Although AP courses are not offered in ninth grade, some students on the Middle School campus continue to participate in Advanced Placement (AP) testing each May. These students choose to prepare independently or alongside Honors level classes in subjects such as biology and precalculus.
These exams allow students to gain early exposure to college level material as well as standardized testing formats. Students often choose to take AP exams in subjects they are currently studying despite not being enrolled in an official AP class.
“I’ve taken the Honors Precalculus course, so I felt like I could also take the test,” said Shriya Vishwas ’28, a student who took the AP Biology and AP Precalculus exams. “All of my classmates also decided to take the test so that was another factor. For AP Bio, I didn’t take the Honors Biology course but I took it to see how it was formatted so I will know how to prepare for the future AP’s I take.”
Other students chose to take AP exams to challenge themselves and would recommend the experience to other students.
“I think that AP exams may be challenging for some students but they are a good opportunity for students enrolled in Honors courses,” Ruishan Liang ’28 said. “I take Honors Biology and it has covered some of the AP Bio topics so I decided to take it to get used to the formatting and to get college credit for it.”
With no formal AP classes offered in ninth grade, students turn to other ways they can independently study to prepare for these exams.
“Watching videos on the College Board has been useful for me,” Shriya said. “They have the unit videos that I watch and take notes on. They offer questions similar to the ones on the exam so I feel like it is an effective way to directly study what’s on the test.”
