Curriculum Overview

Credit Analysis

Archimedean Upper Conservatory’s challenging and carefully designed college preparatory program is for those students wishing to reach their full academic and individual potentials.

With a program intentionally set up to produce students who are capable of successfully handling demanding coursework and course loads while balancing unique co- and extra-curricular enrichment activities, a skill certainly invaluable in college, students from freshmen year on taking two credits of additional academic coursework yearly compared to that required by the state of Florida. Students, therefore, graduate having completed a minimum of 32 credits of coursework, a total of 8 credits or 33% more than the 24 credit minimum state and district graduation requirements. Add to this high school credits completed in middle school, online, and through summer dual enrollment courses completed at F.I.U. and M.D.C., and some graduates finish their high school careers with up to and over 36 credits or over 50% more high school coursework than is typical and expected, an impressive feat to say the least.

Course Selection & Purpose

Given that it is a goal of Archimedean to not only place 100% of its graduates in college, but also have them excel and rise above their competition once there, students are encouraged never to shy away from challenging coursework that forces the mastery of new academic content as well as the continual improvement of thinking, time management, and study skills. To this extent, the Upper Conservatory offers a large selection of rigorously taught honors, accelerated, and Advanced Placement college-level courses in order to better prepare students of all initial academic abilities to take on top post-secondary educations upon graduation.

The students’ competitive edge in college admissions thus stems from a balanced combination of extracurricular development and a unique combination of coursework that includes a full four years of advanced mathematics, enhanced science options, yearly philosophy exposure, and academic and foreign language studies (Greek, Latin, French, &/or Spanish). Additionally, carefully chosen electives complement the core curriculum by exposing students to highly-valued disciplines from the fine, performing, and language arts to robotics and computer science.