AP Course Descriptions
All potential Honors and Advanced Placement courses are listed below. Please Note: In any given year, whether a course is offered depends on the number of requests received for that course.
LANGUAGE ARTS 1 ‐ HONORS | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 10019
Grades: 9
Prerequisites:
Description: This course is designed for students who have already demonstrated proficient and advanced skills in English and who are motivated to challenge and improve their skills. It focuses on studying various literature (short stories, poetry, drama, and novels), writing skills, vocabulary, and grammar. Through these studies, students will learn and apply techniques for literary analysis and oral
communication.
LANGUAGE ARTS 2 ‐ HONORS | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 10029
Grades: 10
Prerequisites: Language Arts 1 or Language Arts 1 Honors
Description: This course will include an in-depth study of grammar, writing and literature. Grammar study will strengthen understanding of the English language, which will be applied to improve writing and speaking skills. Students will refine their ability to write coherent compositions. They will also learn new sentence structures and stylistic devices, as well as the requirements of formal persuasive writing and narrative writing. Through the study of literature, students will learn skills involved in literary analysis.
AP ART ‐ HISTORY OF ART | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 51530
Grades: 10, 11, 12
Prerequisites:
Description: Students will complete a detailed and intensive college level survey of art history from Pre-History through the contemporary art world. Art of the non-European tradition is covered. Emphasis will be placed on understanding art within the context of social, political, and economic conditions throughout human history. Critical thinking, visual analysis, interpretive writing, and test-taking skills will also be emphasized.
AP BIOLOGY | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 30560
Grades: 10, 11, 12
Prerequisites: Biology, Chemistry (can be taken concurrently)
Description: AP Biology is an introductory college level course organized around the four Big Ideas including: 1. Evolution 2. Cellular processes and energy 3. Genetics and information transfer 4. Biological interactions. This course is designed to enable you to develop advanced inquiry and reasoning skills, such as designing a plan for collecting data, analyzing data, applying mathematical routines, and connecting concepts in and across domains. The result will be readiness for the study of advanced topics in subsequent college courses. This course requires that 25 percent of the instructional time will be spent in hands-on laboratory work, with an emphasis on inquiry based investigations that provide students with opportunities to apply the seven science practices. There are strong reading, writing, math and reasoning components. Time is required each day outside of class to work on AP Biology content.
AP CALCULUS AB | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 21240
Grades: 41193
Prerequisites: Precalculus
Description: Calculus is the study of functions and their behavior. Topics studied include limits, continuity, derivatives, mean value theorems, anti-derivatives and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. These will give the student powerful tools for understanding the behavior of functions, and will also provide students with the ability to solve problems in which the important quantities are in a state of continuous change.
AP CALCULUS BC | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 21250
Grades: 12
Prerequisites: AP Calculus AB
Description: This course is an extension of AP Calculus AB. Topics to be learned will be: parametric, polar and vector functions, techniques of anti-differentiation: partial fractions, trig substitution, integration by parts, improper integrals, applications of definite integrals, further study of differential equations, Euler's Method, and a study of sequences and series, including Taylor series and MacLaurin series.
AP CHEMISTRY | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 31060
Grades: 11, 12
Prerequisites: Biology and Chemistry (or teacher recommendation for missing prerequisites)
Description: AP Chemistry is designed to be the equivalent of the general chemistry course usually taken during the first college year. Students will attain a depth of understanding of fundamentals and a competence in dealing with chemical problems.
AP COMPUTER SCIENCE A | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 101570
Grades: 9, 10, 11 12
Prerequisites: Mathematics I or Algebra I
Description: AP Computer Science A is a full year course using the Java programming language to learn Object Oriented Programming. The goals of AP Computer Science A are to: design, implement, and analyze solutions to problems; use and implement commonly used algorithms; use standard data structures; develop and select appropriate algorithms and data structures to solve new problems; write solutions fluently in an object-oriented paradigm; write, run, test, and debug solutions in the Java programming language, utilizing standard Java library classes and interfaces from the AP Java subset; read and understand programs consisting of several classes and interacting objects; read and understand a description of the design and development process leading to such a program; understand the ethical and social implications of computer use.
AP COMPUTER SCIENCE PRINCIPLES | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 101571
Grades: 9, 10, 11 12
Prerequisites: Mathematics I or Algebra I
Description: AP Computer Science Principles introduces students to the foundational concepts of computer science and challenges them to explore how computing and technology can impact the world. With a unique focus on creative problem solving and real-world applications, AP Computer Science Principles prepares students for college and career. Whether it's 3-D animation, engineering, music, app development, medicine, visual design, robotics, or political analysis, computer science is the engine that powers the technology, productivity, and innovation that drives the world. The course will develop leaders in computer science fields and attract and engage students.
AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 10050
Grades: 11
Prerequisites: Letter of Commitment
Description: Following the College Board's suggested curriculum designed to parallel college-level English courses, AP English Language and Composition courses expose students to prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts. These courses emphasize the interaction of authorial purpose, intended audience, and the subject at hand, and through them, students learn to develop stylistic flexibility as they write compositions covering a variety of subjects that are intended for various purposes. The AP English Language and Composition course aligns to an introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum, which requires students to develop evidence-based analytic and argumentative essays that proceed through several stages or drafts. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Throughout the course, students develop a personal style by making appropriate grammatical choices. Additionally, students read and analyze the rhetorical elements and their effects in non-fiction texts, including graphic images as forms of text, from many disciplines and historical periods.
AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 10060
Grades: 12
Prerequisites: Letter of Commitment
Description: An AP Literature and Composition course engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for readers. As they read, students consider a work's structure, style, and themes, as well as such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.
AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 32070
Grades: 9, 10
Prerequisites: Letter of Commitment
The goal of the AP Environmental Science course is to provide students with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to identify and analyze environmental problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving or preventing them. Environmental science is interdisciplinary; it embraces a wide variety of topics from different areas of study. Yet there are several major unifying constructs, or themes, that cut across the many topics included in the study of environmental science.
AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 40040
Grades: 9
Prerequisites: Letter of Commitment
Description: Following the College Board's suggested curriculum designed to parallel college-level Human Geography courses, AP Human Geography introduces students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped the ways in which humans understand, use, and alter the earth's surface. Students use spatial concepts and landscape analysis to examine human social organization and its environmental consequences and also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their science and practice.
AP PSYCHOLOGY | Credits: 0.5 | Terms: 1 | Course #: 42561
Grades: 11, 12
Prerequisites: Letter of Commitment
Description: Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior. This course will enable students to better understand human behavior and develop respect for individuals through the study of behavior. Areas of study will include human development, theories of learning and personality, emotions, motivation, and other topics of interest.
AP PHYSICS 1 | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2| Course #: 31550
Grades: 11, 12
Prerequisites: Biology, Algebra 2, and Precalculus concurrent enrollment recommended (teacher recommendation required for missing prerequisites)
Description: AP Physics 1 is an algebra-based, introductory college-level physics course. Students cultivate their understanding of Physics through inquiry-based investigations as they explore topics such as Newtonian mechanics (including rotational motion), work, energy, and power, mechanical waves and sound, and introductory simple circuits. The rigor of AP Physics differs qualitatively from our general physics course with respect to the textbook used, the topics covered, and laboratory work done by students.
AP SPANISH | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 61120
Grades: 11, 12
Prerequisites: Spanish 4
Description: Designed by the College Board to parallel third-year college-level courses in Spanish Composition and Conversation, AP Spanish Language courses build upon prior knowledge and develop students' ability to understand others and express themselves (in Spanish) accurately, coherently, and fluently in both formal and informal situations. Students will develop a vocabulary large enough to understand literary texts, magazine/newspaper articles, films and television productions, and so on.
AP STATISTICS | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 22030
Grades: 11, 12
Prerequisites: Math 3
Description: AP Statistics emphasizes statistical sampling techniques and ways of describing the data collected, including ways to determine whether or not the data is clustered in a meaningful way. Also included will be normal probability distributions, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, and a study of probability. This course is a common requirement for many college majors---not just math.
AP U.S. HISTORY | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2 | Course #: 41040
Grades: 11, 12
Prerequisites: Letter of Commitment
Description: This course is designed to give highly capable and motivated students the opportunity to pursue college level studies, incorporating reading, critical thinking, independent work, writing, and four AP historical thinking skills and seven AP themes. We will begin the study in 1400s and end in 2000. Students will study the political, diplomatic, economic, social, and intellectual development of the United States.
AP WORLD HISTORY | Credits: 1 | Terms: 2| Course #: 40519
Grades: 10
Prerequisites: Letter of Commitment
Description: This course focus on the development of Western history, culture, institutions, philosophy, etc. from the European Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution to the postmodern Western world of today. Other regions of the world will be examined when relevant and as time allows. The honors course utilizes the inquiry method of studying history. This method relies on the students learning how to interpret resources on their own and, ultimately, to interpret history for themselves.