Advanced Placement classes offer students a taste of college coursework, but they take require a lot of training for teachers and resources for the school. Now, Old Rochester Regional officials want to make sure students who sign up for the classes follow through to the end by implementing new requirements for students.

What’s the draw? For one, a higher class ranking since AP classes have more weight than regular and honors courses. There’s also the possibility of earning college credit…if you pass the $85 test at the end of the year.

But some students at Old Rochester Regional High School are gaining the benefits of a higher GPA without taking the exam. Administrators and the school committee are discussing if those year-end tests, in which a three, four, or five is passing, should be mandatory.

ORR offers nine AP courses, and Principal Mike Devoll said many students take three or four AP classes in their junior year and in their senior year. Most, 86.8 percent last year, do opt to take the standardized AP exam.

Sometimes, said Devoll, “We have students who jump ship.”

Thirty-seven students signed up for AP US History, but after getting a taste of the workload during the summer, only 12 stuck with it. The school had to drop the second history section and shuffle around teachers and students as a result.

“It really impacts our scheduling,” said Devoll. “It disrupted students’ schedules.”

Devoll said he has researched other schools and found they have an “all or nothing” policy, requiring students to take the AP Exam. Most also forgo the final exam, something already practiced in several of ORR’s AP classes.

To reduce the risk of students quitting the courses, Devoll is considering having students and their parents sign a contract for each AP class, agreeing to complete the course and take the test.

“We did it in biology. AP Biology is an expensive course to run,” said Devoll.

AP teachers already meet with prospective students to give them a realistic rundown of the courses before they sign up.

Pat Nojiem, whose daughter is a junior at ORR, said those sessions were helpful.

She also asked the school leadership to consider adding math courses. Students will be required to take four years of math; however, the only option for seniors is AP Calculus or AP Statistics.

“I think there’s a definite need for something other than an AP math for a senior,” she said.

An honors option also needs to be considered for students looking to keep their GPA high for competitive schools, she added.

Devoll said he and the teaching staff are discussing more options for math classes and said discussions about how to handle AP requirements are still in the early stages.