As juniors look to build their senior-year schedule, they often run into a problem: Most of the available math classes are AP. Students often must choose between AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics.

For students like junior Emily Jacobs, the dilemma is that although she wants to take math for all four years of high school, she is not sure Trigonometry/Precalculus is adequate preparation for an AP math class.

“I am a little worried about next year because I didn't take honors this year,” Jacobs said. “I would prefer a non-AP [class].”

Many students are in Jacobs’s position. Recently, a survey by the math department showed significant interest in a fourth-year, non-AP math class. The tentative class would either cover calculus, statistics or a combination of both subjects.

Math department head Debra Troxell said the next step in the process is to find a teacher interested in spearheading the effort. Then, that teacher would write a formal course description, seek approval from the school board and choose a textbook for the class.

Because the department is early in the process, Troxell said it is unclear who this teacher will be and what the class will cover. While students demonstrated a greater interest in studying calculus than statistics, Troxell said one possibility is a mixed class, like Astronomy and Marine Biology, with one semester of calculus and another of statistics.

According to Troxell, the main audience of the class would be seniors who are interested in math, but not planning on studying it at a higher level.

“Students are hardworking and choose to take four years of math, but they may be going into a field that doesn’t require any math,” Troxell said. “They don’t need an AP class; they don’t need the rigor and they’re not going to need it for their major.”

For senior Anne Witkowski, this potential new class is too late for her. After taking Trigonometry/Precalculus as a junior, she signed up for AP Calculus AB for senior year, only to be overwhelmed by the dramatic transition.

“I had to drop it, [although] I really liked learned the material and wanted to continue,” Witkowski said. “[In AP], they went [much] faster and gave little time for review.”

As for current Trigonometry/Precalculus students, Jacobs said she would consider the course if it became a reality. Junior Priyanka Kakkar echoed Jacobs’s sentiment.

“[AP Calculus] AB sounds like a possibility for me,” Kakkar said. “But I wouldn’t like the only option to be AP or not at all.”