Class scheduling is in full swing, but many students do not know all of the classes that are available to them. Northwood offers 17 AP classes for sophomores, juniors and seniors, providing challenging curriculums and a chance for students to earn college credit. Below is an in-depth profile of each AP class, including information on the curriculum and first-hand experiences from each class.
AP Government:
As Northwood’s social studies requirements change, students have the option to take AP United States Government and Politics, or simply AP Gov, to fulfill their civics credit. AP Gov is available for sophomores, juniors and seniors for the 2023-2024 school year. The College Board, which creates and facilitates AP classes, describes AP Gov as covering the “key concepts and institutions of the political system and culture of the United States.” The class involves analysis of a variety of sources, including significant sources from U.S. history, such as the Constitution. Teacher Skip Thibault has taught AP Gov for several years at Northwood. He notes that since the economics aspect of the civics class has been taken out of the North Carolina civics curriculum, AP Gov and civics are very similar in their subject matter.
“[AP Gov] is a lot more in-depth. To be honest, it’s very much a lecture class,” Thibault said.
He believes this aspect of the class prepares students for lecture-based college classes. AP Gov will help students develop skills in evaluating political trends throughout the history of the U.S. government, as well as identifying the legislation behind current events. Studying the decisions of the Supreme Court is also a large component of the class.
The AP exam for AP Gov is half multiple choice and half Free Response Questions (FRQs). The FRQs are written in paragraph form and generally include aspects of analysis and argument related to the U.S. political system, visual data, the Supreme Court and other topics explored in the course. The college course equivalent for AP Gov is an introductory course on the U.S. government.
AP United States History
AP United States History, commonly referred to as APUSH, is a class that has many alternatives. Students could choose to take Honors American History or take the class through CCCC, but for some students, the challenge of APUSH is engaging and beneficial. Senior Ben Starling is one such student who took APUSH during his junior year.
“I would absolutely recommend APUSH to anyone who is interested in history or wants a challenge,” Starling said. “Mr. Carlson is a fair and amazing teacher, and as long as you do your work to the best of your ability, you should be fine.”
The curriculum of APUSH covers American history from its formation to the present, utilizing a variety of historical sources to teach the “cultural, economic, political and social developments that have shaped the United States,” according to the College Board. Students are expected to be able to write essays presenting historical arguments with evidence from the historical sources they learn about in the class. It may sound daunting to learn that much history in one semester, but Starling had a different perspective.
“APUSH has probably been the most interesting course that I have taken throughout high school. Furthermore, I would say that everyone in my class, including myself, learned an exorbitant amount of history that we will keep with us for our lives,” Starling said.
The AP exam for APUSH has three parts: fifty-five multiple choice questions, three short answer questions, and two free response questions. The short answer questions ask students to analyze and compare historical developments from a specific time period in American history. The free response section asks students to develop their own arguments based on evidence and present these arguments in an essay style answer.
AP Psychology
AP Psychology is one of the few AP classes available to sophomores at Northwood, so it is a good class for underclassmen who are looking for a challenge. AP Psychology teaches the principles of psychology, which is the study of the science behind behavior and mental processes. This course utilizes a variety of methods to teach the history, applications and science of psychology. Senior Meghan Farrell took AP Psychology and experienced this firsthand.
“It’s definitely a very interesting course, like learning what makes the brain think the way it does,” Farrell said. “There is a lot of textbook reading, a lot of note-taking, a lot of homework; most of the assignments were online but there were a few group projects.”
A large part of AP Psychology is analyzing real psychology experiments to understand specific phenomena and help students connect the ideas in their notes with real-life human behavior.
The AP exam for AP Psychology is slightly different than many because there are one-hundred multiple choice questions that make up the majority of the credit for the exam. The questions will ask students to recall and apply the information that they have learned throughout the course, including scientific theories, historical information and psychological principles. There are also two free response questions that have to do with analyzing behavioral studies and scientific data. Farrell believes that students can do well on the AP exam if they study all of the material from throughout AP Psychology thoroughly.
AP Studio Art:
While there are technically three AP Studio Art classes- 2D, 3D, and Drawing- all AP Studio Art students are in the same class.
“What people don’t understand is it really should be called AP Studio Art, and then you get to decide what your portfolio is,” Leslie Burwell said.
