Talk to me about your HS students experience with different AP courses

[Anonymous]

Talk to my about what AP class your HS student regretted taking the most or struggled with the most (even if it proved successful in the end). Looking for info on the class, not the test. What made the class so bad?

What AP class was the best (even if scored 3 or under on the test). Why did they like the class so much?

[Anonymous]

All classes were easy. Some required more note taking. 4s and 5s. Made an attempt to cover the 5 core subject area before 12th grade. Good mix of Humanities too for a solid STEM student.

Did not take easy filler courses like Psych, Enviro, Human Geography. Took 1 in 9th, 3 in 10th, 4 in 11th and 4 in 12th. Started on the courses during summer break. Utilized Barrons as well as the online class in CollegeBoard.

[Anonymous]

All classes were easy.

This is bullsh*t. Please don't listen to this nonsense. Most kids will struggle with some aspect of at least one AP class. Math kids may find literature/writing classes more challenging and vice versa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

All classes were easy.

This is bullsh*t. Please don't listen to this nonsense. Most kids will struggle with some aspect of at least one AP class. Math kids may find literature/writing classes more challenging and vice versa.

+1. Also, easy and difficult are extremes. There is a middle where a class was challenging but the kid got through it.

[Anonymous]

No. All AP classes were easy for my kid. Got all 5s. Well balanced course load.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. All AP classes were easy for my kid. Got all 5s. Well balanced course load.

Sorry, all 5s, except NSL (in 9th), which was a 4.

You need to start in the summer before because the exams are a month before school ends and so you do not get to prepare till the end of the school year. This was the big lesson learned in 9th grade.

Map out your entire HS courseload and be strategic about what you take when.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. All AP classes were easy for my kid. Got all 5s. Well balanced course load.

Sorry, all 5s, except NSL (in 9th), which was a 4.

You need to start in the summer before because the exams are a month before school ends and so you do not get to prepare till the end of the school year. This was the big lesson learned in 9th grade.

Map out your entire HS courseload and be strategic about what you take when.

How did you prepare for the test before you took the class?

[Anonymous]

Barrons Guide. Textbook. Collegeboard now has the classroom etc but previously used to have old tests on site.

You self-study. There are lots of textbooks and guides available. You also use the guidebook and textbook to study every day - for the course and for the exam.

[Anonymous]

My DS has done 7 AP classes, including 4 now during his senior year. We're not big fans of the classes. The teaching is geared entirely to helping the kids do well on the AP test itself, which are multiple choice and short answer essays. It blows my mind that my kid will graduate HS without ever having written a real research paper despite taking multiple AP history and government classes, that he read only one book in AP Lang, that AP Stats tests are all multiple choice (so no partial credit for work.)

We have a younger kid and may send him to private - since most of the higher tier DC privates don't do AP tests because of the test-focused curriculum. Or we'll have him do the IB curriculum at his public HS.

[Anonymous]

Like any class, OP, so much depends on the teacher and/or interests of student. Core AP’s will always involve more reading and more in depth coverage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS has done 7 AP classes, including 4 now during his senior year. We're not big fans of the classes. The teaching is geared entirely to helping the kids do well on the AP test itself, which are multiple choice and short answer essays. It blows my mind that my kid will graduate HS without ever having written a real research paper despite taking multiple AP history and government classes, that he read only one book in AP Lang, that AP Stats tests are all multiple choice (so no partial credit for work.)

We have a younger kid and may send him to private - since most of the higher tier DC privates don't do AP tests because of the test-focused curriculum. Or we'll have him do the IB curriculum at his public HS.

I teach AP stats and this is false. Half the test is free response/short answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS has done 7 AP classes, including 4 now during his senior year. We're not big fans of the classes. The teaching is geared entirely to helping the kids do well on the AP test itself, which are multiple choice and short answer essays. It blows my mind that my kid will graduate HS without ever having written a real research paper despite taking multiple AP history and government classes, that he read only one book in AP Lang, that AP Stats tests are all multiple choice (so no partial credit for work.)

We have a younger kid and may send him to private - since most of the higher tier DC privates don't do AP tests because of the test-focused curriculum. Or we'll have him do the IB curriculum at his public HS.

I teach AP stats and this is false. Half the test is free response/short answer.

I just realized you meant in daily class quizzes/tests. That’s an individual teacher decision. All my AP stats quizzes and tests are half multiple choice, half free response.

OP, there is no standardization of teaching methodologies or curriculums for AP classes. I have a list of topics to cover, access to released tests, and that’s it. The way I teach and the way the AP teacher at the school down the road teach could theoretically be completely different, so this is hard to answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. All AP classes were easy for my kid. Got all 5s. Well balanced course load.

Easy because you forced your kid to prep for hours over the summer. Sure, my kid could get 5 and have an “easier” year if he started studying over the summer and bought a study guide too. But I’m not a tiger mom so my kid is doing just fine doing what is expected in class but I would not describe all APs as universally “easy.” OP, we are still in the middle of it (junior year) and my kid finds psych more work than expected but interesting. The core classes (calc, physics, Lang) are about what he expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS has done 7 AP classes, including 4 now during his senior year. We're not big fans of the classes. The teaching is geared entirely to helping the kids do well on the AP test itself, which are multiple choice and short answer essays. It blows my mind that my kid will graduate HS without ever having written a real research paper despite taking multiple AP history and government classes, that he read only one book in AP Lang, that AP Stats tests are all multiple choice (so no partial credit for work.)

We have a younger kid and may send him to private - since most of the higher tier DC privates don't do AP tests because of the test-focused curriculum. Or we'll have him do the IB curriculum at his public HS.

I think it might be your school, PP. DC has taken an AP history class every year since freshman year and has always had to write an in-depth term paper every semester. The two AP English had summer reading as well as several books read as part of the classes.

I don’t know about stats.

But I agree that AP’s are getting crazy. There are just too many! And schools have different rules regarding who can take the AP class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. All AP classes were easy for my kid. Got all 5s. Well balanced course load.

Easy because you forced your kid to prep for hours over the summer. Sure, my kid could get 5 and have an “easier” year if he started studying over the summer and bought a study guide too. But I’m not a tiger mom so my kid is doing just fine doing what is expected in class but I would not describe all APs as universally “easy.” OP, we are still in the middle of it (junior year) and my kid finds psych more work than expected but interesting. The core classes (calc, physics, Lang) are about what he expected.

Nope, no need for me to force my kid to prep. He likes to do well in school and in ECs and is super organized. I am not a Tiger mom but my kid is surely a Tiger kid. Sour grapes?