Any student at Algonquin understands the rigor and competitiveness of its courses. For students like junior Noah Brazer, though, the more demanding, the better.

Brazer is currently enrolled in five Advanced Placement courses: World History, Statistics, Physics,  Language and Spanish; two more “AP courses” than his sophomore year.

Brazer considers himself as someone who strives for a challenge.

“The AP classes that I chose were the highest of the next level of courses that I planned on taking,” Brazer said.

Although many would think his course load is overwhelming, Brazer uses activities such as cross country and track to battle the stress. Spending at least two hours a day on exercise, though, does not make finishing his work harder.

“Competing in sports is not a problem because it helps me relieve stress,” Brazer said. “I use sports as an outlet.”

However, stress is something he can often avoid.

“I’m not one of those people who get really stressed out, in general.” Brazer said.

To deal with homework, Brazer tries his best to minimize his distractions. Doing so, he is able to limit his average homework a night to around one hour.

“When I sit down to do my work, I make sure to put my phone away,” Brazer said.

Even with five AP exams on the horizon, Brazer is confident in his ability. The workload will be cranked up, but Brazer knows his techniques will not fail him.

“During AP testing, I will have to set multiple hours a day to studying, but I am not worried. I think I am pretty determined,” Brazer said.

Brazer encourages his peers to push themselves. He hopes that those who feel able to take AP courses should give it a try. However, he stresses that the courses should not be taken lightly.

Next year Noah plans on taking ceramics along with his AP studies. He hopes to one day attend Stanford University with a biology major.