AP Precalculus Power Hour

Introducing AP Precalculus Power Hour, a national professional learning community designed for all AP Precalculus teachers. Join each month’s session to explore just-in-time topics as the school year progresses, connect with fellow teachers, exchange resources, and participate in live Q&A sessions with content experts. This yearlong series is led by current AP Precalculus teachers and exam readers Alyssa Barratt, Catie Pfeifer, Crissie Ricketts, and Chris Salvato.

This opportunity is available at no cost and teachers will leave each session with tangible activities or tips they can implement immediately in their AP Precalculus classroom. You’re invited to join one, all, or as many sessions as you’d like. 

Note: Sessions are not recorded. 

Meet the AP Precalculus Power Hour Facilitators 

Alyssa Barratt	Catie Pfeifer	Crissie Ricketts	Chris Salvato
Lawrence Free State HS Lawrence Public Schools, KS	R.L. Paschal HS Fort Worth ISD, TX	Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology Fairfax County Public Schools, VA	Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology New York City Public Schools, NY

2025-26 School Year Series

Click the sessions below for times and registration links.

Session 1: Making Use of Your Instructional Planning Report to Improve Instructions 
Session 2: Introducing the Concept of Rates of Rate of Change 
Session 3: Examine the Use of AP Classroom Through the Concept of Limit Notation 
Session 4: Regression and Residuals in AP Precalculus 
Session 5: Tips for Writing AP-style Questions and an Overview of Semi-log Plots
Session 6: Polar Functions and Teaching Tips to Support FRQ 3 (repeated in February) 
Session 7: The AP Precalculus Approach to Trigonometry 
Session 8: Take a Deep Dive into FRQ 1 
Session 9: Take a Deep Dive into FRQ 2 
Session 10: Polar Functions and Teaching Tips to Support FRQ 3 (repeat from December) 
Session 11: Pro-tips for FRQ 4 and AP Precalculus Exam Review 
Session 12: Strategies for Responding to Multiple-Choice Questions and Open Forum

Session 1: Making Use of Your Instructional Planning Report to Improve Instruction

How can you best leverage your instructional planning report and use its data to adjust your approach to teaching? Experienced AP Precalculus teachers, who also serve as readers, will share how they analyzed their data and modified a lesson based on their analysis. They’ll answer participant questions during the session.

Session 2: Introducing the Concept of Rates of Rate of Change 

Rates of Rate of Change is a foundational concept that spirals throughout the entire course. Hear how the facilitators have tackled rates of rate of change in the past and how they've adjusted as they start their third year with the course. Ask questions or join the conversation and share your own ideas for teaching this concept. 

Session 3: Examine the Use of AP Classroom Through the Concept of Limit Notation 

Explore where and how limit notation appears in FRQ 1 and see a demonstration of how to develop a problem set in AP Classroom. Participants will leave with access to a set of AP Classroom questions related to limit notation and other resources. 

Session 4: Regression and Residuals in AP Precalculus

This deep dive into how regression and residuals are used in the AP Precalculus course will help you understand how regressions are applied in FRQ2; how to create a residual plot in Desmos or with TI and Numworks; and how to interpret whether a residual plot represents an appropriate model for the data. As with most monthly sessions, participants will leave with a link to an AP Classroom problem set and other teacher-shared resources. 

Session 5: Tips for Writing AP-style Questions and an Overview of Semi-log Plots  

Building AP-style questions can be difficult, but the tips we’ll cover will help make the process less daunting. Participants will also gain an understanding of how semi-log plots show up on the AP Precalculus Exam and get suggestions on how to capitalize on the use of graphing calculators for this topic. 

Session 6: Polar Functions and Teaching Tips to Support FRQ 3 (repeated in February)

Learn about how Polar Functions are presented in AP Precalculus and get some advice for building scaffolds into preparing students for FRQ 3 from the beginning of Unit 3.

Session 7: The AP Precalculus Approach to Trigonometry 

Learn how the AP Precalculus approach to trigonometry differs from a traditional approach and hear insights gained by facilitators during their first two years of the course. As with most monthly sessions, participants will leave with a link to an AP Classroom problem set and other teacher-shared resources. 

Session 8: Take a Deep Dive into FRQ 1

We’ll review the released FRQ 1 from the May 2025 AP Precalculus Exam and highlight how it compares to the released question from the May 2024 AP Precalculus Exam. Facilitators will walk you through the scoring guidelines, provide sentence starters and verbiage to consider, and provide pro-tips for instruction that keeps the content and skills assessed on FRQ 1 fresh all year long.

Session 9: Take a Deep Dive into FRQ 2

We’ll review the released FRQ 2 from the May 2025 AP Precalculus Exam and highlight how it compares to the released question from the May 2024 AP Precalculus Exam. Facilitators will walk you through the scoring guidelines, provide sentence starters and verbiage to consider, and provide pro-tips for instruction that keeps the content and skills assessed on FRQ 2 fresh all year long.

Session 10: Polar Functions and Teaching Tips to Support FRQ 3 (repeat from December)

Learn about how Polar Functions are presented in AP Precalculus and get advice for building scaffolds into preparing students for FRQ 3 from the beginning of Unit 3.

Session 11: Pro-tips for FRQ 4 and AP Precalculus Exam Review

Looking for creative ways to help your students review for the AP Precalculus Exam? Join this session to hear about the practices several experienced AP Precalculus teachers have put in place. You'll have a chance to ask questions and share your own suggestions too.

Session 12: Strategies for Responding to Multiple-Choice Questions and Open Forum

Learn about the test-taking strategies the facilitators are sharing with their students, see the resources they're using, ask questions, and offer your own suggestions.