Along with those tests, this will be the second year that Northwest is giving the Human Geography test. Last year, Northwest was the first school in the Shawnee Mission district to offer the tests, with 34 freshmen taking it. Among those freshmen: 12 received a score of one, nine got a two, nine had a three, three students earned a four and one student achieved a five.

Students who take this test have to do extra coursework to do well on the exam, as the World Regional Geography Honors class is not an officially-designated AP class.

In an email to parents, World Geography teacher Sarah Dent encourages freshmen to take the exam by saying, “Taking the AP exam is a great opportunity for students to get an understanding of the AP tests at an early age.  Even if students don’t score high enough to get college credit, learning the process of AP testing is key for taking other AP Social Sciences exams including European History AP, Psychology AP, Economics AP, US History AP Government AP in later years.  In fact, there is a study that cites that high school students who take AP exams, do better on college exams.”

Visit http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/humangeo/samp.html?humangeo to learn more about the actual test and find sample questions and essays.