Photo by Leila Siegel

Many juniors at WJ enroll in AP English Language and Composition, dubbed AP Lang or just Lang. Students may take this class to increase their GPA with an extra AP credit, or just to have the experience of a high-level English class.

However, some students do not continue on to take AP English Literature and Composition, widely known as AP Lit or Lit, the consecutive advanced English class available for seniors. 

Instead, they take Honors English 12, which allegedly entails less work. Senior Lainie Jaffe is one of those students who went from Lang to Honors.  She enrolled in Lang primarily because of her friends.

“Most of my friends were taking the class, and [it was] another AP to take,” said Jaffe.

AP Lit teacher Jonathan Bos, who has taught Honors English 12 in the past, thinks that the number of seniors taking Lit or English 12 is evenly split.

“My feeling is it’s about half and half… maybe a little more [students] take AP Lit,” said Bos.

As a senior, Jaffe did not want to take an AP English class in addition to the AP Spanish Language and Composition course in which she enrolled.

“I’m taking AP Spanish Lang, so I didn’t want two AP language classes,” said Jaffe.

Bos does not think students should take AP Lang without taking AP Lit the following year.

“If you take Lang, you should also take Lit,” said Bos.

Jaffe also said taking AP Lang helped motivate her to enlist in Honors English 12.

“I wasn’t big fan of reading the books [and] writing essays,”said Jaffe.

She has heard that most seniors are currently in Honors English 12.

“Surprisingly, as I was signing up for classes most people were saying, ‘Just take [Honors English] with me’,” said Jaffe, who doesn’t regret her decision to take the seemingly easier course.