By Staff Writer: Rachel Cichon

The school year is halfway over, and all around the halls of Howell High School, students are trying to plan for next year. Lists of courses are being handed out, counselors are giving lectures on credits and college, and students are stressed over the momentous choice: what classes should they take? HHS provides dozens of choices that cover any field or interest imaginable, so it’s often hard to narrow down the list. A good idea is to consider taking an Advanced Placement class, more commonly referred to as an AP class, to help prepare and earn credits for college.

AP classes are accelerated courses that qualified students should consider taking. Throughout most of the year, they are run much the same as a regular course, although more rigorous. In May, students take an AP test that gauges how much they have learned. AP tests are very formal and are as serious as ACT or SAT testing, as the passing of the test can determine whether or not the student receives college credit. To take the test, it costs $89, an expense that may seem lofty to a student until they consider that the alternative is paying $1500 for a class at college.

“I take a bunch of AP classes, because the school always tells you to dual enroll as another option, but it just creates more complications, especially if you’re going to a public university,” says senior Matt Meagher. “With AP classes you can enter college as a sophomore or take more elective classes for a fraction of the price.”

Meagher  has taken AP United States History, AP Government and Politics, AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC, which are Calc 1 and 2 of college, AP Physics C, AP Physics B, and AP Chemistry, and has relinquished classes in the past in favor of AP.

“I chose AP classes over other things – like I would have loved to do We the People, but I determined that for my degree, it’d be better to do the AP classes,” says Meagher.

AP classes are available in a wide array of topics – covering courses that many students may not even realize they can take for college credit. Each class has a varying degree of difficulty, however, and it can be hard to realize in advance what a student can or can’t handle. It’s not uncommon for a student to bite off much more than they can chew by taking several AP classes at a time.

“You have to know your limits, and it’s always reasonable to test them, there’s no shame in that, but when you do you need to adapt, you need to seek help when necessary. You just can’t blow it off,” says Meagher.

Regardless, students that feel they are responsible and diligent enough to handle the arduous courses are encouraged to enroll in AP classes, despite the extra effort that must be put in, especially if the student wants to get a head start in college.

“I’m bored in all standard classes. I enjoy that you get a challenge. You get a much greater reward and it balances out regardless of GPA,” says Meagher.

Clearly the benefits of taking AP classes are great. But once a student realizes that, they are faced with more options. They must decide what classes they want to take, and how many they can handle without pushing their limits. To aide those in need of information, students around Howell High have offered advice and insight into the many courses.

AP United States History

AP United States History is a class generally taken by students in their sophomore year and is the alternative to regular United States History. Both classes cover major American events, such as World War I, the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, but AP United States History – or APUSH, as it is more commonly called – starts out with pre-American history and eventually moves forward to the Progressive Era and beyond.

The only teacher of the class at HHS is Mr. Eric Shaw, who also teaches Economics and has accumulated a great deal of knowledge on both subjects. Each week, the class is assigned an “FBI”, which is a summary of the chapter studied that week out of the textbook. FBI’s are generally done outside of school.

“He’s a little quiet, but I like him as a teacher and a person. He’s hard, but he’s still good,” says sophomore Alex Doyle, a current APUSH student.

The class isn’t easy, as it covers a lot of information in a limited time, but whenever a student does poorly on a test, Mr. Shaw offers test corrections which are used by nearly every student.  Despite the challenge, Doyle enjoys the class and is glad he took it.

“It’s a pretty hard class. It’s mostly just time-consuming, but if you put in the time you get a good grade,” says Doyle. “To do well, you have to be above average in history and you need to enjoy it. Other than that, just put in the time and do your work.”

AP Government

AP Government is a class taught by Mr. Jeffrey Hughey and is a year-long alternative to the semester-long regular Government class. Students study American government, ranging from the origins of the Constitution to the media’s role in government to social welfare policies.

AP Government is a popular AP class for students of all GPA’s, as it is easier and covers the required government credit. A common belief is that it also covers the student’s required economic credit, but this is false.

The class is expected to do a lot of reading outside of school and Mr. Hughey assigns several sections from the textbook a week, as well as the occasional article. Surprise quizzes that test whether or not the student did the reading are not uncommon.

