07/22/2006
16 from Coventry High pass AP U.S. History test
By: Jessica Selby , Daily Times

After two years of hard work, 16 students from Coventry High School just learned that they passed the United States History Advanced Placement exam, several earning the highest possible score.
Alexandra Briden, Chelsea Cornell, Jeffrey Costabile, Danielle Cote, Jonathon Cybulski, Kara Jalbert, Zhiyao Luo, Sara Mulligan, Eric Nadeau, Tyler Slezak and Joshua Thompson each passed the exam.
Stephanie Crist, James Crowley, Nicole Najecki, Jessica Palardy and Peter Ross were among the students who not only passed the exam but earned the highest possible score.
"It felt great getting the results after two long years of preparing," Cybulski said. "It still definitely was not easy."
The hardest thing for Cybulski, he said, was keeping the time periods for the essay questions straight and the multiple choice that, he said, was "real tough, too."
"I like history, it's not that it comes easy to me or anything, but I like it, and Mr. [Matthew] Brissette and Mrs. [Lisa] Johansen [the AP teachers] did a great job of preparing us for the exam and that really helped a lot, but it still wasn't easy," Cybulski said.
Honors level students who can opt to register for the Advanced Placement history course in their sophomore and junior years. Students in this program spend time studying United States history but, at the same time, they also learn how to take the AP exam. There is a certain format that the students must learn in order to take the exam, according to James Crowley, one of the highest scoring students who took the advanced placement exam in the language lab at Coventry High School this past May.
"With the essays on the test, there is a specific format that you have to use to answer them," Crowley said. "It's called core structure. You start with a thesis statement and, then, in the body of the essay, you have to mention SFI - specific factual information - so that they know you know what it is that you are talking about."
Crowley said what stumped him was the essay question on women's rights during the Revolutionary and Civil wars.
"They can be a bit vague with how they ask their essay questions and we are not supposed to be at all vague when we answer them, so that was tough for us to do," Crowley said.
The students were allocated just about four and a half hours to complete the advanced placement exam, Cybulski said. They were given approximately an hour and a half for the multiple choice and then they were given a short break before coming back to their desks to take the essay portion of the exam, which lasted approximately two and a half hours.
"It was a long day - almost five hours of U.S. History - need I say more," Cybulski said. "During the exam, it didn't really feel like it was exactly five hours, but it sure did feel long."
Each of the students who passed the exam earned six college credits which, Brissette said, are accepted by most colleges and universities. This is quite an opportunity for the students, he said, and an accomplishment, he said, that has made him proud.
"I am very proud that, every year under my tenure as curriculum coordinator and as this year's AP teacher, the AP program's success continues to grow," Brissette said. "While only two more students passed the test this year compared to last year, there was a big increase in the number of students achieving the highest score attainable. In fact, about 75 percent of the students received the two highest scores available."