Advanced Placement (AP) biology is a course offered to juniors and seniors. This class gives students the opportunity to receive college credit for wherever they may choose to go. In order to receive this college credit they must take the AP test at the end of the course and receive a score of at least a three or four in order to receive the credit.

“It is equivalent to a four year college or university biology class, majors level biology class,” AP Biology teacher Jerry Epp said. “I follow the college board curriculum. It’s definitely a college curriculum, which is why it is very challenging.”

On Nov. 28, AP Biology student practiced using microscopes for a following lab where they studied onion root cells through the microscopes.

“On that day we were just kind of testing out the microscopes and making sure we knew how they worked, because the following day we looked at slides of root tips from an onion, and we looked at the cells,” senior Kaete Schmidt said. “The purpose of the lab was basically just to count how many cells were in each cell phase. Just being able to go through and identify what phases they were in at that moment when they were preserved on that slide.”

AP Biology students said they find this class very beneficial for their future.

“I find it very interesting to see how applicable it is to real life. It’s really not that applicable, but there are lots of things you can notice that are related to biology,” junior Joshua Kennell said.