“To take this class, you have to have the time and energy to do the readings,” says junior Kalie Acker.

It’s not difficult to keep a good grade in the class, as Mr. Hughey’s multiple-choice and essay tests are graded on a curve, but a student needs to work hard and put the effort in to do well on the AP test. Mr. Hughey has several methods to help students prepare. Firstly, he has his students take four “AP tests” a year which show what they would receive on an official AP test. The first test is generally the worst, as the student has no prior knowledge, and Mr. Hughey observes their progress on each test to see if they have improved.

Mr. Hughey also does “FRQ”s, writing responses that are almost exactly like those students will take on a test. These FRQ’s can be on almost any subject, so students need to know information on all of the chapters.

“I would definitely tell someone taking this class to stay on top of the readings,” says Acker. “Make sure you do everything he says, mostly just reading and understanding the vocab and main concepts as well as listening to him during lectures.”

AP Comparative Government

AP Comparative Government is a two-semester social studies class taught by Mrs. Kristine Shantry. The students study six countries over the year – starting with the United Kingdom, then Russia, China, Mexico, Iran and Nigeria. They focus on foreign relationships, political history and the structure of the government, learning how it operates and how it makes laws. Then, the students compare and contrast the government.

“Ms. Shantry knows a lot about politics and she knows tidbits about a lot of things,” says senior Makayla Millington. “It’s cool learning about what happens outside of the United States and getting a picture of how government is connected.”

Since the class is college-level, the students spend a lot of time working at home and studying the material independently. Instead of a textbook, students use printed booklets to learn the information. Millington recommends highlighting important passages in the booklet and keeping an arsenal of flash cards to help with vocab.

The class is not one of the hardest AP classes, but it isn’t easy either, especially due to the amount of at-home learning and independent studying. It likely wouldn’t be a good choice for a student that isn’t skilled at picking up information on their own.

“To be in this class, you should have in interest in government or politics or else you’ll be miserable,” says Millington. “You should be motivated enough to put time in outside of class. You should also keep an open mind.”

AP European History

In AP European History, students study the history of Europe since the Middle Ages, beginning with the Black Death. The class has a particular focus on historical paintings and art – especially that of the Renaissance era, which makes this a good class for students with a love for art or history, as they are expected to know paintings, titles, symbolism and how the painting reflects its artist’s thoughts on the upheavals of their time.

“I like this class very much, but I’ve always loved history,” says HHS senior Rowan Clark. “If you like history, take this class.”

The class, taught by Mr. Dallas Tatman, spends a lot of time reading famous articles and discussing its points. It focuses primarily on how cause and effect create bigger problems over time.  Students must know how to argue constructively, as often the class holds debates over articles, letters and poems, making connections between the pieces of literature.

Outside of class, students must keep up on readings and are even expected to read over the summer. They do get a choice in what they read, however. Clark read Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, while many other students read about art and another read about the western front. Clark estimates that she puts about forty minutes a night into the class each night between studying and reading.

“Even if you don’t like reading, read a little bit every night,” Clark suggests to AP Euro students in need of good study tips.

AP Psychology

Psychology is a social studies class available in many forms at HHS. Students can take Psychology 1, Psychology 2 or study AP Psychology with Mr. Greg Talberg. In Mr. Talberg’s class, students mainly learn about different theories in psychology, such as how the brain works, what affects people’s behavior, and how and why people do things.

A paramount factor of the class, and a beloved concept of Mr. Talberg’s, is that nothing is ever black or white. Despite tests and lots of research, Psychology is still limited to theories, and so no answer can ever be plainly right or wrong.

“He’s very laid back, pretty understanding, and a good teacher overall,” says junior Cailin Ferguson, current AP Psych student, on Mr. Talberg.

The class is not generally considered to be one of the harder AP classes – although some students do have difficulties on tests. To remedy this, Mr. Talberg allows test corrections. The class spends a lot of time inside and outside of school studying vocabulary and rarely has homework assignments.

“This is a good class for students interested in Psychology and for those who are looking for an easier AP class,” says Ferguson. “My only advice would be to study the vocab.”

