How I Survived AP Calc by Lily

How I Survived AP Calc by Lily - March 2023 Scholarship Essay

The best class I have ever taken was AP Calculus BC, and the reason for this is that it was taught by the best teacher I have ever had.

Math was my least favorite subject for a long time; then, it slowly became something I tolerated as I realized that I was not too bad at it. By the time my junior year came around – with the last quarter of Algebra II and all of precalculus having been taught virtually – I felt confident in whatever math my second half of high school would entail. Confident, but not enthusiastic. Self-assured, but not passionate. I was expecting to learn calculus, do well in the class, get a 4 or 5 on the exam, and move on.

I will keep my calc teacher anonymous, just in case he happens to browse the Varsity Tutors website this month. All you need to know about him is the four ways in which he has positively impacted my education – beginning with my education in calculus.

AP Calculus BC is a notoriously difficult course. It encompasses two semesters of college calc, which some people may not even take until their second year of college. For many advanced high school students, this is the class that makes or breaks their GPA; it is supposed to test willpower, try souls, and crush dreams. At my school, however, AP Calc was simply another math class. I believe this is almost entirely due to the teaching style of my calc teacher. He was incredibly organized in everything he did: ten chapters, one quiz and one test for each, a note packet and homework packet for each section, the whole school year planned down to the day. This may seem insignificant, but it made me realize that having a routine matters. He also spoke to us when teaching material in a structured, methodical way. Advanced integrals, differential equations, and geometric sequences became as simple as addition and subtraction when my calc teacher explained them.

Due to COVID-19, my AP exams in 11th grade were my first ever cumulative final exams. The idea of learning, reviewing, and cramming an entire year’s worth of knowledge for a single test was new to my class; yet, the AP Calculus BC exam was my easiest final that spring. Not only did my calc teacher incorporate past chapters into essentially every assignment, but he set aside more than a month before the exam to review forgotten skills. Having old topics woven into new material allowed me to constantly improve. I believe I will continue this approach to learning and method of review during college, since my calc teacher’s dedication to effective studying granted me a good score on the exam.

I believe that the skillset I developed last year continues to benefit me, and will continue to benefit me throughout my higher education – despite the fact that I have not done a calculus problem in months. It was never the act of plugging numbers into a formula or pressing buttons on my calculator that made me smarter. It was analyzing an integral until I determined the best strategy to solve it; it was correctly deriving a formula on the spot because I had forgotten where the parentheses went, but knew the mechanics behind what I was trying to do; it was being able to explain my exact thought process to my classmates. I am a smarter person now than two years ago because of the way my calc teacher challenged us to think logically, use trial and error, and never simply memorize the steps of a problem. This understanding of critical thinking has helped me in classes such as physics, chemistry, and even anatomy and physiology.

Finally, my calc teacher taught me what it means to be passionate about an academic field. Many people are surprised when I say that my favorite class was AP Calculus BC, and ten-year-old me would have certainly been surprised as well. Today, however, I know exactly why such a difficult subject became my favorite forty minutes of the day: of COURSE I will love a class when the person teaching it always has a smile on their face.