While classes are slowing down, there is still a curriculum to teach and finish by the end of the year. However, AP tests were in mid-May, meaning they no longer have a curriculum to teach for the final month of school. This begs the question: What do AP classes have going on for the rest of the year? In this article, we will explore what happens in a variety of these AP classes featured at Berkley, from both the student and the teacher perspective.
Mrs. Ford – AP Literature (AP Lit)
Mrs. Ford’s AP Lit class, consisting mostly of seniors, has an easy way out. Mrs. Ford explains that, “Once the test is over, we begin our culminating assignments. This year, students had to do a two-part culminating assignment. The first was on the structure of their independent reading novel, and the second was on their personal reading history.” While Mrs. Ford’s classes got right to work after the AP tests, seniors left right after, which left just two juniors. Until the end of the year, Mrs. Ford said to the Juniors, “Okay, let’s work on something that you want to work on and that you will find valuable.” With these instructions, the remaining juniors worked on drafting college essays, with the help of Mrs. Ford. As for herself, Mrs. Ford said that she “enjoys the time after the test. The test puts a lot of pressure on us and oftentimes it is not work that students are genuinely interested in.” She also says that “after the test we can slow down, have good conversations, and move toward work that students find meaningful.” To finish the year, Mrs. Ford and her AP Lit classes spend time with culminating assignments, college essays, and relaxing.
Jack Fouts – AP Biology (AP Bio)
Since AP Bio mainly consists of underclassmen, AP Bio doesn’t slow down quite as much as upperclassmen AP classes. Sophomore Jack Fouts, a student in Mr. Doty’s second hour AP Bio class, explains that even while “the first couple days after the AP test were really easy days,” more recently Mr. Doty has been “teaching us chemistry concepts to prepare us for AP Chemistry next year, since a lot of us are taking AP Chemistry.” Fouts also says that as far as the classroom environment goes, it is “much less tense since we aren’t on a strict timeline.” To end the school year, students in AP Bio learn less biology, but remain full steam ahead, learning chemistry until the year ends.
Mr. Weingarden – AP Calculus (AP Calc)
In Mr. Weingarden’s AP Calc class, full of mostly seniors and a few juniors, the juniors have a little bit more to learn about calculus, “I typically do some BC topics after the AP exam and give one last quiz on new material to the juniors,” said Mr. Weingarden. Since the seniors leave at the end of May, there are still a few weeks between the AP test and when they leave. Mr. Weingarden mentions, “For the seniors, I give the culmination assignment (a project) and go over the AP Calc exam.” Additionally, with this year being Mr. Weingarden’s last year teaching, the juniors also helped Mr. Weingarden clean out his room. He explained, “This year, my four juniors are helping me clean out my classroom and help gather AP Calc AB materials for Mrs. Olsen.” Although the class is winding down, both the seniors and juniors continue to learn and help, whether it’s learning new topics or helping Mr. Weingarden in his final year of teaching at BHS.
Mrs. Francis – AP Environmental Science (APES)
In Mrs. Francis APES class, full of mostly seniors, and just 13 remaining juniors, she explains that, “Students still have assignments. Students this year are working on creating handsewn field books and will be outside learning how to do tree and flower identification. They will also work on calculating the height, diameter, age, and cooling impact of trees.” Mrs. Francis explains that the students are still excited about the last unit, even though AP tests are done. Since the class is mostly seniors, Mrs. Francis says, “It is a lot quieter in our classes and our stress levels have come down. Overall, we are much more relaxed, which I think enhances the learning going on. We also got to know each other even better because the class sizes are so small.” After the AP tests, while the seniors were still here, they took several outdoor adventures to keep everyone engaged. While still doing work in class, Mrs. Francis didn’t assign extra work during that time so the seniors and juniors could catch up on any missing work. Mrs. Francis explains that she feels even more motivated because the small class size allows the class to have some adventures. “We are hoping to go on a field trip to Cranbrook,” Explained Mrs. Francis.
Dylan Field and Judah Falik – AP Government and Economics (AP Gov and Econ)
As the classes above are from the teacher and student perspectives, the following class will be our perspective of the first AP class we took and what we are doing since the AP tests are over.
As we signed up for AP Gov and Econ, we didn’t know what to expect, as it was our first AP class we were taking. After the AP Gov and Econ tests, we started to learn about Personal Finance. We have been watching videos and documentaries, and afterwards playing games that relate to what we learn that day until we win the game. Since the actual curriculum is over, we are less motivated to do work, because we know that this won’t be tested, but it is interesting to learn about. Our class had no seniors, so we didn’t have to worry about any upperclassmen leaving. Despite not learning any new topics about the government and economics, personal finance is just as important for our future, because we learn the importance of saving our money, how to spend our money, and what happens with debt. Since the year is coming to an end, it is a nice class to have as there is no stress about having a quiz or test, and fun learning about the real world and our future with money.
Each AP class finishes the school year in its unique way. Whether it’s starting the process of writing college essays, financing, culminating assignments, or relaxing, one thing is clear: the stress and tension of the AP tests are gone, and the rest of the school year will roll out in a breeze.
