The time has come where students have to start choosing their courses for next year. The seniors won’t be choosing ODA classes for the first time, but for upcoming freshman, sophomores and juniors, should spend some serious thought and planning in this process.

Think you are just going to sign up for whatever you want? Think again. If you want some of ODA’s most challenging courses, be prepared for a bit of a process. Many students intend to take a number of AP’s and Honors classes. But in order to take these courses, students must go through a certain process. The process varies from department to department.

For many of the science classes, students simply talk to the teacher who is going to be conducting the course and sign up to take a test to determine if they are qualified to take the course; usually these tests are provided everyday after school for about a week. To apply for an honors class you can simply take the test, but for AP classes you have to have a certain grade in your current science class to be eligible for the course.

English Honors and AP classes are similar but a little different. Like the science courses, students have to sign up to take an assessment to see if they qualify for the honors and AP; instead of an actual test though, you are given a written assessment.

Your written assessment will then be graded by two teachers from the English department. You will then be told if you are accepted into honors or AP. If you don’t get accepted, no big deal, apply the next year!

History only offers regular or AP, if you want to apply for something more challenging then you can apply for APUSH (AP U.S. History) if you are an incoming sophomore or junior. If you are an incoming junior you can apply for AP EURO (AP European History) or intro to AP Gov.

The first semester and AP Gov the second semester. Incoming seniors are the only students allowed to take AP Econ. If you are going from a regular class to an AP then you have to take a test which is a written assessment, like English, it will then by looked over by teachers in the history department and you will either get accepted or not into the AP.

If you are applying for an AP after previously taking an AP, then it’s much easier. As long as your grade is in a certain range, you can qualify for another AP. You just need to talk to the teacher who will be teaching the class.

Math doesn’t offer an AP but they do offer honors courses. For math all you need to do is talk to your current teacher about if you are qualified and can handle an honors class.

Language classes are much like the math as in there aren’t any AP’s, but again there are honors. If you want to take an honors language then simply talk to your teacher, and she will arrange a date for you to take the test of honors. If you do well enough on the test, you should be accepted into the course.

This may seem like a lot of work, but in the end it isn’t as hard as it looks. Plan your dates to take the qualification tests. They are usually all in the same week which makes it easier. And if you don’t get into the courses you wanted, always remember that there are electives available for you to take that can fulfill your need for extra knowledge in a certain subject.

Confused about the process? See your teachers as soon as you can prior to registration for classes.