(I am not teaching AP Calculus AB during the 2020-2021 school year, so if you are in AP Calculus BC, please click on that link on the sidebar!)

The worksheets are listed alphabetically below the calendar. (SCROLL DOWN!)

In the future, I may place a folder of old assignments below:

How to Learn the Most from this AP Calculus Class

I've given some thought to what I think will help you learn the most from this class. Here is what I have to offer:

Start Your Homework Right Away!

You're more likely to remember the new information more easily when it is fresh in your mind: your short-term memory will hold the information for only so long before the memory diminishes... if you practice the new skills right away, it will help your brain to transfer the information to long-term storage. It is absolutely to your best advantage to do the homework right away whenever possible.

Work with Other Students.

There are incredible benefits to your brain when you work cooperatively with others -- first, you talk about the problems, you compare strategies for setting it up, you compare answers by talking about them, and when you disagree, you should make a note to ask about it.

Offer to help your group members when they ask -- there are significant benefits, documented by educational research, for both parties when peers tutor one another.

As my course syllabus makes clear (and most of you will earn a perfect 15/15 on the syllabus quiz...) working with other students does NOT include giving them your paper and it does NOT mean copying. As your teacher, I will learn much more about your learning needs when I see your honest mistakes, not work you have copied off the internet, the back of the book, or off a classmate's paper.

Call me Over.

During class, you are encouraged to talk to one another, but sometimes, the entire group gets stuck: this is good! Call me over! That way, I can answer 4 really good questions at once!

Learn from Your Mistakes: Fix them!

Brain research shows that you will learn more from fixing your mistakes than by doing it right the first time! It is hard to believe, and doesn't necessarily "mesh" with the folk wisdom that anything worth doing is worth doing right the first time. But brain research is unequivocal: students who learn by fixing their mistakes end up far better off than if they are simply told or are given a correct answer. The process of analyzing your work and defending what you think are the correct solutions forces your brain to do more work, and you retain the knowledge better. Our brains are hard-wired to take as many shortcuts as we can so as to reduce the effort the brain needs to expend, and if you constantly have immediate access to all of the correct answers (a "mental crutch") without having to figure our your mistakes, your brain will come to rely on that crutch... and you won't be prepared for tests, because you'll be lost without the crutches. Make honest mistakes, and talk to your group members to figure out how to fix them -- it is the best way to learn most powerfully.

Come and Get Help!

No system set up by any human being ever works perfectly for everyone! I am here to help you one-on-one when you get bogged down. Fortunately, nearly 100% of my AP Calculus AB students have at least one unscheduled hour that matches one of my unscheduled hours. (If this is not the case, come talk to me before or after school and I will work with you to find a suitable accommodation.)

Frustrated? Come Talk to me Face-to-Face!

I demand a lot of you: I am teaching a college-level course to high school students, and this can, at times, bring a lot of stress. Sometimes I think I am being super-clear about what I want, and then you do exactly what you think I said I wanted, and then I look at your work, and I say that's not what I wanted! This is how learning from a human being works -- I encourage you to come talk to me when these misunderstandings come up. If there is something you are concerned about, please give me the opportunity to discuss it and problem-solve it with you face-to-face first. If we can't resolve it together, I am happy to include other adults in a solution. But honestly, I am not going to be able to resolve issues efficiently through emails, because we're not in the same room at the same time to listen to one another's concerns. I have a very good track record for resolving issues quickly when I get to talk to you face-to-face, one-on-one!

Memorization is Part of Every Realm of Knowledge!

Your "wubby" is a memory tool: you need to have it memorized before your AP Calculus Test in May. Put key formulas on your mirror at home. Use the back side of each page of the wubby to write each idea to use as flash cards. You really will need to know the derivative of the inverse sine! As all of you know, I always put significant review problems on every worksheet I ever write, because it is so important for your brain to see the concepts again and again before test day.

Leah Pritchett - Bandimere Speedway

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