This year, the Townsend Harris High School math department introduced AP Precalculus, one of the newest AP courses designed by the College Board. Students enrolled in this class will be preparing for the AP exam on May 13.
The reasoning for the course’s creation lies in the fact that it provides colleges an understanding of a student’s preparedness to take higher level math. Given that this year is its first in establishment, there are no pre-existing expectations for the AP exam. There is also no format of the AP exam available on the College Board website.
AP Precalculus teacher Abid Choudhury confirmed that since there is a “new curriculum, there isn’t a huge bank of resources.” However, the limited resources that are available are being used to help students prepare for the exam.
“It is hard to determine what, ultimately, will be on the AP exam… [and we] have a limited idea of what it would look like,” Mr. Choudhury said, “Nothing is super specific. We have what it would look like in theory.”
Math teacher Stephen Mazza said that “it’s exciting to prepare for a new class,” but also highlighted the lack of material that can be used for student preparation.
“I don’t think it is a more difficult class than our former precalculus class,” he said, “it just has a very different focus.”
Students also seem to share similar views. Junior Marcelo Matias said that “[he thinks] the class is sort of challenging [but] after reviewing notes and watching daily videos it does get better.”
“I think the class is pretty informative so far. While there’s review for all of the previous mathematical classes, we also learn new information about calculus,” said junior Fiona Gao.
