Finally, the stress of AP exams is over. Your studying is done, but that does not necessarily mean your classes are. Your next few weeks could vary anywhere between watching movies and playing games to writing essays and doing projects.
Of the multiple AP classes offered at this school, here are the overviews of after the AP exam for the four of the most popular exams: AP Chemistry (169 students taking the exam), AP Psychology (257 students taking the exam), AP Language and Composition (301 students taking the exam), and AP NSL (320 students taking the exam).
AP Chemistry: Even if chemistry was not your favorite subject during the school year, it will shortly become it after the AP exam is over. Between the next few weeks of chemistry, you do labs, labs and more labs. Yes, there is one day where you review the AP exam after it is released and then you take a few practice tests for the chemistry SAT, but besides that it is all fun. The first two weeks are labs that relate to units you have learned, but then it is time for the fun labs. You do the exploding egg lab (you decorate and egg then watch it explode), tie dye lab, and last but definitely not least the marshmallow burning lab. Yeah, that is right, you even make s’mores. What could possibly be better than that? Oh wait I know… playing competitive kickball games against AP Biology. When the weather is nice you use the whole two periods to play and friendships will be put to the test. “We did lots of hands on activities such as creating pictures and did career oriented projects,” junior Trent Folk said.
AP Psychology: If you’re all about projects and movies, AP Psychology is your dream class after the AP exam is over. The first week involves watching the movie A Beautiful Mind. This movie relates what you have learned about mental illness (more specifically schizophrenia) to a real scenario of a brilliant mathematician who accomplishes a lot in his life despite his illness. Along with watching this movie, students complete an end-of-year project where each person chooses a unit to do a PowerPoint on and display what they have learned. “I have really enjoyed the movie we are watching and I look forward to doing this project,” junior Lindsay Ross said.
AP Language and Composition: Do not expect to have a break after the AP exam in this class. Although this class is important, the syllabus for after the exam is not as fun as other classes. After the exam, you will be reading a book, likely to be Into the Wild, and doing an out of class essay and other work oriented around it. Additionally, you will be rewriting one of the essays that you wrote during AP exam boot camp and turning it in for an out-of-class essay grade. Lastly, if time permits, you will be writing an essay responding to one of the prompts for the Common Application, since most of the people who take this class are juniors and may be working on their applications over the summer. “The class really helped me prepare for college,” senior Madeline Clark said.
AP NSL: AP NSL is all about TV shows and projects after the AP exam. This course becomes a break with period-long viewing sessions of either the TV show The West Wing or Parks and Recreation. Do not worry, both of these shows capture the political aspect of the class to further your educational studies, but Parks and Recreation is comedic whereas The West Wing is dramatic. Along with watching these two shows, you have to complete an end-of-year project. This project consists of picking an amendment and creating a poster based off of that topic related to anything you seem best fit such as a TV show or book. “The end of year project was really fun to do, and I loved the class overall,” junior Sarah McGrath said.
Rachel Berman
Staff Writer
