“I am cramming for the test, and I am extremely nervous,” Yaman Hameed complained. He’s trying his best to gather all the information to pass his AP Modern History test. The AP testing happened on May 8, 2025 at the Todd Beamer High School.
How can 9th and 10th graders earn college credit?
FWPA students had their chance for the first time this year. Principal Thornton decided to add an Advanced Placement (AP) class to FWPA because she wanted the students to have a rigorous class with an opportunity to acquire college credit. Starting this year, students will take one year of AP Modern World History and one year of AP Human Geography, taught by Mr. Luong.
To get college credit, students take a test in spring. Students can score 1-5, and any score higher than a 3 is considered passing and they can earn college credit.
Students worked very hard to get prepared for the AP test. 9th grader Yaman Hameed shared that the AP class prepared him an 8/10 on a scale of 1-10 because Mr. Luong described the historic periods very well, and it stuck in the students’ minds. Various students used different resources to get prepared for the test. “The Hiemler videos were one of the most helpful resources for getting prepared because it talks about all of the information in a very short video, and you will not have to watch a 20 minute video,” 10th grader Ariana Vlasyuk described. The Hiemler videos were the most helpful resource, but students also used practice tests, the textbook, the audio book and notes to get prepared for the test.
Mr. Luong always says one thing to his students all throughout the year: “One small improvement, no matter where you are at.”
The test itself is more than three hours long. It has four sections: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ), Short Answer Questions (SAQ), one Document Based Question (DBQ) and one Long Essay Question (LEQ).
Yaman Hameed expected the test to be harder, but he found it very easy, especially the MCQ’s.
“It was easier than I thought it would be, especially the DBQ, but it still felt a bit challenging,” commented 10th grader Ella Kiforishin.
The AP exam is a great opportunity for the students to earn their college credit and use their critical thinking and analytical skills to reach college expectations.