It is the day before the World History AP exam. I am frantically studying for it. In spite of my nerves, I do believe I have it in me to succeed due to the effort my teacher, Mr. LaBella, has put into preparing the class for the exam. He makes the class a lot more manageable due to the resources he provides, his relaxed teaching style, and how he prepares students for the exam.

During his lectures, Mr. LaBella plays the videos of a YouTuber named Heimler, who makes various different types of videos such as unit reviews, tips for question formats like DBQs and review streams for AP exams. During one of the AP World review streams, I sent in a question and asked what his goal for making his videos is. Heimler said, “to serve students who are struggling to understand;…to be their Obi-Wan Kenobi and just say you can learn the ways of the force.” Mr. LaBella believes Heimler “provides…a backbone or a spine as a jumping off point for the rest of the curriculum”.  Also, unlike other people teachers find on the internet, Heimler brings his own chaotic energy to the subject by trying to make videos that are relatable and funny such as his practice DBQ  where he wrote about the Kendrick Lamar vs Drake Beef.  Mr. LaBella is good at finding resources for educating students and keeping them engaged at the same time.

Additionally, Mr. LaBella is very relaxed and he teaches with his students in mind. For example, he provides days where students can work independently on any work they owe or soon to be due assignments. He is also very approachable and helps students out when they ask him questions.

Peter Gernand, an AP World student, said, “the man unquestionably knows what he’s doing.” Mr. LaBella himself said, “I try to keep everyone calm and level.” Mr. LaBella’s relaxed nature helps ease the nerves of students in the class.

In addition, Mr. LaBella helps students prepare for their AP exams. During the weeks leading up to the exam, Mr. LaBella hosted practice exams after school where he gave students the experience of taking the test. The multiple choice section even had an answer key that explained why each correct answer was right posted to the classroom later that day. After the exam, I asked Mr. LaBella how he thought we did, he said, “From what I can see right now, it seems very positive.”

Thanks to Mr. LaBella, I feel like I aced the exam.