Mr. Gutierrez’s AP World History class is usually known among students as a very time consuming and difficult course. Freshman and sophomores alike have the opportunity to take this class.  Many of his new students have dropped from it due to the heavy workload, but others have decided to stay committed to the program, believing that they will develop new study skills to do better. “The class is going well. The people that made it this far seem to be committed. I like where it’s going. One of the main reasons I like to teach the class is that I get the chance to prepare new freshmen for future AP courses.  I hope that we don’t lose too many students right now,” Mr. G. says. Many of the current students believe that the class will get harder and harder throughout the semester, and their current bad grades from assignments won’t get any better. But when Mr. Gutierrez is asked about this, he says, “I’m not sure if it will get harder than it already is. We’ve basically hit the main point of difficulty. I’m sure we’ll do well, compared to the students from last year. They all gradually got better grades, so I’m hopeful that we’ll see similar results this year.”

Two students of Mr. G’s class, Francesca Ryu and Hailey Obregon, were asked for their opinions on the course. “It is definitely a lot of work… [and] it makes you sacrifice a lot of sleep,” Francesca supposed. Hailey pointed future students in a positive direction, “It takes a lot of time. I definitely wouldn’t consider procrastinating like I did… Trying to find other resources to learn is really important too. Mr. G. is good at teaching you how to be more independent in learning and self-discipline.” Mr. Gutierrez also has a very cheerful and fun character. Francesca says, “Mr. G. has a really good personality and sense of humor. I like how he’s very straightforward in his lessons…” Hailey says, “He’s straightforward, honest, and teaches how to accomplish different things. It makes it really challenging in a positive way for us.” Overall, Mr. G’s class can be exceptionally tough, but from previous experience, he can confirm that new students experiencing their first AP workload will do better throughout the year even though they are struggling in the beginning.