This is her seventh year teaching AP Studio Art at Northwood, but she says AP Studio Art has gained more popularity this year. The College Board outlines the different mediums for each AP Studio Art section, such as photography, printmaking, fashion illustration and collage for 2D; sculpture, architectural models, ceramics, metal work and glasswork for 3D; and images such as portraits for drawing. The class, in general, will teach the processes of each type of art and will require students to apply these processes in their art. A large component of AP Studio Art is exploring the process of art pieces and being able to explain the significance of each piece. Ms. Burwell believes that this project-based aspect of the course prepares students for their junior and senior years of college, which she says are more project-based than exam-based.
The AP exam for all three sections of AP Studio Art includes fifteen pieces as part of the sustained investigation and five “selected works.” The sustained investigation is built around one central idea or theme, and the portfolio requires submissions showing the planning stages of each piece so that the AP exam readers can see how each art piece evolves over the course of the class. Ms. Burwell encourages students who are interested in eventually taking AP Studio Art but are unsure which classes they need to take first to contact her at lburwell@chatham.k12.nc.us.
AP Art History
For students who enjoy the arts but don’t make art themselves, AP Art History can be an interesting class to take.
“You are getting that art side in terms of learning about the art but you have the history aspect in terms of what is behind the art,” teacher Jessica Cecchini said. “What is the symbolism, what is the context and the content; what was going on in the world that made somebody create that piece of art.”
Cecchini has taught AP Art History for over nine years and loves the class. She believes that AP Art History has the ability to make art more accessible to students through their study and understanding of the pieces.
In general, AP Art History students will evaluate art pieces from throughout history and from different cultural origins, categorizing their style and comparing them to other art pieces. Interpreting the meaning and motivations behind specific pieces or artistic movements is also a large part of the class. Students might use evidence such as historical time period, information about the artist, and the art itself to form an idea of what the artist intended with the piece.
“The AP exam is part multiple choice and part essay. …There are short answer essays and long answer essays, so two half hour essays and two fifteen minute essays,” Cicchini said.
As opposed to AP Studio Art, students in AP Art History do not have to submit any art of their own for the AP exam. Instead, they take a seated exam.
AP Music Theory
For students who enjoy listening to and creating music, AP Music Theory might be a good fit. According to The College Board, students in AP Music Theory will “Learn to recognize, understand, and describe the basic materials and processes of music” by reading, writing, listening to and performing music.
Most students who take AP Music Theory at Northwood have previously taken vocals or another music-based class such as band or guitar. Senior Catherine Hall took AP Music Theory and stresses the importance of being prepared for the class.
“If someone doesn’t know basics such as how to read both bass and treble clef, different types of chords, or scale degrees, they are going to be completely behind and likely fail the exam. However, if someone has these basic skills and a passion for music, then this class will definitely change how they think about music,” Hall said.
Hall does believe, however, that AP Music Theory can be a very valuable class for students who want to pursue music in college because it helps students advance their musical knowledge and allows them to talk to “mature” musicians.
The AP exam for this course has three sections: one multiple-choice and two free response questions. The multiple choice tests students’ abilities to analyze written and recorded music. The first free response section is written and the second asks students to cite-read music and then perform it on the spot.
AP English Language and Composition
AP English Language and Composition, often referred to as AP Lang, fulfills the English requirement for juniors at Northwood and provides a challenging alternative to English III. AP Lang has a broad focus on the types of writing that students will read, including non-fiction works, and the focus is on comprehending each work to its full extent.
The composition part of the title refers to the writing aspect of the class. A large focus of AP Lang is teaching students to identify evidence in writing to support their interpretations of an author’s meaning. These analysis skills allow students to then elaborate on their ideas and draw on source material in their own essays, which according to The College Board aim “to explain an idea, argue a point, or persuade [the] reader of something.”
At Northwood, the AP Lang class encourages students to discuss ideas with one another, which can often help students further develop their own ideas.
“My experience in AP Language and Composition was fantastic,” junior Morgan Turner said. “The teacher, Mr. Bailey, was innovative in the way he taught and created a welcoming environment that fostered all kinds of conversation and Socratic seminars.”
The AP exam for AP Lang consists of forty-five multiple choice questions and three free response questions. The multiple choice questions require students to analyze written texts and edit texts as if they were a writer. The free response questions are written in paragraph form, almost like condensed essays, and they ask students to interpret nonfiction texts, make arguments, and utilize sources to support an idea.
