Each year, over 300 Manhattan High students enroll in Advanced Placement courses. This year, according to coordinator Beverly Fink, 645 exam packets were ordered for a total of 317 students (some signed up to take multiple AP exams.)

Manhattan High offers 16 AP classes, as of this year, and Fink, explaining that the process by which AP tests are administered through the College Board is precise and requires quite a bit of organization on her part, feels that it is satisfying to see so many students participate in the “excellent” AP program Manhattan High has to offer. She finds being able to help students through the process of AP testing a satisfying task, in the end, as her work and the work of AP students at MHS has helped shape a prestigious reputation for the school as a whole and for themselves as future college students.

“I have had students stop me in the hall and tell me, ‘Thank you,’ and that has to make you feel good. Some of them are even around enough to know how hard I’m working to stay up with College Board regulations and standards,” Fink said. “There’s just no alternative; you can’t shorten the process because everything comes on a timeline, and you just can’t make it up, but I think it’s rewarding, and I’m so glad that at our school, the kids have done well enough that we’ve been designated as one of the top 2,000 high schools in the United States. That has to make everybody feel good whether you take the classes or not.”

Fink’s belief in Manhattan High students’ hard work is proven in their test scores each year, and senior Lisa Zhu, who has taken a number of AP classes and tests throughout high school, feels that working hard to score well on AP tests is worth even more than the way students’ good scores make the school look.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to challenge yourself, as well as gain college credit if you do well,” Zhu said. “The material is a lot tougher subject material that you have to learn and keep memorized for the AP tests, and it’s also hard trying to balance studying for AP tests if you are taking multiple. It requires a lot of time and effort, but it’s worth it in a lot of ways.”

According to Fink, though the process of taking AP classes and tests can be trying, the overall outcome can make a difference in the work ethic of individual students and of a school body as a whole.

“We have an excellent school, and that’s just one more indication of the kind of students we have and how well they do,” Fink said.