AP classes have offered students at Seymour High School the opportunity to not only expand their knowledge with a rigorous college-level introduction class, but also to prepare themselves for college with transferable credits nationwide. AP classes have also provided students with an increased GPA, making them nearly essential to a student’s academic success.

However, recently IB classes have been on Seymour High School’s radar. The board has decided that, from this year on, they will no longer offer AP classes in substitution for the 2-year long IB classes with diplomas. With work-based learning becoming a necessity for most incoming students with the new diploma requirements, IB classes allow students to acquire college-level rigor classes, transferable credits, and diplomas that will follow them to and increase their chances of getting into a college.

In fact, colleges typically admire IB diplomas more than the AP diploma. AP’s diploma, coined the AP Capstone Diploma, is rarely looked at by college admissions officers and is typically ignored, being viewed as unnecessary (students at SHS won’t see much change here; the AP Capstone diploma requires two classes not offered at the high school).

With this in consideration, the school has announced the discontinuation of AP classes for the 2027 year and beyond, opting for 2-year long IB courses. Anyone enrolled in an AP class will be placed with an adjacent IB class, and any current Juniors will have their AP classes replaced with study halls, unweighted classes, or more work-based learning slots.

Furthermore, with the replacement of AP classes, SHS also decided to replace the SAT with the ACT, a test with an additional scientific section (that has become optional this year!) and scoring out of 36 points, better identifying a student’s readiness for college. The ACT is already a standard for many southern states, and Seymour High School plans to match that.

Moving into the next academic year, SHS is hopeful for what these changes will bring, hoping to propel as many students forward into top colleges as possible.

Good luck, and Happy April Fools! Gotcha.

Sources

none lol