AP English Literature and Composition
Instead of taking English IV, many seniors choose to take AP English Literature and Composition, sometimes referred to as AP Lit, to fulfill their English credit requirement. This class is often taken after AP English Language and Composition, but this is not a required prerequisite.
AP Lit focuses on fiction as the basis for teaching reading comprehension, literary analysis, and argumentative writing. Novels, dramas, short stories, and poems are all forms of literature that students will read, with a diverse range of cultures and time periods represented. Spring Zuidema is a professor at Liberty University and the testing coordinator at Northwood, but she also started teaching AP Lit last year.
“I feel like the students who took my class were consistently engaged and made it just a really great atmosphere where we could share our thoughts on the literature and other topics,” Zuidema said. “I feel like everyone came away from the class feeling like they learned something and just had a good experience their senior year.”
Zuidema believes that this discussion aspect of AP Lit helps prepare students for college courses, which is a point of emphasis for her. The AP exam for AP Lit consists of two parts: the multiple choice section and free response questions. The multiple choice questions ask about poetry and prose passages to test students’ ability to analyze a variety of literary mediums. There are three essay-style free response questions: one on poetry, one on prose and one that prompts students to apply a piece of literature they have read to a certain question.
AP Environmental Science
Students who enjoy hands-on experiments and learning in nature might consider taking AP Environmental Science, commonly referred to as APES. The College Board recommends that students take a physical science– such as earth and environmental science– and a life science– such as biology– before taking APES, but these prerequisites are satisfied by Northwood’s requirements. The focus of APES is on the natural world and on environmental problems facing the Earth today, both natural and man-made.
Senior Savannah Matthews took APES last year as a junior.
“I feel like I learned a lot, and I really enjoyed the teacher,” Matthews said. “The content of the class was also intriguing to learn and I enjoyed the immersive activities, such as going down into the creek and testing the water samples.”
In APES, students will analyze real-world studies and data to learn about environmental processes and evolving climate issues. They might also conduct research to propose their own solutions to these issues. There is also a mathematical component to APES, as students might need to crunch some numbers to be successful climate problem solvers.
Matthews took the AP exam for this class last year and felt she did well.
“I feel like I was very prepared for the exam after taking the class because we did so much practice on the FRQs and the multiple choice questions,” Matthews said.
The exam for APES consists of eighty multiple choice questions and three free response questions. The free response questions are open-ended and require students to design experiments and use evidence and mathematical reasoning to devise solutions to environmental problems.
AP Biology
Though most students at Northwood are required to take biology, some students may choose to go to the next level and take AP Biology as well. AP Biology is well suited for students who plan to study biology at the college level, especially because it is a year-long course that accounts for two semesters of college biology.
“[AP Biology] is basically college-level biology, however instead of being … in a room with 300 kids you’re in a room with 14 of your friends, and one teacher, so you get that kind of intimate setting to get help if you need it,” biology teacher Cari Christopherson said.
She believes that AP Biology at Northwood prepares students for college by developing the note-taking and test-taking skills they will need at the college level.
AP Biology utilizes traditional learning and lab-based learning to teach students “the core scientific principles, theories, and processes that govern living organisms and biological systems,” according to the College Board. Students will design experiments, collect data, test theories, analyze data, apply data to real life and develop their own scientific claims in order to fully develop their understanding of biology.
The AP exam for AP Biology is made up of sixty multiple choice questions and six free response questions. Christopherson says that the free response questions are wordy and can try to trick students, but with practice, students can learn how to answer them properly. An important change next year is that Northwood plans to offer both AP Biology and AP Chemistry, whereas before they alternated between the two classes.
AP Chemistry
Next year, Northwood plans to offer both AP Biology and AP Chemistry, the two year-long courses offered here. In the past, Northwood has alternated between AP Biology and AP Chemistry each year. According to the College Board, students in AP Chemistry will ¨learn about the fundamental concepts of chemistry including structure and states of matter, intermolecular forces, and reactions.” Learning in this course will not only be through traditional methods such as lectures but also through interactive chemistry labs. Senior Lexi Anthenien took the class last year with Ms. Freeman.
“I loved the class a lot. It was definitely challenging, but it was a lot of fun,”Anthenien said.” I think that since the class is two semesters long, it really helps with the general atmosphere of the class. Everyone knew we were in the class with each other for a while, and everyone knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so we all helped each other a lot and worked well with each other.”
