When deciding what classes to take, it’s important to pick ones that will not only interest you but benefit your education. Advanced Placement (AP) classes give students the opportunity to receive college level curriculum and tests while in high school, as well as college credits. Taft offers many AP classes for all students, regardless of your grade level. The AP exams are taken in May, and are scored out of 5 points. As long as students get a 3 or higher on the exam, it is considered passing and most colleges will accept the score for credits.

Here are five AP classes that are the most recommended by upperclassmen:

AP Language and Composition (AP Lang)
A college level course about writing and understanding rhetorical situations. Students analyze texts while learning how to strengthen their claims, evidence, and organizational structure within their own writing.

Ms. Bullis is the only AP Lang and creative writing teacher on campus. Her former students, TA’s, and current students describe the class as a fun learning environment where Ms. Bullis not only prepares her students for the AP exam in May, but creates a safe space for students to express themselves and collaborate with others on things they feel passionate about.

AP Seminar
A course designed to teach students to collaborate while studying critical thinking, and improve on their research skills on a topic they are passionate about. The class focuses on improving students’ writing and public speaking skills to prepare them for college.

Mr. Johns and Ms. Gunn both teach AP seminar, and are appreciated by many students. Students in both classes recommended this class to prospective students if they would like to research topics they are passionate about. Many of these students take AP seminar along with AP literature or AP English language and composition, in order to prepare as much as possible for their futures.

AP World History (AP World)
This class takes a deeper look at world history from 1200 CE to the present. The course focuses on analyzing historical events, documents, political cartoons, and more which will later help on the AP test.

Mr. Conners-Long and Mr. Kodama both teach AP World, and spend the majority of the second semester preparing for the AP exam. The two collaborate on this class, as well as their AP US History classes, and have studying sessions in order to help prepare their students as much as possible. The AP exam consists of multiple choice, long answer, and document based questions.

AP United States History (APUSH)
A course for students to study the social, economic, political, and cultural changes in the US from 1491 to the present. Like Ap World, this class focuses on documents, political cartoons, and speeches that greatly impacted the United States.

Mr. Conners-long and Mr. Kodama teach this class, and prepare their students for the test in May. Students in Mr. Conners-Long’s class refers to the course as a way to take a deep dive into history, and explore the history that our country was founded on.

AP Environmental Science (APES)
The course focuses on past and present energy sources, and how they may affect our environment. Students get to collaborate on finding new ways to better the environment, and learn on how society’s actions have real life consequences. The AP exam has both multiple choice and short answer questions.

Mr. Moreno as well as Mr. Kaplan teach this course while using both projects and tests to give students a better understanding of the material. Mr. Kaplans students describe his class as “a way to learn about our environment through lots of group and independent work, to cater to everyone’s way of learning.”