AP Courses

South High Offers 23 AP Courses With Award Winning Teachers

South High School offers more AP classes than any other school in Worcester with Award winning teachers and one of the highest percentages of qualifying scores.

AP Pathways — AP Humanities / Social Sciences or AP STEM

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.

* Required for Capstone Diploma

AP Spotlight

AP Physics I

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.

South High Shout Out

• 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"