Mount Si expands AP program
September 26, 2008
By Laura Geggel
Mount Si High School history teacher Gerald Bopp with students Martin Williamson, Julie Censullo and Zac Pearlstein. Photo by Laura Geggel
The results are in: 104 out of 154 Mount Si High School students passed the Advanced Placement exams they took last spring, earning a three or better on a five-point scale.
Different departments shined, with Gerald Bopp’s AP sophomore world history class smashing the 2007 national average of 2.72 and earning an average of 3.60. The majority of students in three other AP classes — calculus, English language and composition and environmental science — trumped the 2007 national average on the 2008 test, as well.
Nationwide averages for the 2008 tests are not yet available.
As student test scores have increased, so have the number of classes. Mount Si High School offers 10 Advanced Placement classes, up from seven last year.
“Our student population has grown and it has grown academically,” said Counselor Joe Galagan. “The demand (for AP classes) is there.”
Three new AP classes — government and politics, European history and chemistry — have joined the ranks of the high school’s other AP classes: world history, United States history, American literature, biology, environmental science, comparative British literature and calculus.
“The real benefit (of taking AP) is learning how to study,” said junior Julie Censullo, who got a five on the AP world history test. “I learned a lot of history, but even more so, I learned to buckle down. I’m a better note taker; I learned what to focus on.”
AP classes use a national curriculum and college-level textbooks. They also save students a bundle — tests cost about $80 and many colleges allow students to transfer an AP score of a four or five to their university transcript.
Students aren’t the only ones excited by the high scores.
“This is my best average, I can tell you that,” Bopp said. “We’re trying to get more students to sign up. We want to start talking to middle-school kids to make them more aware of their choices.”
Many AP classes require rigorous out-of-class work. Bopp held Saturday study sessions leading up to the spring exam.
Senior Zach Whetsel said last year he spent an average of 10 minutes on homework for non-AP classes.
“The rest of the night was dedicated to world history,” Whetsel said.
Chris Jackson, who teaches AP American literature, prepared his students for the three-hour, 15-minute English language and composition test.
“In that time, they have to write three essays of different kinds and answer 55 multiple choice on very difficult reading selections,” Jackson said. “Most people would be completely blown away.”
Senior Alex Bolves said Jackson’s AP class helped him “develop my writing style and prose.”
Bolves said some of Mount Si’s regular classes didn’t academically equal his AP load. While he liked his teachers, some of the other classes don’t require “much higher level thinking,” Bolves said, but instead concentrated on “busy work.”
Senior Emily Brodie, formerly a home-school student, agreed.
“There is no comparison,” Brodie said. “The AP classes are what I want to do with my time. With a lot of the regular classes, you’re just waiting.”
The only AP classes that had students scoring lower than the national average — biology and United States history — are ready for improvement for this year’s AP examinations.
Andrew Rapin, who teaches AP biology, said he was disappointed in the 1.8 average his students scored on the 2008 test. His students have maintained a 2.8 average since he began teaching four years ago — with students reaching a 3.3 average on the 2005 exam.
“I am waiting for the exam diagnostic report to analyze this last class’s exam results,” Rapin said. “This diagnostic helps me make adjustments as needed for the following year’s curriculum.”
Yet, from regular to AP classes, Jackson had nothing but praise for his students and the school district as a whole.
“By the time I get a kid, they’re a junior,” Jackson said. “Their performance on the test is a reflection on the quality of instruction from the first day they set foot in Valley schools.”
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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