Irene Hong (285)

On Monday, July 7, 2025, students all over the country woke up to the much-anticipated release of Advanced Placement (AP) exam scores, breathing a sigh of relief if they received the scores they’d been aiming for. However, forty-eight Central kids celebrated for a different reason: they had just found out that their AP Calculus AB and BC classes had collectively earned a 5 — the highest possible score on the exam. That morning, they established themselves as the first class to achieve this in Central’s history.

These students had one thing in common: they were all taught by Ms. Florica Dragomir in an accelerated mathematics pathway, affectionately (or ominously) nicknamed “The Program.” In this course track, students excelling in Algebra 2 Honors elect to take Precalculus with a focus in trigonometry in the mornings, allowing them to be in AP Calculus AB as a sophomore and AP Calculus BC as a junior — all three years with Ms. Dragomir.

It is no secret that this courseload is demanding, but throughout the program, these students were driven by a motivation other than just rigor — they wanted a perfect class record on the AP exams come May. This, as one could imagine, is no easy feat; in fact, in the 2025 CollegeBoard census of AP Calculus AB and BC test-takers, only twenty percent and forty-four percent, respectively, got a 5. So, how did they do it?

Ms. Dragomir believes what made the difference this year was the strength of the bonds they had created. She says, “Without the community, we would not have achieved that,” noting how the students “benefited each other” when they helped one another to study and understand the material. When asked to describe the environment of the class, current BC student Meredith Tangeman (286) recalls, “It was very supportive because we all had the same goal — not just to get 5s by ourselves, but for the whole class to get 5s — so we supported each other to reach that.”

The three-year structure of this program also seemed to prove vital. Meredith adds, “We had a lot of time to discuss things in depth and learn new topics and interesting additions.” Kala Ramji-Nogales (285), who was a part of last year’s BC class, agrees, sharing how she “really enjoy[ed] the depth with which [they] covered everything.”

“By teaching a student for more than one year,” Ms. Dragomir says, “when [my students] were overwhelmed, I was able to take that into consideration. I had a better understanding of who [they] were, and vice versa — they more readily accepted who I am and the way I teach.”