You see them walking down the hallways, carrying those big textbooks. They walk with power, strength and possibly even a slight smirk. Plastered across the front of their textbook, in big bold letters, you see those words: Advanced Placement.

AP students at MVHS are considered by many to be stuck up and excessively proud in their    AP-ness. In reality however, the majority of these students have an interest in the subject of their AP class. A student who may take AP Biology may be taking it due to the fact that they want to become a doctor. A student who make take AP Music Theory may have dreams of one day becoming a famous composer or musician.

The Religion

Taking AP classes is more like a religion rather than a special or elite group. These students take pride, not in boasting about the high level of classes they are taking, but rather in the culture that lies within their religion. This journey that an AP student goes through is a tantalizing experience which results in much more than just a title.

One may log onto Facebook and find a status like, that awkward moment when you forget to pk on your frq and you start to answer dbq style. The APUSHers would immediately chuckle at this status while others may be dumbstruck. Such inside jokes lie amongst all AP class students, an aspect of their profound religion.

These students are not necessarily trying to put others down by emphasizing the fact that they are AP students, but they are simply rejoicing in their own culture. Being a part of such a group is a feeling of acceptance, similar to that of being a part of a sports team. They grieve and complain together during tedious times, and celebrate during joyous times. Like a soccer team that wins a match, AP students come out of their AP testing, together, comparing what went well and what could have gone better.

These people do not just take these classes for namesake, but rather with a will for success. Barack Obama set out with the goal of Harvard in his mind, and therefore he decided to take AP classes. This benefited him in a greater sense as he, you know, became president.

The Reality

Taking pride in their workload, AP students work significantly harder compared to those who take regular classes, again, a major aspect of their religion. However, few truly understand how much harder an AP student works than a regular student. When one compares the homework load of an average U.S history student RUSH student an AP U.S. history student APUSH student, the daily homework load of a RUSH student consists of a few scattered written activities, a project once in a while, and reading one chapter every two weeks or

so. On the other hand, the daily homework load of an APUSH student consists of reading and note-taking on about two chapters per night, which averages out to around three hours. It is understood that those who follow a different type of religion, that of taking all regular classes have their own culture and ritual. But likewise, those people do not have the right to insult the AP religion by pointing a finger at those students saying that they are only taking AP classes for the title or for bragging rights. That is similar to accusing someone of saying that they are only following Christianity because they like the name Jesus.

So next time you see an AP student talking about how they were up late

appreciate, dont hate.