AP Biology

As of this year, AP Biology is taught by Mrs. Dawn Summers and Ms. Annette Roberts, and is available to students as a two-hour block, meaning that the class takes up two class periods instead of the usual one.

“Mrs. Somers was very helpful to individuals who came to her,” says Kimberly Kenney, a junior and former AP Biology student. She stresses that Mrs. Somers was great at working one-on-one with students and that anyone struggling would likely succeed after consulting her.

The class learns a lot about plants, but the students also study the workings of the human body, specifically neurons and nerves. A misconception about AP Biology is that the class is a lot of memorization, when it’s actually about integration and the various ways everything connects. Students study different subsystems within organisms and ecosystems.  Outside of school, they read from the class textbook and occasionally work on labs.

“You can’t rely on lectures in class; it’s just skimming the surface,” says senior Keane Garcelon, who had Mrs. Roberts as his teacher. “You have to read the book to excel and pay attention in labs, because they’re easy to blow off but will be on the exam.”

The class requires a lot of lab work, which is one of the main reasons it is a two-hour block.  According to Kenney, success at the labs requires the student to be able to multi-task and figure out what to do individually.

“As long as you keep up on the reading and pay attention in class, you’ll do fine,” says Kenney. “Give yourself time to do the homework, spread it out over several days.”

AP Chemistry

AP Chemistry is largely an algebra-based class taught by Mrs. Angie Kynast. Next year, it will become a two-hour block for the first semester, the first hour for class and the second for lab, and it will be a normal one-hour course second semester that will focus primarily on the class.

“I enjoyed AP Chem. You get to do labs, stuff starts making sense – you’d be surprised by how simple it is,” says Meagher.

An example of a lab done in AP Chemistry was the Coffee Cup Calorimeter, a lab in which students learned what it actually means for a temperature to be Celsius and how temperature changes.

“It really has nothing to do with coffee but it’s interesting that you can use a coffee cup to explain or measure this thing,” says Meagher.

The class takes up a lot of time, sometimes class must even be held after school or on weekends, especially when situations such as an abundance of snow days arise.

“You’re gonna have homework and you have to do it, simple enough,” says Meagher. “If you get it, do the homework. If you don’t, do the homework, then ask the teacher and learn how to figure the problems out for yourself.”

AP Physics

AP Physics was originally split into two components – the study of mechanics of physics and electricity of magnetism. This often created some problems, however, as students would do well in mechanics but struggle in electricity magnetism. To remedy this, AP Physics teacher Mr. Paul Webster – affectionately called “PWeb” by students – changed the focus to only mechanics this year.

“Physics was very difficult. I don’t recommend it unless it is necessary for your degree, such as those in engineering, mathematics, or computer sciences,” says Meagher, who plans on getting a degree in engineering.

AP Physics is very lab-oriented, and many of the labs are reminiscent of labs students have done in the past but on a higher and more rigorous level, as students must work independently at times to come up with their own questions and hypothesis. There is a lot of work put in outside of class, but Meagher believes the benefits a student can receive from the class are worth the extra effort.

“It teaches you to be a problem-solver. It teaches you team-work. Although you take the test by yourself, you work together to go through problems. It teaches you adaptability and to use your resources to the fullest,” he says.

AP Calculus

AP Calculus is a college math course and one of the most advanced classes offered at HHS. The class studies math such as derivatives and integrals and is an important class to take for anyone considering a math-related career.

The class is taught by Mrs. Kathleen Zents, a helpful teacher who brings in food on days she gives a test, but it is her last year, as she is retiring. The class will be taken over by current Geometry and Functions, Statistics and Trigonometry teacher, Mr. Jeffrey Klapper.

“Mrs. Zents is awesome. She’s someone who obviously knows what she’s doing,” says junior Janice Kwan. “But I think Mr. Klapper will do great! I had him for FST and he was really awesome at getting points across.”

According to Kwan, it takes about an hour a night to do homework for the class and more over the weekend when Mrs. Zents assigns take-home tests and quizzes.

“Stay on top of the homework, because if you don’t do it you will do poorly in the class. It’s up to you to stay on top of everything,” says Kwan.