She says that AP Chemistry is an enjoyable class for students who enjoy chemistry and are willing to accept the challenge of the course. Some skills that form the basis of the AP Chemistry curriculum are the ability to develop scientific hypotheses, design experiments, create graphs, balance chemical equations and identify chemical substances.
The Ap exam for AP Chemistry consists of sixty multiple choice questions and seven free response questions which each comprise half of the grade. Of the free response questions, there are three long answer and four short answer questions which test the six course skills: “models and representations, question and method, representing data and phenomena, model analysis, mathematical routines, and argumentation.”
AP Calculus AB and BC
While AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC are two separate classes, they are often taken as a pair because the integral calculus principles taught in AB are built upon in BC. Many students find it beneficial to take the class together because it makes it easier to pass the AP exams for the class.
Beginning in AB, students will learn differential and integral calculus. Differential calculus is concerned with the rate of change of mathematical quantities, while integral calculus concerns integrals, which generally represent the area under a graphed function. Then, students who choose to take AP Calculus BC will build on the information learned in AP Calculus AB. According to the College Board, in BC, students will “explore the concepts, methods, and applications of differential and integral calculus, including topics such as parametric, polar, and vector functions, and series.”
“Our AP Calculus class, the College Board’s version of calculus, is designed for the student that’s going to pursue a STEM career: engineering, science, math. It’s not business calc related, that’s something that’s completely different,” teacher Matthew DeCerbo said.
DeCerbo teaches both AP Calculus classes at Northwood, as well as AP statistics. He is very passionate about calculus and the College Board, but stresses that AP Calculus is not light work.
“If a student is taking a course like AP Calculus or AP Statistics simply for the GPA, then they might be in for a rude awakening because you do have to work in both of those classes.”
The AP exam for both AB and BC consists of forty-five multiple choice questions and six free response questions. The questions will test students’ abilities to apply their calculus knowledge, including in real world situations.
AP Statistics
AP Statistics is different from any other math course that students have taken in high school. Rather than teaching algebra and other mathematical techniques that students are used to, AP Statistics teaches students to analyze, compare and collect data. Some important ideas taught in AP Statistics are determining probabilities, comparing distributions of data, designing experiments and determining confidence intervals.
Many students choose to take either AP Calculus or AP Statistics, so it might be important to understand which is best for each student. Matthew DeCerbo teaches both AP Statistics and AP Calculus, and he says that the choice might have to do with a student’s future plans.
“Statistics is the fasted growing AP course there is, with the possible exception of computer science…, and the reason that [statistics] is so applicable is if you look at all of our different professions, whether it be political science, engineering, nursing, psychology, all of those fields are going to require a kid to take a course in statistics,” DeCerbo said.
AP Statistics generally includes a lot of data interpretation in the form of writing, which is reflected in the AP exam. Fifty percent of the exam score is made up of six free response questions, including one investigative task that generally takes the most time and tests multiple skills. The other fifty percent is made up of forty multiple choice questions. DeCerbo places an emphasis on preparing for the AP exam, specifically the free response section, by completing past free response questions for every unit.
AP Spanish Language and Culture
If a student is considering taking AP Spanish, they most likely have already taken classes up to Spanish IV. AP Spanish is a challenging course, but is ideal for students who want to continue studying Spanish language and culture in college. At Northwood, AP Spanish instruction and student communication is entirely in Spanish. Christopher Lupoli has taught AP Spanish for several years at Northwood.
“I have to say that it is a challenge because really they give me little time to teach so many things and to prepare my students to take the exam,” Lupoli said. “But I like the class because basically we spend almost all the time learning about the world, cultures and different aspects of the Spanish-speaking life and world.”
AP Spanish encompasses six topics relating to the Spanish language and Hispanic culture: families and communities, science and technology, beauty and aesthetics, contemporary life, global challenges and personal and public identities. Students might explore these topics through conversation with other students, writing reflections and reading or watching information about the Spanish-speaking world.
The AP Spanish exam tests student’s speaking, writing and communication skills in Spanish.
“There is a section for multiple choice, which includes different types of sources of information: written and audio,” said Lupoli. “There is a section for oral presentation (a conversation and a comparison of two cultures) and a section for written presentation (an email and a persuasive essay).”
AP Spanish equates to a higher level college course in Spanish.
