Sometimes I think about starting my master's...and then I wonder if I've gone crazy.
AP teachers could be the worst. AP Spanish and World History were definitely the worst. I think my AP Spanish teacher from Spanish 6 traumatized me from Spanish, because I'm always expecting a pop quiz or something really hard in 300-level Spanish...and then it never comes. Still a lot of work. But then the other day, I went on my old old laptop (the one that didn't have a failed hard drive) and tracked down a list of writing phrases from Spanish 6 to help me write a paper...so I guess I owe that teacher. Also since I did get a 4 on the AP. And since I could skip to Spanish Comp 2 and skip Spanish Comp 1 thanks to the AP score.
And then there was AP World History. Note: high school sophomores should never take AP World History. They need to start out with another AP class because that class is ridiculous. That teacher was a work-load monster. We had so much work in that class. The history/science class I took last semester was not that much work. Interestingly, both she and Spanish teacher are AP graders, so I guess they put that much more pressure on us to succeed (even though it did give us an advantage on the test having teachers with that knowledge.) I, thankfully, got a 4 on that exam, even though my father was convinced I would get a 2 or 3 on it after getting a C one quarter in the class.
AP English was the exception. My Junior year, I had an English teacher who assigned a lot of work (though not as much as World HIstory), gave us a lot of AP practice, and made us work very hard. That was the only exam I did not get a 4 or 5 on. My senior year, the teacher barely made us work, barely gave us any practice, I mean, we barely did anything. What did I get on the AP Literature exam that year? A four.
I credit my sophomore year English teacher (who was also my Journalism teacher and wrote all of my letters of recommendation) for that because I learned nothing in Senior year English.
The AP class that I liked the most, and perhaps benefited the most from, was AP Economics. That prepared me most for what I would see in business classes. In accounting last semester, there was something he was showing us, and I though, "Oh, this is a repeat from Econ" and had the problem done within three minutes...then spent the next 10 minutes explaining it. The teacher, honestly, wasn't that good, but thankfully, a second teacher taught that class, and I went to his review sessions. I studied hard, read the book, practiced the graphs, and worked my behind off. I got a 4 on Macro and a 5 on Micro. As I was sitting there taking the micro exam, I kept thinking, "Um, this is too easy; I better get a 5 on this." Fortunately, I did.
I must say, all of those AP classes did prepare me for college. The 15 credits I got from them didn't hurt either. I just think it's important to not take too many of them and burn yourself out. I think I probably benefited more from taking fewer AP classes and not burning out as much than my classmates who took AP this and AP that and just did nothing but study all of the time.
But no, I don't miss high school. Not one bit. Much as I sometimes curse out college, I don't miss high school at all.
