In the 2017 Advanced Placement Calculus AB and BC tests, one problem stood out. Students were asked to find the temperature of a potato. And, according to the De Soto High School Calculus students, that was hard to do.

Given vague guidelines, the need to create their own equations for the internal temperature at any time, and unfamiliar formats, students were asked to use integration problems to find the internal heat of a potato. It was not exactly what students prepared for.

“I studied volumes of revolution for hours, and they tried to turn me into a thermometer,” junior Jared Carlton said.

Even the Calculus II students were at a loss as to how to solve it. Naturally, that did not inspire much confidence in the Calculus I students.

“If they couldn’t solve it, then I didn’t have a prayer,” junior Connor Kmiecik said.

The AP tests are graded on a curve, however, so testers only need to be in a certain percent of testers to get a good score. That’s a good thing in Kmiecik’s mind.

“That question really mashed my brain,” Kmiecik said.