Based on information from teacher Aimee Davenport, approximately 15 percent of students that were enrolled in her AP Statistics class have dropped out before the end of the first nine weeks.

Lead counselor Valerie Harrison says the amount of students that have dropped out is not abnormal.

She said she believes those who dropped out do not have enough “time to complete all the work for this class with the demands of being a senior and applying for colleges.”

Davenport said some dropouts were unaware of the difficulty of the class and others were not willing to put forth the effort demanded by the class and prefer dropping into on-level statistics.

Harrison said the reason for this is “when [counselors] meet with the students in their course selection process, it is difficult to say if this is going to be a good balance for a student even though we try to. It is really hard to know that until the student is in the class and actually finds out if it is.”

Davenport is providing students with resources in an attempt to help improve their performance.

She says she will be available during activity periods, before or after school, and “make notes available to students through our course website and provide additional problems (with answer keys) to help students prepare for exams.”

Despite the number of dropouts, there are students that are satisfied with their performance and plan on continuing the class such as senior, Julie Foo.

“The homework and notes are relatively easy to keep up with, but you have to thoroughly understand the material to do well on tests,” Foo said.

She expressed that something she would like Davenport to change would be the engagement of the class through activities and reviewing difficult homework questions.

Foo said “the AP exam and the class will help you prepare for the difficulty of a college level curriculum.”

Additionally, Harrison said AP Statistics “is underestimated in terms of its value because there are a lot of majors that will require a course in Statistics. Psychology, Business, and the medical field all require one.”