let’s make it clear: expecting a student to memorize seven different subjects simultaneously is hard enough, but teaching a student an entire course in five months and expecting that same student to memorize it all five months later on top is messed up. The student continues to learn new subjects while leaving the first semester material behind, considering that at the end of the psychology course, students are recommended to take sociology, which has little to no connection to psychology. This makes it harder for the student to maintain the important information for the AP exam. If the class is moved to the second semester, it’ll be much easier for the student to cover the material since the test will be exactly at the end of the class year.

This would not only improve students, but teachers who teach sociology and psychology will also benefit from it as well. Teachers will no longer need to juggle across subjects if they make it mandatory that all classes are taught at the same time. It will be much easier for them to keep track of their assignments and stay on top of their subject while transitioning from topic to topic. While teachers are able to communicate with each other since they’ll teach at the same pace, students taking the course will be able to help each other since they’re learning at the same time.

This change means students will have an extra month of class since the exams will be taken early May; however, the first semester is usually shorter than the second semester, so it evens out anyway. School starts in August and the first semester ends in December, while the second semester starts in January and the exam begins in May.

Which means students will still have the same time to learn the required content.  But with the adjusted timeline, students will most likely enter the AP exam with more confidence, which will raise the passing average. It is important to minimize stress upon the students, and by adding these changes, it’ll make life much easier for the students. Instead of cramming the information, students will be able to enter the exam after learning the subject properly.

Making students memorize a full AP course worth of information for more than the duration of summer break can definitely challenge the test takers. It is important that the school pays close attention to these issues and makes quality changes. By only allowing AP Psychology to be taken in the second semester, it’ll minimize student memorization, reduce teacher and student stress and ultimately improve the grades. All AP Psychology courses should only be taken in the second semester.