Academics

Summer and winter break work required. AP Exam and exam fee required.

This course is designed to provide students with the analytical skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in U.S. History. Students will learn to assess historical materials – their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance – and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. AP U.S. History students will develop the skills necessary to arrive at conclusions based on an informed judgment and to present reasons and evidence clearly and persuasively in essay format. This is a rigorous class covering a broad swath of historical content. Students will be required to do a significant amount of homework reading, writing, analyzing, and memorizing. Winter and summer break assignments are also required. 

Summer and winter break work required. AP exam and fee required.

The AP English Language and Composition course aligns with the introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum, which requires students to develop evidence-based analytic and argumentative essays that proceed through several stages or drafts. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Throughout the course, students develop a personal style by making appropriate grammatical choices. Additionally, students read and analyze the rhetorical elements and their effects in both fiction and non-fiction texts, including graphic images as forms of text, from many disciplines and historical periods. The texts that students analyze are drawn primarily from American literature. Throughout the year, students will examine these texts through the lens of several thematic units - focusing on race, modern technology, and the environment, among others. Summer and winter break work is required of AP students as they complete this rigorous academic course. 

Prerequisite: Precalculus  
Summer and winter break work required. AP Exam and fee required.

This course is centered on the four central concepts to be mastered in the first-semester college course in calculus: limit, derivative, definite integral, and indefinite integral. For each concept, students are asked to know the precise definition and be able to apply the concept and its associated skills to a variety of novel problems. There are three ways that these concepts are presented to the student: graphically, algebraically, and verbally. Students should expect a rigorous course and are required to do calculus work over summer and winter breaks. 

Prerequisite: Calculus AB and Physics. May be taken concurrently with Calculus or without having the Physics prerequisite only with teacher approval.
Summer work required. AP exam and fee required.

AP Physics C follows a rigorous curriculum dictated by the College Board. Students learn and are expected to apply differential and integral calculus as it is relevant to the topics studied in mechanics. Early emphasis is placed on differentiation in the study of the relationships between position, velocity, and acceleration. Integration is emphasized most in the study of work and energy. Lab work is built into the curriculum and makes up a large portion of the class. Students are required to take the AP Exam in May. 

Prerequisites: Biology, Chemistry, and must have completed or be concurrently enrolled in Algebra II.  
Summer and winter break work required. AP exam and fee required.

This class takes advantage of CRMS's unique location to study and examine the natural world in a relevant, hands-on way. The course is designed to be the equivalent of a college-level course with extensive field and laboratory work that requires organization, planning, and critical thinking skills. Covered topics include ecology, population dynamics, earth science, and human impact at local, regional, and global levels. Students engage in the content by monitoring the health of the Crystal River using a macroinvertebrate survey, wrestling global population policy in a mock UN debate, and collaborating in group projects about climate change and invasive species. Students enrolled are required to take the AP exam in May. As an AP course, students should expect extra reading and homework.  Summer and winter break work required.

Prerequisite/corequisite: Algebra II, Computer Programming and/or Robotics or teacher approval.
Summer work required. AP Exam and fee required.

AP Computer Science A is a rigorous, college-level course that introduces students to the fundamental concepts of computer science through programming in Java. The course emphasizes problem-solving, algorithm development, and object-oriented programming principles. Students will explore data types, control structures, loops, recursion, classes and objects, arrays, inheritance, and polymorphism. Students will learn to design, implement, and debug programs through hands-on coding projects while developing computational thinking skills. The course also prepares students for the AP Computer Science A exam by reinforcing industry-standard coding practices and emphasizing software development efficiency, readability, and modularity.

Prerequisite: Spanish 4
Summer work required.  AP exam and fee required.

This course is designed to further advance students’ proficiency in the Spanish language as well as expand their cultural awareness and knowledge of the Spanish-speaking world. Through presentational, interpersonal, and interpretive modes of communication, students will apply their linguistic skills in a variety of settings. The course is structured around the AP curriculum goals, allowing for student interest and teacher expertise. Global themes are at the heart of these units, allowing for conversations around families in different societies, political, social, and environmental movements, science and technology, beauty and art, quality of life, and personal identity. Generally, AP Language and Culture is for students who have experienced success in previous Spanish classes. This course is offered with an A and B rotation. Therefore, students may take this class for a scond year at an advanced level. Eleventh graders who score a five on the AP exam should speak with the language department head regarding advanced studies in Spanish language.