Advanced Placement
What is AP?
What is Advanced Placement (AP)?
- AP courses are rigorous college-level courses taken in high school with an opportunity to earn college credit/placement based on students' score on the national AP exam.
- The tests are scored by trained readers who determine a score of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Students earning a 3 or higher may earn college credit for that subject.
Why should students take AP?
- Let colleges know that you’re serious about your education — with AP on your transcript, you’ll show that you’ve challenged yourself with rigorous course work.
- Earn college credit and potentially skip introductory courses if you do well on the AP Exam. This can save tuition costs.
- For example: If a student scores a 5 on the Calculus AP exam, he earns 11 math credits at UNO. A student scoring a 4 or higher on the Biology AP exam earns 8 college credits at LSU.
- Experience college while you are still in high school. Learn what is expected of you and develop skills you need now to get the most out of college later.
- Studies have shown that students who complete AP coursework are more likely to continue their education beyond their freshmen year in college. They are also more likely to graduate within four to five years.
- Chalmette High students earn an extra quality point towards their GPA when they take AP classes. So, a B in an AP course averages the same as an A in a non-AP course.
What AP courses does Chalmette High offer to students?
- Human Geography
- Psychology
- English Language and Composition
- English Literature and Composition
- U.S. History
- Biology II
- Calculus
AP Course Descriptions
U.S. History – Advanced Placement Honors
Prerequisites: U.S. HistoryThis class is taught as a college class, using a college textbook. It examines, in depth, a broad body of historical knowledge. Students will demonstrate an understanding of historical chronology; use historical data to support an argument or position; differentiate between historical schools of thought; interpret and apply data from original documents, including cartoons, graphs, letters, etc.; effectively use analytical skills of evaluation, cause and effect, comparison and contrast; and work effectively with others to produce products and solve problems.
AP English Language and Composition – Advanced Placement Honors
Prerequisite: English IIIAn AP exam fee is required of those students taking the exam to receive college credit. This course engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of rhetorical contexts and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects, as well as the way genre conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.
AP English Literature and Composition – Advanced Placement Honors
Prerequisite: English IVAn AP exam fee is required of those students taking the exam to receive college credit. In AP English Literature and Composition students learn how to read critically and analytically. The main goal is to create strong, analytical writers. Students read and write analytical essays on a variety of genres: poetry, novels, drama, etc. Students work through world literature chronologically, beginning with the Renaissance and on through the modernist period. Students can expect to read widely, with an emphasis on inference-building.
Biology II – Advanced Placement Honors
Prerequisite: ChemistryBiology II is designed for the student who has a strong interest in biology and may be considering a career in a health field. Students explore advanced topics selected from cellular biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, genetics, microbiology, evolution, behavior, ecology, plant and animal anatomy and physiology. Research and advanced laboratory techniques are emphasized.
Calculus – Advanced Placement Honors
Prerequisite: CalculusThis course includes the study and application of limits and continuity as they are related to instantaneous rates of change, differentiation of inverse trigonometrics, logarithmic and exponential functions, application of derivatives in optimization problems, linearization models and related rate problems, application of definite integrals in approximating areas and volumes of solids with known cross-sections.
Psychology – Advanced Placement Honors
Prerequisite: BiologyThis course introduces students to the systematic and scientific study of human behavior and mental processes. While considering the psychologists and studies that have shaped the field, students explore and apply psychological theories, key concepts, and phenomena associated with such topics as the biological bases of behavior, sensation and perception, learning and cognition, motivation, developmental psychology, testing and individual differences, treatment of abnormal behavior, and social psychology. Throughout the course, students employ psychological research methods, including ethical considerations, as they use the scientific method, analyze bias, evaluate claims and evidence, and effectively communicate ideas.
