By Michelle Yun
<[email protected]>

Junior Olivia Roy grew up speaking French and found French I to be quite easy. So in her sophomore year, she said she completed the first semester of French I and skipped into the second semester of French II her sophomore year.

“My mom just called (the language department). Because I used to speak French at home, she asked if I could move up,” Roy said. “My teacher also said this was too easy for me and that I should move up.”

Roy said she did not have any trouble after she skipped. In fact, she is currently finding French III to be easy as well. “It’s still pretty easy because I grew up speaking French. I want to see if I can skip into IV next semester.”

Many students like Roy take advantage of this process and take higher level courses that meet their needs. There are some students, however, who are not able to skip classes for whatever reason.

Junior Michael Young, for example, wanted to skip a French level just as Roy had, but he said the department had reasons that prevented him from doing so.

“Many students want to skip a level of a language but the heads of the (language) department feel that the process of learning a language is too important to miss out on the classroom experience,” Young said.

There are students who test out of classes in the math department as well. Math teacher Kathie Freed said she has several students who have tested out of some math classes.

Freed said she has several uderclassmen who have skipped and are now in AP Calculus BC—both sophomores and a freshman. She also said she has a student in her multivariable calculus class who is a junior.

According to Freed, there is a certain policy for students who want to test out of a math class.

“In order for any person to skip any math class, they have to work with the department head, and they have to take a placement test to see if they are ready,” Freed said. “Within the last three years, our policy has been that (the students) must talk to the department head and take a placement test.”

Freed also said that the students do not have trouble. She said that the thinking and problem solving level is not as developed, however.

Freshman Youkow Homma tested out of Algebra II to take honors precalculus this year. He also said he has no difficulties even after skipping a course. “I skipped because I wanted to take a more challenging math course,” Homma said.

Homma said he was able to successfully test out of Algebra II becaue he had learned the course material in a private tutoring class. In addition to experiencing a challenging course, he said he is able to learn more about school in general from his sophomore and junior classmates.  Not only has Homma tested out of a math class, but he said he also skipped Spanish II and is currently enrolled in Spanish III.