Course Descriptions

The purpose of this course is to provide a study of elementary functions and introductory college calculus. Course content corresponds to the syllabus established by the College Board Advanced Placement Program. Students are required to take the AP Calculus AB Examination in May from which placement and/or credit may be awarded at the college level if a qualifying score is obtained. Content covered includes a review of precalculus concepts, limits and continuity and differentiation. Students will work with a variety of functions including polynomial, trigonometric and logarithmic. Emphasis will be placed on applications. In the second half of the course, topics will include integration, modeling using differential equations and applications of definite integrals. Students will have an extensive review and take several practice exams in preparation for the AP exam.

In this introductory college-level course, students advance their understanding of rhetoric and writing through the reading, analyzing and writing of rhetorical texts. Throughout the course, students explore the basic tenets of writing and argumentation, such as rhetorical situation, claims and evidence, reasoning and organization and style. Students will read and analyze a variety of nonfiction genres, including essays, journalism articles, science writings, nature writings, biographies, diaries and criticisms from multiple perspectives and backgrounds. The primary focus is on writing evidence-based analytical, synthesis and argumentative essays and analyzing the rhetorical choices of a wide range of nonfiction writers. This course further engages students in the mastery of writing, argumentation and critically evaluating texts. In addition to explicit instruction and a plethora of independent and collaborative learning opportunities, the course offers specific AP exam preparation lessons and practice.

In this introductory college-level course, students develop the fundamentals of literary analysis and introductory college compositions. The course focuses on analyzing, evaluating and interpreting literary fiction, poetry and drama from a range of literary periods, authors and perspectives. The diverse canon allows students to explore the function of character, setting, structure, narrator and figurative language. Through a wide range of instruction and collaborative writing activities, students articulate their interpretation of literature through writing. In addition, this course includes AP exam preparation and practice that anticipates common student misconceptions.

AP Statistics is a college level course that focuses on the use of tools for collecting, analyzing and drawing conclusions from data. Course content corresponds to the syllabus established by the College Board Advanced Placement Program. Students are required to take the AP Calculus AB Examination in May from which placement and/or credit may be awarded at the college level if a qualifying score is obtained. Concepts covered include displaying data, measures of variability, normal and sampling distributions, simple linear regression, sampling and experimentation, an introduction to probability, estimating and testing claims about proportions and means, inference for distributions and relationships. Students will have an extensive review and take several practice exams in preparation for the AP exam.