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Writer's pictureAllen Tsao

AP Struggles in the Seattle Area

I'm still relatively new to the Seattle Area (one of the many transplants), but one thing that I noticed last year is how difficult the AP exam preparation is in the area. And it's not the fault of the teachers, but just the structure of the school schedule. When I went to school in Texas, the school year started mid August, and we finished classes in May. That means the AP exams were at the end of our school year.


However, here the school year starts after Labor Day in September and ends in the middle of June. For most classes, this is fine and part of the local culture. But AP exams are a national exam, and they're always in May. So AP students in this area get fewer weeks of instruction compared to AP students in other parts of the country. Last year, an AP Physics 1 student of mine said the teacher didn't have time to cover rotational motion, and it was up to the students to learn that on their own. I also found some Calculus students indicating their teacher wasn't going to cover a couple of topics on the AP Calculus AB exam.


This year, many schools were closed for several days (Northshore school district was closed nearly 2 weeks), but the AP exam date still doesn't move due to inclement local weather. So I feel the worry and frustration of students in this area with the upcoming AP exams, when they were already challenged with a shorter schedule.


Good luck to the students and teachers in the region. I hope you all do well, but do your best and let things land where they may.

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