Math teacher motivates students to succeed on AP Calculus exam
Perhaps one could measure the success of Mr. Walt Boluch's 1989-90 Advanced Placement Math classes by noting that that previous year's A.P.M. 12 class had only one student score a 5 (on a scale from 1 for unqualified to 5 for extremely well-qualified) on the AP Calculus AB exam. Perhaps the Class of 1990 had more talented math students, but it certainly took a great teacher to bring out that talent.
When Mrs. Sue Schultz taught A.P.M. 12 in 1988-89, only one student scored a 5: Todd Rope. Mr. Boluch's A.P.M. 12 classes yielded five 5's: Jared Goldapper, Lena Larsson, Alex Nemirovsky, Mark Rabinowitz and Victor Varsanyi ('91). And this, despite the fact that Mr. Boluch had not taught Calculus in roughly a decade.
Goldapper's success should have been no surprise. Throughout Mr. Boluch's precalculus and calculus classes, he often had higher scores on tests than any other student. But he said he may have had a little divine intervention. He recalled a free-response problem in which he needed to find the area of a region formed by two curves and a line. He had difficulty finding out where the curves intersected, and when he finally did, he raised his arms and said, "Thank G-d!"
He also led an effort to make a plaque to recognize Mr. Boluch for his great work in teaching A.P.M. 12 in 1989-90: The "1990 M.V.T AWARD, MOST VALUABLE TEACHER, WALT BOLUCH: FOR YOUR MOTIVATION AND DEDICATION IN TEACHING US CALCULUS." Twelve A.P.M. 12 students each contributed $3 to help fund the plaque. They were Goldapper, Jenny Church, Mill Coleman, Jeffrey Hong, Shawna Knight, Larsson, Jason McCombs, Shannon McCormick, Craig Pattinson, Rabinowitz, Ed Serzo and Varsanyi.
Goldapper stated, "We didn't give (Mr. Boluch) the plaque in order to obtain glory for ourselves. We gave him the plaque in order to show him our appreciation and make him feel good about himself."
Even though Larsson and Nemirovsky didn't set the curve as often as Goldapper on regular A.P.M. 12 material, they never ran into any great difficulties. Both of them had the ability to work hard, and on the AP Calculus exam, they showed it. In the summer of 1990, Larsson returned to her native Sweden. It was unfortunate that neither the University of Michigan nor the Massachusetts Institute of Technology accepted her applications.
Rabinowitz became the only student in Mr. Boluch's classes to accomplish both of these feats: 1) getting a 5 on the Calculus AB exam and 2) reaching Part II of the Michigan Math Prize Competition. Only two other 1990 graduates, Todd Rope and Jim Cannon, can say that; both had been further advanced in their math studies than Rabinowitz.
Plagued by small mistakes in exams throughout 1989-90, Varsanyi got a lot of help from Mr. Boluch's constant review and re-review of various calculus problems (mainly from copies of the 1988, 1985, 1973 and 1969 AP Exams). He was the only junior in A.P.M. 12.
Mr. Boluch took over teaching A.P.M. 12 in 1989, but had not taught that course in roughly a decade. To get prepared, in the summer of 1989, he re-read the book in preparation for the two classes he would teach that fall.
In 1991, his classes were even more successful. That year, fifteen students scored a 5, along with three 4's and three 3's. Subsequent years yielded even greater success. It became rare for an A.P.M. 12 student under Mr. Boluch not to take the AP Calculus exam.
Mr. Boluch continued to teach A.P.M. 12 until his retirement in 1997.
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