AP World History students watch Guns, Germs, and Steel

With the second week of second semester hitting the halfway point, students of all grades continue get back into the swing of things and slip back into a normal school routine. In particular, AP World History students are becoming familiar with a new way of testing in class.

Unlike first semester, during which students would work on a chapter of AP World during the week and then take a final multiple choice and essay test every Friday, this semester students must read a new chapter each weekend, then take the multiple choice exam immediately the following Monday.

“I think it’s a lot harder because we were [used to having the] whole entire week to keep learning [the chapter] and working on it and review it, but now we have to do that on our own [the weekend before we take the test],” said sophomore Ellie Bedingham, a current AP World student. Undoubtedly, as the semester progresses students will become more comfortable with this new system.

While the new testing system will be in place for the rest of this semester, in AP World classes today, students experienced something new that will only happen once this year. All of Jennifer Tillman’s AP World classes watched a documentary that many of the upperclassmen know well: Guns, Germs, and Steel. The movie is based on the book written by Jared Diamond. Many of the upperclassmen are acquainted with the book, as it was required summer reading when Elizabeth Van Pilsum taught AP World History. Current students were not assigned the long, descriptive book as summer reading this year, and that they had the opportunity to watch the 55 minute documentary instead. AP World students will continue to study the impact of “guns, germs and steel” on the world through the rest of the semester.