Held one Saturday per month at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Advanced Placement (AP) Readiness Workshop aspires to support and guide students in their quest to navigate college-level courses. At the same time, the program also aims to enhance the teaching skills and abilities of AP teachers.  

“(Center X’s) mission is to help improve education in LA through structured workshops designed specifically to help students based on data they’ve collected in the past on what makes students successful on AP test,” AP Calculus teacher Leslie Hicks said.

This is the first year Daniel Pearl Magnet High School students will have the opportunity to be a part of these workshops. Students are encouraged to attend in order to get their still pending questions answered while simultaneously practicing their calculus skills in a manner that is specifically designed for student success.

“(The workshop) teaches you a lot tricks for how to pass the test and it gave me an idea for what I need to do in order to get that 5,” senior Zandro Mara said.  

In addition to developing AP student’s math abilities, Center X’s program prioritizes the forging of student relationships based on their shared experience of participating in such a challenging and demanding course.

“I would like them to see that there are lots of other students studying calculus in the district and they all have questions that are really similar to my student’s questions,” Hicks said.

Following the appropriated 9 AM to 1 PM session for students, teachers convene for an additional hour to partake in a workshop intended to explore new and different teaching styles as well as tips for how to effectively cultivate interest among students.

“I’m hoping to take away new techniques and new suggestions for how I can introduce a topic or how I can review topics,” Hicks said.