AP Psychology
Bowen High School Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology
If your student has ever wondered why people think and act the way they, or others, do, Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology may be the class for them. Psychology is the study of behavior and cognitive processes. Throughout the year, our curriculum analyzes:
- Different approaches to psychology
- Research methods used by psychologists
- Different career paths
- The impact of stress on motivation and emotions
- How our senses and perceptions work, different states of consciousness
- How we learn, how we think and process things in our mind
- How humans and animals develop throughout the lifespan
- How our personalities form and differ from others’ personalities
- How different psychological disorders may lead to abnormal behavior
- How we treat abnormal psychology/behaviors
- The psychology behind different social phenomena.
As we work through these various topics in Psychology, we are also working on interpreting and understanding our AP Psychology Textbook, which acts as our guide to the curriculum.
Note: Due to the high volume of content in the AP course, students must read independently outside of class. That said, we will be practicing independent reading and note-taking strategies to ensure student success inside and out of the classroom.
What Does Advanced Placement (AP) Mean?
Advanced Placement, or AP for short, is a college-level class available to high school students. Throughout the year, students work with their AP teacher to prepare for an End-of-Year exam through College Board, which can EARN THEM COLLEGE CREDIT, depending on their score. Students can earn between 1 and 5 on the AP Exam, with 5 being the top score a student can earn. Most schools will take a 3 or 4, but the goal is to achieve a 5, which almost guarantees them college credit at all post-secondary programs and colleges. Bowen High School’s AP Psychology is a College Board-approved AP course, which means our curriculum is aligned to their standards.
What Makes Bowen’s AP Psychology Different?
The AP Psychology classroom provides concrete examples through discussions, frequent experiments, case studies, and reading strategies. These strategies help students understand the content on a deeper level than simply memorizing vocabulary terms. We also aim to help students become agents of change at Bowen High School and in the South Chicago neighborhood by breaking down the stigma of Mental Health and Mental Health Disorders. By addressing these stigmas, we set up individuals to receive the help they need. Students will achieve this in their community through a service-learning project to help Bowen and the community. Bowen High School’s AP Psychology creates more independent readers through various literacy strategies, guided note activities, and writing activities as we prepare for the 100 Multiple-Choice Question Exam and 2 Free-Response Questions (FRQ) on the exam. FRQ’s are essentially simplified essays that ask students to identify vocabulary terms and apply them to the question at hand.
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