By Emma Braithwaite, Features Editor
“I think either (schedule) can truly work, but it’s going to take a shift in both teacher and student mindset to do it,” AP Calculus teacher Sam DeWitt said.
Last year, First Flight High School adopted the A/B schedule, which consists of four class periods every day. On this schedule, semester classes happen every day (for one semester) while year-long classes occur every other day for the entire year. Year-long classes are paired together so that students have one class on “A” days and another class on “B” days for the same class period.
The majority of AP classes at FFHS are every other day for the entire year, but there are three classes that don’t fall into this majority. These classes occur every day for the entire year. The three everyday AP classes are AP Calculus AB/BC, which is a two-part class, and AP Biology and AP Chemistry, both containing a lab component, which requires extra time.
Since the majority of AP classes occur every other day, students have fewer days in their AP classes this year than in previous years. Although class periods last for 90 minutes as opposed to lasting 55 minutes every day in previous years, time is still a limiting factor.
“The last normal (year) I could find, we had seven weather days. So we missed a week and two days and I was ending (the curriculum) on March 28th,” DeWitt said. “That was five weeks of review or 25 class days. This year with no weather days, I’m ending on the 29th but that leaves 11 days per class or 22 total days before the exam.”
Exams for AP classes take place nationwide during the first two weeks of May, while FFHS exams occur at the end of May or the beginning of June. This leaves even less time for AP classes to learn all their curriculum.
“The biggest thing is if we had a hurricane, storm days like winter storms, anything like that, it’s going to be a time crunch because they typically add days to the end of the calendar, but we need them before May since the exam is the second week of May. So those days wouldn’t help us,” DeWitt said.
Another problem with every other day classes, but especially AP classes, is that many students don’t work on their A day classes on B days and vice versa.
“I think that’s one of the big issues is a lot of people are treating it like they only have class on B days or they only have class on A days and they don’t touch the material on the off days,” DeWitt said. “But that also goes with what class is paired with your AP class because if it’s something else that’s challenging on your off day, it doesn’t leave as much time, where if you are paired with gym or something that’s kind of a brain relax, then it is not a bad thing to be able to revisit every day.”
Despite a few issues the A/B schedule has brought, there are also many positives. AP United States History and AP United States Government and Politics teacher, Erin Basilone, enjoys these positive aspects of the new schedule.
“I appreciate that students have a day between classes to think about the material and complete what we’ve started together in class,” Basilone said. “Having a longer class block for assessments, activities and timed writings is also beneficial.”
For some students, such as sophomore Cam Summerton, who is currently taking AP Calculus AB, the extra day off is helpful and makes his school schedule less stressful.
“I like that they are every other day,” Summerton said. “I think it gives people time to do other work and spread out their homework so they’re not stressing about it all at one time.”
The new A/B schedule has brought change, both good and bad, for AP classes at FFHS. Despite the difficulties, FFHS teachers will work hard to overcome the challenges and have students prepared for exams by the end of the year.
“I have full trust in Mr. DeWitt that he will cover all of the topics that we need to cover,” Summerton said. “I think he has worked lots of reviews into our schedule as well.”
Junior Emma Braithwaite can be reached at 23braithwaiteem06@daretolearn.org.
