By Tyler Chavez – Staff Reporter

Starting this year, sophomores have been offered AP Statistics as a math course.

The advanced placement math course has been offered to sophomore students who have already finished Algebra 2.

“I expect the same thing from my sophomores and upperclassmen: work hard, and pass that test,” AP Statistics teacher Ms. Loch said. “I treat them all the same because the expectation is the same no matter what.”

The course deals with statistics and probability at a college level. Students utilize probability to help with hypothesis tests.

“In other math classes, the course is taught in a way that is easy to understand,” sophomore Matthew Chang said. “In AP Stat, we as students have to use our thinking in order to understand concepts in AP Stat.”

One of the biggest challenges that come with taking an advanced placement class is the amount of work that the class provides.

“The workload for AP Stat is comparable to that of AP Government,” junior Samir Elhelw said. “The notes take about 1-2 hours to do, and the practice problems that are assigned after each section are easy to complete if you understand the content.”

The decision was made to get students to take more AP classes earlier to help prepare them for college.

“Anyone can handle AP classes if they put in the time,” sophomore class adviser Mr. Boynton said.

AP Statistics is not the only advanced placement class being offered to sophomores. AP Government and Politics has been offered to sophomores for years.

“I think that being a sophomore, they’re still in a transition period,” Boynton said. “So I think the option of having these two AP courses at the sophomore level is sufficient.”

Last year, sophomores were offered AP U.S. History along AP Government and Politics. The experience of having these two AP courses has helped junior students taking AP Statistics this year.

“When I walked in, I knew that an AP curriculum was mostly note taking with teacher clarification on the notes the next day,” Elhelw said.

Some people believe that offering more AP courses to sophomores will benefit them.

“When you take more APs as a sophomore, you become more used to it and you can take more APs,” said sophomore Jake Gwirtz.

But of course, the school would have to figure out which AP courses they would offer to the sophomore class.

“I would offer AP Biology for sophomores considering they take biology their freshman year,” Elhelw said.

The push for sophomores to take more AP classes has already gotten some to start thinking about which they would take in the future.

“I aim to take as many as possible that could help my college career, but that could change if I’m unable to adjust to these classes,” Chang said. “I’m interested in math, so AP Calculus.”

Upperclassmen have also offered tips for those sophomores to succeed in the class.

“Keep up with the notes,” Elhelw said. “The course is fast moving and if you miss a day, you should do your best to make up the work as soon as possible.”

Despite the difficult work load, people believe that the sophomores can succeed in this course.
“As long as the student believes they can do it, go for it,”  Chang said.