It is that time of year where all state testing begins to come around. Students begin to study for their finals, and now for their AP exams.  For the first time at NPHS, some of the students taking their AP exams happen to be freshman, and it is a unique experience as it does not count to their final one grade like their mid term or upcoming final. 

Mr. Tracey, head of the Social Studies department, has been a teacher for around thirty three years now and taught freshman classes 25 years ago for the world history course. 

The decision to provide freshman with the AP experience in the Social Studies Department is very new to everyone, including teachers.

Mr. Tracy said: “So previously, there were no AP courses for freshmen. And there’s an exciting course on modern world history, and we thought it would be an advantage for freshmen to have a high level course like that. We  thought, here’s a chance for them to really show what they can do by creating another course level. So we’re excited.”

The advantage to students should be felt for years:  “The AP Modern History exam is very much like the US History AP exam. There’s free response questions. There’s multiple choice questions. There’s some essay writing cues. So really it’s a great training ground actually, for these kids will most likely be AP US History students. So the kids taking freshman AP are going to be so much more prepared when they take AP US as juniors.” 

Knowing that the exams are right around the corner, freshmen AP students Maggie Liu and Kaylin Hans have lots of thoughts and feelings.

Liu said:  “I’m overall really nervous about the whole thing. I want to get a five but I don’t think I am very good in computer science.” 

Hans agreed: “I am honestly extremely nervous and stressed because we are still learning content in class, we haven’t started in-class review, and the test is so soon. It is in two weeks. I have started to study, but I am scared mostly because it is the first AP course I have ever taken and I don’t really know what I am going to expect, no matter how much I practice.” 

As the AP exam has replaced a final for their class, both Hans and Liu have both agreed that they do prefer this exam over a final since it does not count towards their grade. 

Every school year new things are introduced at NPHS to help better and benefit the students and teacher. Introducing AP courses and AP exams to freshmen is one of new things that the school is experimenting with.