AP Calculus/Statistics 

Overview of the course 

In our AP centres, we offer either AP Calculus AB or AP Calculus BC to our students in Year 2 of the Dipont programme. Students who successfully complete AP Calculus AB in Year 2 are given the opportunity to extend their learning in Mathematics by taking the AP Calculus BC course in Year 3. Both courses are now established and our students perform way above the expectations of the CollegeBoard. 

AP Statistics is an additional course that students can opt to study in Year 3 of the Dipont programme. This is a challenging course as much of the course content is new to Chinese students and it requires students to use their English to explain the statistical results they obtain in the context of the question being asked. Despite the challenge that this poses, AP Statistics is proving to be a popular choice amongst students as the course content has such wide applications to other disciplines. 

How is the teaching adapted to suit the needs of Chinese students? 

As English is a second language for our students, mathematical concepts are explained clearly, visual representations are used wherever possible and learning is reinforced with numerous examples. Students are expected to conduct their homework in an independent and mature fashion and they are formatively assessed using quizzes, end of chapter tests and presentations. At all times, the interpretation of results is emphasized as this is a key focus of the CollegeBoard final assessment. 

Resources 

Resources include text books for students, investigative tasks set by class teachers and mathematical software for demonstrating mathematical concetps. The classes are equipped with big screens for laptop connection and over-head projectors. In addition, all students are required to have a high level of competence in the use of a graphing calculator (TI-84 and TI-89) .  

Other information 

Most students have a very strong mathematical background from the Chinese system so many of them require work that is stretching. Homework is highly valued and an essential part of any AP course.