In an effort to take the monotony out of Advanced Placement review for students, Palo Alto High School’s AP Calculus AB teachers will be hosting a Calc Bowl during Flex tomorrow in Paly’s Media Arts Center.

“Each group of students will be working on four calculus questions at a time and they will run up to a teacher and submit the problems as they complete them,” AB Calculus teacher Herb Bocksnick said. “The teachers and I will grade the cards with the answers on them as they come in, and each group’s score will be reflected on a live scoring spreadsheet up on the projector.”

Bocksnick thought the event would be a fun way for students to review for the AP Calculus exam on May 9.

“In terms of academics, I’ve always liked to be competitive in a healthy way,” Bocksnick said. “There are six different sections of AP Calculus AB and it is great to have them all together in the same room at the same time for some healthy competition.”

Senior Kaitlin Chiu looks forward to participating in the competition tomorrow.

“I see the Calc Bowl as an opportunity for me to see how much I actually know, and it will hopefully help me prepare for the AP exam,” Chiu said.

To sign up, students should talk to their teachers, according to Bocksnick. Groups must be composed of three AB Calculus students from the same class period.

According to Bocksnick, all students who participate in this event will receive extra credit in the form of a grade buffer and the winning team will be awarded customized T-shirts. 

While groups this year must be composed of three students, all from the same AP Calculus class period, Bocksnick says that they are considering changing the rules for the coming years.

“I view this as the first annual event and hope that it continues every year,” Bocksnick said. “This year’s event is just a learning process and we will tweak things around for next year depending on how things go.”