Students sit in AP classes every year, twirling pencils, taking notes. With a Microsoft laptop on the desk and a coffee in their hands, teachers stand in front of the large classes next to Promethean Boards sharing their knowledge. A student raises their hand, and the teacher places their coffee down and comes over to help. They show them extra notes and do a problem out on the whiteboard. Each year students stress about the AP exam and hope for possible college credit. Stats teacher, Mr. Bracy, and US Gov teacher, Mrs. Lussier are hard at work preparing their students for the exam at the end of the year.
Two of the most popular AP classes in the school each year are AP statistics and probability, along with AP US Gov and Politics. The abbreviation AP stands for advanced placement and is a college level course class. AP US Gov and politics started as a class of just around nine people. It has now grown to three classes of around 20 students each. Throughout the span of the course Mrs. Lussier introduces aspects of the AP exam as soon as possible. The final exam consists of 55 multiple choice questions, and four free response questions. The free response questions consist of concept application, quantitative analysis, SCOTUS comparison, and the argument essay. All of these aspects are introduced within the first few months of the course, giving students a considerable amount of time to prepare. Towards the end of the year, Mrs. Lussier mentions how there is a “crunch for content”. With AP Gov being one of the first exams in early May, it becomes a greater challenge to fit material in.
Mrs. Lussier explains how the exam is pushed back this year, giving more time to prepare. She expresses this by saying, “I’m actually looking forward to having an extra week to just review, instead of just being worried about the content.”. The AP exam consists of different elements not shown in a typical test. The four FRQ’s (free response questions) are elements not typically shown on a test. Mrs. Lussier shares, “A lot of it is teaching how to take the test”.
On the flip side, AP stats has many contrasting aspects in comparison to AP Gov. The stats exam is formatted in two sections, 40 multiple choice questions in the first segment, and six FRQ’s in the second segment. The last FRQ will be weighted heavier, at about 1.5 times as much. The multiple-choice questions are straight forward scoring, if you get it correct, the point is awarded. The FRQs are a bit differently scored. They will be accessed on a four-point scale. Mr. Bracy incorporates these free response questions into class as practice. Students then will score and decide whether a point would be given or not. The last FRQ in the stats exam will be an extended question. It will be something you have not learned, to see what you can apply from lessons in the class, to the exam. In final preparation for the exam, Mr. Bracy is typically done teaching material by the end of March into early April. From there the students will complete a mock exam. This will take up two 90-minute class periods to mimic the time of the real exam.
To help find more study tools for students, Mr. Bracy adds, “I have unsuccessfully tried to find what would work outside of class.” This extra practice he has tried to implicate is a mix of what students are willing to do and what will actually help them. Mr. Bracy’s personal teaching style is “Sort of a mix of teacher directed, and student exploration.”. What the students put into the class is overall what they will get out. To end off, Mr. Bracy states, “It’s like we’re all a team and competing against each other. It will raise the class up and help us get better.”
