Cuyama Valley High School Online

    Advanced Placement Courses

The advanced placement (AP) program offers college level courses and exams for secondary school students.  Over 90 % of the colleges that most AP candidates attend give credit and/or advanced placement to students whose AP examination grades are considered acceptable.  It is not necessary for students to take the AP examination in order to receive high school credit.  However, if students wish to receive the extra benefit for their weighted GPA, they must take the AP exam.  AP courses are open to students who have demonstrated they are capable of being successful with a rigorous academic schedule (A’s or B’s in the areas they wish to enroll) and teacher or counselor approval.  Parent, counselor, administrative and student conferences are mandatory prior to a student being enrolled in one of our on-line A.P. or on-line Honors courses.  All AP courses are offered on-line through our AP lab.

The grading scale for AP and Honors classes is different that at level classes. 

Grade A=5 points

Grade B=4 points

Grade C=3 points

Grade D=1 point

Grade F=0 points

AP English Language

Prerequisite: A of B in recent English course.  Must have completed sophomore English.

 Learn to understand and analyze complex styles of writing by reading the works of varied author, including other students.  The richness and complexity of language is explored through resources such as syntax, imitation, word choice, and tone.  Students learn about their own composition style and process, focusing on exploration, planning, writing, editing, rewriting, and polishing of text.  Texts include: The Norton Reader, 10th e. (WW Norton & Company, 1966) and writing, a college handbook WW Norton & Company, 1994). This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.

  AP English Literature-2 Semesters (Units 10)

Prerequisites: A  in a recent English course. Completed sophomore English.

Learn to read and analyze poems and prose passages.  Develop the ability to write critical or analytical essays based on poems, prose passages and complete novels and plays.  Text include: The Norton Anthology (WW Norton & Company, 19960 ANAND THE Story and its Writer.  An Anthology of Short Fiction (Bedford/st. Martins, 19980. Novels include: Beloved, Twelfth Night, Hedda Gabler, A Streetcar Named Desire, Gulliver’s Travels, Annie John, The Great Gatsby and Jane Eyre. This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.

 AP Calculus  (Units 5-10),

Prerequisites: Algebra II, Geometry, Trigonometry, and pre-calculus  (Math Analysis/Functions) with a grade A or B.

This Calculus course teaches students to understand change geometrically and visually (by studying graphs of curves), analytically (by studying and working with mathematical formulas), numerically (seeing patterns in sets of numbers)  and verbally.  A pretest needs to be taken before enrollment. This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.

 AP Statistics (10 Units)

Prerequisite: Algebra II, Grade A or B, Teacher approval

This course gives students hands-on experience in collecting, analyzing, graphing, and interpreting real-world data.  Texts include: Introduction to Probability and Statistics, 10th e. (Brooks/Cole, 1999). This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.

 AP Microeconomics (Units 5)

Prerequisites: Algebra II

This course examines larger economic concepts, such as employment rates, inflation, government spending, taxes and production.  Students will learn to identify trends in our economy and use these trends to develop performance measures and predictors of how our economy will grow or decline. This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.

 AP Physics B- 2 Semesters (Units 10)

A pre-test needs to be taken before enrollment.

Physics is the science of matter and energy-how the universe is put together.  This course is a non-calculus survey course covering five general areas: Newtonian mechanics, thermal physics, electricity and magnetism, waves and optics, and atomic and nuclear physics.  Students will get an understanding of the core principles involved and learn to apply these principles in the solution of problems. This course is accompanied by hands-on lab. This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.

 AP Macroeconomics (Units 5)

Prerequisite: Algebra II.

This course examines larger economic concepts, such as employment rates, inflation, government spending, taxes and production.  Students will learn to identify trends in our economy and use these trends to develop performance measures and predictors of how our economy will grow or decline. This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.

 AP U.S. Government and Politics (Units 5)

Prerequisite: US History , with a grade A or B and good writing skills.

This course covers the nuts and bolts of the American political system including its structure, operations, and the behavior of the electorate and politicians.  Students will gain an analytic perspective, enabling them to critically evaluate political information, hypotheses, concepts, opinions, and processes.  Texts include: Lanahan Reading in the American Government, 6th e. (WW Norton & Co., 2000). This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.

 AP US History (Units 10)

Prerequisites: A or B in recent Social Studies courses and good writing skills.

Students build an understanding of the economic, political, and social changes that have occurred in United States history.  This course encourages students to weigh evidence and interpret problems presented by historians.  Through assessment and critical analysis of historical documents and interpretations of them, students learn to analyze data, form conclusions, and present well-reasoned, persuasive arguments in written form.  Texts include: America, A Narrative History, 5th e. (WW Norton & Co.). This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.

 HONORS COURSES

  Honors English Composition (Units 5)

Prerequisites: A or B in recent English courses.  Must have completed sophomore English.

This course teaches students to write college-level essays by acquainting them with each step in the writing process and providing practice in writing descriptive narrative, and various forms of expository writing.  Students will read and write about a variety of essays and books.  Texts include: The Random House Handbook (McGraw-Hill.), A Writer’s Reader, 8th e. Addisio Wesley Longman, Inc., 1997) and Civilization and Its Discontents (WW Norton & Co., 1963). This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.

  Honors Shakespeare  (Units 5)

Prerequisite: A or B in recent English course.

This course focuses on five of Shake’s plays as literature of immense cultural importance and also as popular entertainment, both in Shakespearean language and literary forms and a critical awareness of the continuing use, reinterpretation, and reinvention of Shakespeare’s plot and characters. Text included: The Taming of the Shrew (Penguin, 190); Macbeth (Penguin, 1987); Othello (Penguin, 1984); The Tempest (Penguin, 1987). This is class is offered on line through our AP lab.