ACP Chemistry is set to replace honors Chemistry at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year. While the courses remain pretty similar and will cover the same topics, the ACP class will be fully weighted, while the honors class was only half weighted. While some view this as just a way for the school to inflate grades by changing the weighting scale of specific classes, this move will allow for more standardization of the class and, most importantly, for students to receive college credit.

Most of the people who I’ve talked to, especially those who took honors Chemistry, view this change as a negative, and there is certainly some merit to that opinion. As someone who took honors Chemistry, this change can feel like a bit of a slap in the face, as this class would have helped out my GPA more so than honors Chemistry. This course change is another example of administration changing one of the harder unweighted or half-weight classes to a full weight to inflate GPAs. Just this year, pre-calc, an unweighted class, was replaced by the fully weighted AP pre-calc. 

Even though these changes may be made to boost the GPAs of students, ACP Chemistry is still deserving of being a full weight. As a sophomore, I was in three AP classes and yet honors Chemistry was still my hardest class. Out of my seven classes, it was the one I had the most homework for and the one I needed to study for the hardest. So although some may view the change as a way for the administration to improve their statistics, ultimately ACP Chemistry’s rigor, while certainly lower than most other AP science and math courses, is deserving of being a full weight.

A positive aspect of the move to ACP Chemistry is there will be more standardization in the course material. When I took honors Chemistry, I remember hearing of teachers a unit ahead or behind of where my class was at. This made it difficult to study with friends who, despite learning relatively the same content, were too far away from where I was in the course to offer any help. This change will also cause content to be standardized according to IU, which will allow the course to better prepare students for later courses in Chemistry. While my experience in honors Chemistry ultimately prepared me for AP Chemistry, I know others who do not feel the same way. Through the school following IU’s standards, and ACP Chemistry being meant as a prerequisite to AP Chemistry, the content will become more suited to higher level STEM courses.

Another bonus to the new course is it allows for college credit. One of my biggest academic priorities in high school has been gaining college credit so I can save thousands of dollars by skipping general electives and other graduation requirements when I get to university. This course will allow for students to do just that. While this course, due to being a first year chemistry course, will likely not give any credits for STEM majors or people going into chemistry, it allows for more humanities-focused people to get their required science credits for college while still in high school. Although this course may be considered “easier” than other science courses offering college credits, like AP sciences, it still has the potential to save students money in their futures, and that alone should be celebrated.

Through the change from honors to ACP Chemistry, this school’s entire student body will benefit as students will have a greater motivation to take an advanced chemistry course, they will be better prepared for later courses and most importantly, the ability to gain college credit from the course will help students financially in the long run. 

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Ryan Sharp at [email protected].