Last year, senior Ritika Tappeta walked into her AP biology class excited about the year ahead. Instead, she experienced a major disappointment. By the end of the year, the class had completed three of the eight units determined by the College Board, and Tappeta had learned most of the AP Biology content in order to do well on the national exam in May.
Tappeta is not alone.
In an Ames High Web survey of nearly two dozen Ames High School students taking Advanced Placement (AP) science classes, nearly 75% of students rated their AP science experience at Ames High as a five or less on a scale of one to ten. Nearly 50% of students surveyed rated their science experiences at Ames High as a three or lower.
When asked about AP biology, 95% of students reported that the content was not taught appropriately. In the case of AP Chemistry, almost 70% of students reported that the content was not taught appropriately. No students reported that AP Physics content was not taught appropriately.
AP chemistry problem
In the past, AP Chemistry students expressed frustration with the lack of material taught, but appreciated the flexibility and resources the class offered.
“The teacher wasn’t the most engaging, but they provided amazing material and allowed us to learn what we wanted in their course. Moreover, for each unit they had tests similar to AP exam questions, which allowed us to schedule and prepare for the AP exam,” said a student who took the AP Chemistry exam last year.
This year, after a change in staff, students say they have struggled primarily with how AP Chemistry is taught.
“The classes consisted mainly of study guides that the teacher read directly and included several practice problems in each topic,” said Elisabeth Mathews, a student who took the AP Chemistry exam this year. “The teacher was sometimes very reluctant to answer questions, and on one occasion he instructed our class to ask questions a few days after we had learned the topic. Many topics seemed to be overlooked, some of which only took ten minutes to cover.”
Some students had difficulty maintaining their grades and performing well on tests. 42% of students surveyed said their AP Chemistry grades suffered because they were not provided with adequate content instruction.
“The grades were quite high, but a large portion of the class scored 30% or 40% on the multiple-choice test. I had the impression that what the teacher read from the study guides often did not translate intuitively into practical problems. The teacher also didn’t do a very good job of explaining the connection between the two, which made it difficult to use on tests later, Mathews said.
Some dropped out of classes altogether.
“The class structure was everywhere. I understand this is my first year of teaching (AP Chemistry), but I ended up dropping out halfway through the year. The tests were graded on rubrics that the teacher didn’t want to explain to us and generally seemed very disorganized,” said Will Geisler, a senior who took AP Chemistry this year.
AP biology problem
In AP Biology, students struggle with constant lack of grades in their classes.
“It would take months for a teacher to grade things, if at all. Half of the assignments were not graded at all,” said Jenny Park, a senior who took the AP Biology exam this year.
Students also say they struggle with the lack of material taught in AP biology classes.
“I found that the content we covered in class had very little overlap with the AP curriculum. Our tests did not match what we had learned in class and did not allow us to continue learning. Much of the knowledge I used on the AP exam came from my own studies and classes prior to AP Focus Biology and AP Biology,” said Hannah Song, a senior who took AP Biology last year.
Some students have chosen not to take the AP Biology exam because they say the classes do not adequately prepare them for the exam.
“I didn’t want to study an entire subject on my own during my senior year of college to take the exam,” Park said.
Taking a stand
For students who want to pursue biology in college and do well in the state exam, the lack of taught material means they have to study on their own throughout the course. Combining this with other courses and activities is cumbersome.
Last year, Tappeta became so overwhelmed and frustrated that, as a student representative, she raised her concerns with the school board.
“I think there was a point where I was taking so many classes and biology was a subject that really interested me. I was very happy to take this class and take the exam because I thought it would help me in the future and it just really frustrated me that this teacher had been teaching this way for years,” Tappeta said. “Having people come to her class and study for the AP biology exam on their own gives the teacher an advantage, but no one is actually changing the way the teacher teaches.”
In her speech to the school board, Tappeta did not specifically mention AP Biology, but she did mention the science department as a whole. After her speech, Tappeta and a second student representative participated in a private conversation with Superintendent Julius Lawson during which AP Biology was identified as a problematic class. Superintendent Lawson told Tappeta that an instructional coach would be hired to help oversee AP Biology lesson plans.
But a year later, students say nothing has changed. Superintendent Lawson did not respond to a request for comment.
Constant problem
The state of AP Biology and AP Chemistry is consistent with the continued academic decline that the science department has faced over the past few years.
“Teachers are known for not teaching well (in the science department), which discourages children from fully attending classes. “The trend in our school is that our English and history departments are good and our science departments are bad because teachers have simply not been held accountable for what they have done over the years,” Tappeta said.
Some Ames High graduates enter college unprepared for science classes.
“Even though AP Chemistry and Biology should have helped me enter college science classes with a strong science background, in each of those classes I just felt like I was forced to learn everything all over again,” said Sophia Cordoba, a 2022 Ames graduate. r. Graduate and current undergraduate student at Columbia.
Some former Ames High students don’t want to take certain science classes at all.
“Honestly, I’m afraid to take chemistry classes in college just because I feel like my classes at Ames High School didn’t prepare me for it at all. Instead, I was taking geology and environmental science classes to completely bypass the field,” said Lily Lupardus, a 2023 Ames High graduate and current student at the University of St. Thomas.
Tappeta is grateful that despite her experiences with classes at Ames High, she has been able to maintain her passion for biology.
“I know a lot of people just dropped out because they didn’t have a good teacher,” Tappeta said.
Tappeta, who will study biomedical engineering at Boston University in the fall, remains frustrated with the quality of Advanced Placement high school science classes.
“I wanted administrators to sit in the classroom, see what the teachers were doing, and tell them it was wrong and they couldn’t do it,” Tappeta said. “I wanted administrators to actually make this change.”
Chantal Eulenstein is the editor-in-chief of The Web, the student newspaper of Ames High School.