Students wanting to drop to PreAP or AP classes can pick up a request form to drop the class beginning Friday but they will have to wait until October 3 and the start of the second six weeks grading period to get a schedule change. It’s a policy some students may not understand, but it’s one the school believes is right.

“We want students to acclimate to the new class,” lead counselor Stefanie Mueller said. “[Students] have the opportunity to build a relationship with their teacher and having the opportunity to talk to their classmates about how to maintain AP classes when they stay in the class.”

For many students, dropping to an on-level class is a grade related issue. But the score a student gets in an AP class goes with them into the on-level class and is on the first six weeks report card as such.

“It’s averaged out with your other six week grades, but the grade does not change when you go into an on-level course,” Mueller said. “It ends up on your transcript at the end of the six weeks, but it is averaged out with the rest of the student’s grades.”

Another element that factors into making students wait to drop a pre-AP or AP course, the schedule changes that ensue.

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“With class size there can definitely be some adjusting,” Mueller said. “We’re not going to overload a course to accommodate an AP drop.”

Most students find the more challenging parts of being in an AP class to be effort and time and the drop policy give students a chance to get acclimated before a schedule change will be accommodated.

“Kids that weren’t in AP classes before hand have a struggle because they don’t know what to expect,” social studies teacher Kirsten Binyon said. “Realistically, we are straining the students physically, mentally, and emotionally and it is tough for most of them, but once they get settled they realize it isn’t as bad as they thought .”

This story was originally posted Sept. 28, 2015 but has been update with details regarding this year’s dates.