By Stephanie Ocampo

Students at Passaic High School have the opportunity to take a variety of AP courses throughout their time in high school. If students perform well on the AP exams, they may be able to earn college credits.

AP courses at PHS include: Art History, Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, Comparative Government and Politics, Computer Science A, Computer Science Principles, English Language and Literature, English Literature and Composition, Environmental Science, Music Theory, Physics 1, Physics C, Psychology, Spanish Language and Culture, Spanish Literature and Culture, Statistics, Studio Art (Drawing and Design), US Government and Politics, US History, and World History.

With the wide range of courses available, it is almost for students to not find an AP class that they are interested in.

“The main thing that a student needs in order to be successful is the desire to be successful. They need to be aware that [AP classes] are going to take a lot of extra work and may require some time after school in tutoring. But it is a great path to be successful in college and afterwards,” said Ms. Welch, Assistant Principal.

AP Sciences
Ms. Kush teaches AP Chemistry and describes the struggle of fitting so much material into so little time: “AP Chemistry is taking both General Chemistry 1 and Chemistry 2 and trying to fit it into a full school year. While in college, it takes two college semesters with classes that might meet for an hour everyday to complete their two courses.”

Along with the AP Chemistry course, as well as a similar college course, comes a lab period. Ms. Kush stated, “Labs in college are three hours, and in high school, we only have 80 minutes.”

This creates a challenge for science teachers to condense all the material into less than half of the amount of time. However, it is beneficial for students to complete these classes in high school so they can get a head start on college courses.

According to Ms. Kush, there are many real life applications to relate to AP science courses. “AP Physics offers introductory paths into engineering fields, and AP Chemistry offers paths into potential pharmaceutical science preparation. AP Biology can help students prepare for a medical route and AP Environmental Science can introduce students to an environmental policy career.”

AP History
Mr. Velez, a second year AP World History teacher at our school, expresses that only one year isn’t enough to fit in all the content; he prefers it to be two years. But it is possible to teach all of the material as long as the teacher is focused and on track with his curriculum.

Taking AP World History gives students the opportunity to learn skills such as becoming more critical, asking both basic and high-level questions frequently in the classroom, and making connections during the different eras. The skills learned in these classes are applicable to other subject areas and in the future, whether in college or a career.

AP World History is one of the few AP courses offered to freshmen (along with AP Principles of Computer Science). It provides exposure to a history course before taking AP U.S. History, which is rumored to be more difficult.

Mr. Velez states that it may be helpful in the future for PHS and LMS to partner up to implement a Pre-AP course at the middle school level for students who may be prepared to take an AP course freshmen year in high school.