When it comes to difficult classes at Berkley, there are many that come to mind. But many students would agree that the top three hardest are AP Physics, AP Calculus BC, and Project Advanced. These classes are usually taken by juniors and seniors who enjoy rigorous coursework and are not afraid of a challenge. But how difficult are these classes? What is homework like? What should you really expect before enrolling? The following interviews reveal what is fact and what is fiction about these challenging courses.

Project Advance (PA)

Taught by Mr. Duffy, this is a Syracuse University English course. This means that students are reading, writing, and doing all sorts of projects revolving around real-world problems at a collegiate level. Senior Shira Mendelson, a current student in Project Advance, reports on her experience so far in the class this school year, explaining how so far, the class hasn’t been too difficult for her, but she is expecting it to get much harder as the year progresses. “Right now we are focusing on summer work, so there is no homework yet,” she says. Recent BHS alum Aidon Arnoff, who took PA his senior year, explains how the course “might not have the most homework of any class I’ve ever taken, but it probably had the most rigorous.”
One challenge Mendelson expects to face is writing essays longer than she’s ever written. This concern of Mendelson’s is something she will face later on, as Arnoff says, “The essays are usually month-long writing processes that go through multiple drafts and peer edits.” She comments, “I’ve only ever written four-page essays. Our summer reading assignment was 15 pages long. We had nine tasks,” one of those being reading a whole book and writing about each chapter. “Course work gets very heavy if you are not a good planner,” she adds. Arnoff agrees that PA is a challenging course with difficult writing assignments, saying, “The ideas that the class presents are really complex and beyond anything we’ve ever truly explored in high school, and figuring out how to master those ideas and put them into analytical essays was really, really difficult, but also very rewarding.” The class helps students gain a foundation of writing skills that will help with lots of majors and future careers. Mendelson’s overall thoughts on the class have been that it has been teaching her critical thinking skills, seeing the world through different lenses, and important topics in society.
Arnoff shares how he feels about the class in general. “It can be really interesting and thought-provoking. I probably learned the most of any class in PA, but that also comes with a lot of hard work and time dedication. If you are aiming to have a rigorous schedule or want to be challenged in school, definitely take PA. It’s a great learning experience and honestly prepared me for college better than any of my classes. Those who take it should keep in mind that it is stressful and very hard, but ultimately rewarding.”

AP Calculus

This class taught by Mr. Fadoir goes through a ton of information, working through all of the information taught in AP Calculus AB in only one semester and then adding more lessons in the second. Seniors Case Bishop and Maddie Gold both agree that it is a difficult class, Gold saying it “is very different from other forms of math I have done before. Algebra and Geometry are built off of the same concept, but calculus has a lot of new concepts I haven’t heard of before.” Bishop similarly says, “it was all new content with more letters than numbers.” But, even though the topics learned are difficult, it is still a recommended class to take if you like math. “I chose to take it because I am good at math and I wanted a challenge,” Bishop reports on the subject. Gold adds, “I heard that it would be hard because it’s an AP class that is known to be hard but the teacher and grading doesn’t make it hard to succeed.” For example, there are several extra credit opportunities. Bishop also emphasizes that Mr. Fadoir makes the class more enjoyable because he is a great teacher and helps students learn the material very well, adding that something else that makes it enjoyable is “we get new seats everyday and we work with others around us to bounce ideas off of each other.”

Overall, Gold advises that to “expect that sometimes it will take time to understand new things but don’t let it discourage you.” Bishop advises future students to “make sure to do the homework and be caught up,” because it is easy to fall behind from the fast pace. Although it may be difficult at times, it is a great class to take and very rewarding once you understand the content.

AP Physics

Taught by Mr. Antioch, AP Physics is known to be a difficult science course, unlike any other one would take in high school. Senior Avery Weingarden took the class last year and explains how most of the learning in the class took place during labs and hands-on experience instead of lectures and note taking. This has its benefits and drawbacks, allowing students to get a better understanding of how things work but also making it harder to study for assessments. Senior Ashley Rolands, who also completed the course, says, “My brother had taken [AP Physics] the year before with the same teacher and he advised me to take it.” She was worried at the beginning because the first month was challenging, but after some time, things started to make more sense. She also claims that “people are dramatic about how difficult it actually is,” and “you have a lot of opportunities to do well in the class.” Weingarden agrees with Rolands’ claims, saying, “I enjoyed it a lot. I liked everything we learned about in the end. The content may have been hard, but most of the class ended with a good grade because of extra credit and curves.”

A challenging aspect of the class is that, Senior Ashley Rolands explains, “The concepts in physics were all new and we had no prior knowledge.” She adds that the “tests were very difficult. I would get low grades on them, but there were enough extra credit opportunities so it was not hard to get your grade back up.” Senior Avery Weingarden adds on to this, “What we learned in class was multiplied in difficulty on the tests and quizzes.” But with the extra credit and an engaging learning environment, the class is not extremely difficult to succeed in.
Overall, all of the classes mentioned, while challenging, seem to be very rewarding once you understand the material and a class that you won’t regret taking.