Before the school year starts, SIS students can be found frantically scrambling through the summer assignment Google Drive, rushing to finish their AP summer assignments before the first day of school.
One major task that AP students in SIS receive before their course begins is summer assignments. With the goal of building necessary prior knowledge and exhibiting individual dedication to the rigorous course, AP teachers designate homework assignments throughout the summer.
The coursework varies based on the subject, but any incomplete assignments or apparent violation of academic integrity would lead to the student’s removal from the AP course. As summer assignments are the threshold determining whether the students “make it or break it” in their AP class, students take the matter seriously.
Although most SIS students acknowledge the weight of the summer assignments, they often procrastinate until the assignment’s deadline. With most students occupied with extracurricular activities, summer camps, and the SAT, the plethora of must-do tasks, it might be harder to find an adequate amount of time to finish the summer assignments with proficiency, especially for juniors and seniors who take multiple AP courses.
With this pressure on them, SIS students often question the necessity of the summer assignments.
“I barely had any leisure time this summer as I spent most of it on going to [the United States for] summer camp and studying for the SAT in hagwons,” Yena Kim (11), a junior taking three APs, said. “There still was a bit of a hectic rush for summer assignments in August, even when I started the assignments from June.”
Another issue with the summer assignment is the disparity in the quantity and rigour of each assignment from different courses. Students note that the assignments from certain classes require significantly more time than others, often disrupting students’ planned schedules.
“I have planned out my summer assignments beforehand, but AP Literature homework took so much longer than I expected,” Seungmin Jeong (12), AP Literature student, said. “Because of this, I had to reschedule many of my plans, especially because I am taking four other APs too.”
If summer assignments are so troublesome to students, why do they exist?
Summer assignments are not merely provided for the sake of giving homework during the summer, but they have deeper intentions: to assess the dedication of individuals. AP courses are particularly crafted to be academically challenging; much more workload and effort would be demanded than other credited courses in SIS.
The primary purpose of summer assignments is to build prior knowledge of the content. As the AP courses are designed for a fast-paced and rigorous class, it is important that students start the semester with a basic understanding of the course. Through summer assignments, students can prepare for the upcoming year.
Another important function of summer assignments is determining if the course material truly suits a student. Although the course selection was made in the previous year, some students might have lacked experience or knowledge about the course itself. Through experiencing the course materials with summer assignments, students can decide if they would settle with their choices or not. This is an important opportunity for the students, especially because the drop and add season ends quite early—doing the summer assignments would prevent them from being stuck in an inapt class for a year.
Summer assignments can often be perceived as extra responsibility throughout the summer or simply another tiresome task that needs to be completed. Still, there are better means of assigning AP assignments that could be more beneficial to students. In order to establish a balance between life and study, there could be adjustments to summer assignments based on student feedback.
