Imagine today was one of your most important days at school, you had your finals and an important exam. “I should’ve studied more,” you thought to yourself, even though you had all year to prepare.
There are some classes at FWPA that many younger students are nervous to go into. Many of the older students described their classes as being much harder this year.
Aidan Garcila describes his eighth grade year as okay, homework-wise. Going into ninth grade next year, he heard around school that Mr. Filler’s science classes can be fun, but there’s a lot of studying involved. He also noticed the class, AP World History, that ninth and tenth graders took this year. He heard that he should start studying at the start of the school year to get a good score on the exam. Hannah Martin, another eighth grader describes her year as a lot of fun but is nervous to go into 9th grade. “I feel like the past two years have been really fun and exciting, that next year, it’ll be more difficult.” She talks about how she is the most intimidated by Mr. Filler’s science classes and Mr. Luong’s history class, saying that Mr. Filler’s finals would make her stressed.
Lilliana Ordonez, a ninth grader, mentioned that ninth grade was much more difficult for her than her eighth grade year. The classes she was most intimidated by were Mr. Filler’s and Mr. Luong’s. For Mr. Filler’s Biology and Environmental Science classes, she wished she was more prepared on how to study for her quizzes and tests. A tip she gave was, “Prioritize studying and to make friends, so if you’re struggling with something, you can ask them for help.” Kaylee Donarico also said that ninth grade felt harder for her. She says that the AP World History exam from Mr. Luong’s class was actually easy for her, even though she was the most intimidated by that class. She explains, “I was worried that I wasn’t gonna be smart enough to pass a college class, much less the exam itself.” A tip she gave for that class was to watch Heimler videos, and to use an app called Notion, which helped her with her organization.
Mr. Luong, the history teacher at FWPA gives the tip, “Watch all the Heimler videos ahead of time,” and to read the chapter of what part the class is on, in the book. Next year, although incoming ninth and tenth graders will be taking AP Human Geography, the tip still follows through. Mr. Filler, the science teacher at FWPA, says that the thing students struggle with most is finishing the assignments and studying the assignments. In his classes, there are many quizzes, tests, midterms, and also a final. The way he structures his class to help you understand everything is that he teaches (like showing a presentation), then the class does something together (some type of practice), then individuals practice (with worksheets or assignments).
These are the two main teachers at FWPA who teach classes that intimidate students. After reading this article, hopefully the lower grade levels can understand how their upcoming classes are structured and tips that could help them prepare.