Seniors, teachers, almuni share their take on how to survive AP classes with tips, resources

The Advanced Placement (AP) English Literature and Composition course focuses on reading, writing and analysis in literature for students in their senior year. The exam involves a multiple choice section and a free response section. According to AP Literature teacher Diane Ichikawa, various skills are emphasized and built upon over the duration of the class. “[First semester,] we read books and interpret...

As each new school year begins, whispers of the Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH) course begin to fill the hallways. With many unsure of how to best study for the class, APUSH Teacher Christopher Johnson and senior Shinmu Jiang offer tips to help students succeed in the course. For Johnson, student success is heavily determined by students’ willingness to review and practice material ...

Love it or hate it, math is a tool utilized far beyond classroom doors and can be applied in a wide variety of fields. Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus AB and BC are the highest level math classes available, and many seniors elect to take these college-level APs as their final math course in high school. Senior Sally Liao, who took AP Calculus BC in her junior year, emphasized the importance of...

Advanced Placement (AP) Economics—split into a fall semester focused on the Microeconomics AP test and a spring semester focused on the Macroeconomics AP test—is a course at Gunn offered to seniors interested in learning about finance, business and the world of economics at a collegiate level. To succeed in this class, AP Economics teacher Philip Lyons encourages students to be fully attentive...

Juniors and seniors who choose to take on the challenges of Advanced Placement (AP) Physics 1—equivalent to one semester of a college-level algebra-based physics class—focus on topics including kinematics, force, friction, torque, rotational motion, Newtonian Laws and energy. AP Physics 1 teacher Jacintha Kompella has been teaching physics for over 10 years. Kompella recognizes how students...