Congratulations to South High Community School for making the 2024 AP Honor Roll!

One unique advantage of being a South High student is that you have more than 24 Advanced Placement (AP) courses to choose from — more than any other high school in Worcester.  

The College Board highlighted South High Community School on its AP Honor Roll in 2024.

Advanced Placement is a program run by the College Board (the makers of the SAT) that allows you to take advanced high school courses that can earn you college credit and/or qualify you for more advanced classes when you begin college.

They are designed to give you the experience of an intro-level college class while you're still in high school. Plus, you can get college credit for the class if you pass the AP exam. But what exactly are AP exams? An AP exam is basically a test of all that you learn in an AP class. You will typically earn college credit if you pass the exam given at the end of the year in May. (AP tests are scored between 1 and 5, with anything above 3 considered passing; 3 and above is also called a qualifying score.)

Taking an AP course and passing the test is a sign that you're capable of handling college-level work, which will strengthen your college applications immensely. One of the single most important parts of your college application is what classes you choose to take in high school (in conjunction with how well you do in those classes)

Students can choose an AP pathway of interest or design their own pathway. It is recommended that freshman take no more than one AP course, sophomores take no more than two AP courses, and juniors and seniors take no more than 3 AP courses.

Course Description: AP Physics 1 is an algebra-based, introductory college-level physics course. Students cultivate their understanding of Physics through inquiry-based investigations as they explore these topics: kinematics; dynamics; circular motion and gravitation; energy; momentum; simple harmonic motion; torque and rotational motion; electric charge and electric force; DC circuits; and mechanical waves and sound.

Prerequisites: There are no prerequisite courses. Students should have completed geometry and be concurrently taking Algebra II or an equivalent course.

Who might want to take AP Physics 1: Anyone curious about understanding the rule book that reality follows! Recommended for students interested in studying science; teaching science, engineering, astronomy, robotics, architecture, environmental science, medicine, nursing, and other careers in the medical field.

Why take AP Physics 1 in high school: Students who take the class in high school have a huge advantage over students who wait till college to take Physics. Compared to college, the high school offers a much smaller class size, more personalized instruction from the teacher, and more time in class to learn the material.

• 90% AP Calculus AB and BC students received a qualifying score on their exams.

• 44% of AP students received qualifying scores in 2018 — 54% in 2019

• 7 students received 5s on the Biology exams, the most in the district; 80% of Biology students received a qualifying score.

• All 25 AP Human Geography students received a qualifying score.

• SHCS first to have Capstone diplomas in 2019, the most in the district.

• 80% of Spanish Language students received a qualifying score.

• AP English Language scores increased 5% in 2019.

• 27% of South students are currently enrolled in an AP course.

• 25% of South’s seniors received a qualifying score on an AP exam.

• Approximately 60% of the SHS’s AP teachers have received recognition for their excellence in teaching including:

  • "The Mass Insight Partners in Excellence"

  • "WPS’s Thomas Jefferson Award"

  • "Mount Vernon Fellowship"

  • "Museum Art Educator of the Year"

Early College High School at QCC

Executive Functioning Skills Training Center

Finals

GSA at South High

Schedule For 2023-2024