Class of 2010 graduate Alex Creely has been named 2010 AP State Scholar.
According to the AP website the award is, “given to one male and one female student in each state who had scores of three or higher on the greatest number of AP Exams, and then the highest average score (at least 3.5) on all AP Exams taken.”
“I took a total of 14 AP exams during high school. They were: Calc AB, Calc BC, Chemistry, U.S. Gov., Comparative Gov., Euro, Physics B, Computer Science A, English Lit, English Lang, German Lang, Stats, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics,” Creely said.
He is currently attending Princeton University and is pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering with an emphasis on physics.
“Overall, Lafayette did a great job of preparing me for Princeton, although the classwork is definitely more difficult here,” Creely said.
Creely said he is taking a number of different courses at Princeton including, “a double course combining multivariable calculus and general mechanics physics for engineers, a german class about the politics and culture of Germany from 1890 to 1945, and a small seminar (discussion based) class on scarcity, which combines psychology and economic theory.”
“My German class is a lot of work, but German at Lafayette gave me a great base in the language so that all the reading is definitely possible. Math and physics are also pretty tough, and we move fast, but calculus and physics at Lafayette were very strong and so I’m in a good position to move forward in both topics,” Creely said.
“I think that I spent maybe 2.5 or 3 hours per night on average on homework,” said Creely.
“Lafayette also taught me how to manage my time well and how to study. In high school I really just had to keep schoolwork my first priority to keep up with the classes. I mean I definitely did a whole ton of other stuff like Cross Country, NHS, etc, but I made sure that I never let myself fall behind for the sake of another activity, Creely said.
He continued, “As a piece of advice, not procrastinating was the best way that I kept up with work. I just tried to get stuff done early so that I had time to hang out without thinking about school.”
