The Joys of an AP Class

My sophomore year of high school I took (and passed) my first advanced placement class. AP World History was nothing like I thought it would be like. I walked into the classroom on the first day of school, shaking with anticipation and fear. I was lucky enough to be able to take the class with many of my super smart friends who helped me along the way. (I like to think that I helped them too, but I'm not sure if that is true.)

The first  night I remember sitting in bed reading my first chapter in the AP World textbook. It took me three hours to finish reading twenty pages. Afterwards I had to write an essay on what I had learned. That took forever also. In that moment I only had one thought, "What am I doing taking a class for smart people?" My counselor advised me not to "drop" the class and I stuck with it. I made it through first term with a few scrapes and bruises, but nothing I couldn't handle.

Second term was a nightmare. Every test was harder than the last and I knew that I just knew I wasn't going to make it to the end. For some reason it is so much harder to study and stay on top of your school work during the winter months. All I wanted to do was come home from school and crawl into my warm bed and fall asleep. Before I  knew it it was finals time, second term was over, and miraculously, I had passed.

I came into third term regretting my decision to take the AP exam. My teacher encouraged me to study more than I have for anything in my life. I threw myself into my books and worked so hard I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head. When the AP exam finally came I was so nervous I thought I was going to see my breakfast in reverse. I walked into the testing room with little courage and a ton of butterflies. When the whole ordeal was over I realized that it wasn't as hard as I had anticipated, but I was still nervous for my results.

Three months after I stepped into the testing room I receive my AP exam results in the mail. Today, a letter from AP college board. I was so nervous my hands shook as I opened the envelope. I said a prayer as I unfolded the paper. I couldn't believe my eyes. A three, I had gotten a three! In this moment I found out that I had passed my first AP exam. Everything that I had undergone during the last  year to receive this result was worth it.