Calculus is a skill every student must acquire at some point in their life, and colleges will be glad to see a student who has taken incentive and already studied the course. It is one of the harder AP classes, however, so a student that doesn’t feel prepared to take on the challenge may want to take pre-Calculus instead.

“I feel like it’s a hard class, but if you put the time into it, you can get the concept. It’s not impossible,” says Kwan.

AP Statistics

AP Statistics is a math credit at HHS in which students study the different forms of statistics and how it is affected by bias. They deal with possibilities and work primarily with inference. The class follows their textbook and takes each chapter by sections, receiving notes, practice problems and partner quizzes for each new section. Students are tested each time they complete a chapter. The only teacher at Howell for AP Statistics is Mrs. Karen Lessnau.

“I really like her! I think she’s great at teaching and she makes the problems and class time fun,” says junior Heather LaVanture. “But, being an AP class, she does expect more from us and expects us to do the readings and homework.”

The class is slightly challenging as students have to put work into understanding the readings, which are often lengthy.  Since the homework problems tend to be very time consuming, the students aren’t assigned many a night.

“I would recommend this class to someone who likes math and has taken either FST or Intro to Statistics,” says LaVanture. “Don’t be scared to take it and ask lots of questions!”

AP English

Next year marks a new era for AP English as it is being broken into two courses a student can choose between. One course is centered on Literature and Composition and the other Language and Composition. The former will involve reading and comprehension of classic novels, while the latter focuses more on rhetorical analysis, argument, and synthesis and will be more similar to the current AP English class. The classes will be taught by Mrs. Dawn Webster (Or “DWeb”), Mr. Deven Parrish, and/or Ms. Gabriella DiNitale.

“Success in the class depends on who you are and how good you are at writing, because it’s not a skill based class that you can study for; it has to click for you to excel,” says Garcelon. “It’s a hard class, but not in the same way as AP U.S. History or AP Calc, because it brings a new perspective to academics.”

Time spent working on the class outside of school varies, as some weeks students will not have any homework, but others they will be forced to work tirelessly in order to finish a research paper before the ominous deadline. A student that takes the class doesn’t have to worry about dealing with a constant onslaught of work, but should be prepared to occasionally take on large assignments.

“You have to be intelligent to do well. It sounds conceited, but it’s the truth. You have to have a good understanding of English and be able to think outside of the box,” says Garcelon.

AP Spanish IV

The 2014-15 school year will be the first for the AP Spanish IV class, taught by Mr. Brian Riordan. Due to the new requirement that all students graduating in 2016 or later must have two credits in a World Language, it was created so that these students could take their first year of Spanish in middle school, the next three consecutive years in high school, and then AP Spanish IV their senior year.

Next year, the class will only be available to qualified students graduating in 2015 who opted to skip Spanish 4 and progress quicker so that they will receive the same Spanish experience as the younger classes.

“AP Spanish will be all in Spanish: reading, writing, listening to and using the language daily with a focus on cultural perspectives,” says Mr. Riordan. He feels that the class will help students become fluent and will especially aid students who want to major or minor in Spanish once they move on to college.

The students will be encouraged to constantly immerse themselves in the language – even outside of the classroom. Mr. Riordan suspects that students will spend at least a half-hour working on Spanish each night.

“The kind of student for this class is someone that wants to speak Spanish on a daily basis and is excited about it,” says Mr. Riordan.

AP classes are an excellent way to receive a good education and prepare for college, but students must remember not to push themselves by taking on more than they are capable of handling. This is why students must pay attention to their own abilities, skills and interests when choosing AP classes, and they must all be willingly to put time and effort into each class.

Any successful student should take one or more AP class in their high school career, so long as they are prepared to handle it. The most common advice simply seems to be to try hard and do the work you’re given to ensure understanding of the subjects, so that when they go to take the AP exam in May the results will be positive. Students shouldn’t get too stressed over the exams, as they have an entire year to prepare.

“That’s the advantage of AP classes. You get a lot of free time, because it’s a sixty-day course over 180 days – which is another reason you should take AP classes,” says Meagher.