are AP exams really necessary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stats is very important but I would argue that waiting for college is better. Exposure to calculus and linear algebra in HS is very helpful in providing a running start to retaking even basic college level math courses which will be more heavily proof based than many kids have been taught to do.

My kid took dual enrollment stats. There is no reason why he can't take stats in college. It's a useful course across a wide variety of fields. My kid enjoyed that class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure why kids are bypassing Calc AB? That is Calc 1 in college. Why would you skip over that to Calc BC which is Calc 2.

Because BC covers Calc AB, too. Or so I've heard.

What I heard is that end of Precal covers Calc A. So Calc AB is a partial repeat of Precalc and Calc BC is a partical repeat of Calc AB. At least in our school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure why kids are bypassing Calc AB? That is Calc 1 in college. Why would you skip over that to Calc BC which is Calc 2.

Because BC covers Calc AB, too. Or so I've heard.

The way I understand it (at least at our HS), Calc AB is the first semester of college Calc taught over the span of one school year. Calc BC is the equivalent of one year of college Calc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s school (LAC) no longer allows kids to skip into bio 2. Said they had way too many kids starting right away with bio 2 after AP Bio and rarely did those kids have the proper foundation in biology to succeed in a second semester course. (May be the case in other departments too but I’m most familiar with the bio department policies because DD is a biology major...)

But, even tho she didn’t technically get credit she said she was glad she took AP Bio in high school anyway because she was at least familiar with most of the concepts covered. So I guess what she got from AP Bio was enough that it allowed her to feel a lot more comfortable in a college science course but not enough that it could serve as a replacement.

There is a lot of chem in college bio 1 from what I hear. I've seen a university with the prerequisite of Gen Chem 1 for Bio 1.

I think the chem part takes some students by surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s school (LAC) no longer allows kids to skip into bio 2. Said they had way too many kids starting right away with bio 2 after AP Bio and rarely did those kids have the proper foundation in biology to succeed in a second semester course. (May be the case in other departments too but I’m most familiar with the bio department policies because DD is a biology major...)

But, even tho she didn’t technically get credit she said she was glad she took AP Bio in high school anyway because she was at least familiar with most of the concepts covered. So I guess what she got from AP Bio was enough that it allowed her to feel a lot more comfortable in a college science course but not enough that it could serve as a replacement.

There is a lot of chem in college bio 1 from what I hear. I've seen a university with the prerequisite of Gen Chem 1 for Bio 1.

I think the chem part takes some students by surprise.

Yes! DC’s HS science teachers told us that AP Bio bears little resemblance to College-level bio these days (which, in turn, varies from school to school) and that AP Chem and Physics C were more reliably useful even (maybe especially) to a prospective bio major. Counterintuitive advice but, in retrospect, we were glad we took it.

[Anonymous]

As an Asian-American, the bar is the highest for my kid. With grade inflation at school there is no way they can differentiate between my student and others based on just GPA anymore. I like SAT/ACT, SAT Subject Exams, AP/IB as an impartial, race-blind way to quantify academic achievement. I am all for it because there is nothing better right now. I do not look at AP and IB as a way to earn college credit, rather I see it as a signaling device to the admission committee of the most selective colleges and courses for my kid. God knows, we can afford to pay full tuition...in a state school...LOL.

[Anonymous]

I would vote for doing away with AP CLASSES altogether.

Let them start taking college classes...when they hit college.

The real requires people of different intellectual capabilities to work together.

I think it is a big money-making scam. It also makes school administrators feel superior, based upon the performance of their students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure why kids are bypassing Calc AB? That is Calc 1 in college. Why would you skip over that to Calc BC which is Calc 2.

Because BC covers Calc AB, too. Or so I've heard.

No way. There is no way you can teach ABC at the right pace and depth doing it in one high school year. I agree. Not sure when it turned into this. Where did Trig go? That used to be a whole year math class.

[Anonymous]

Let the brightest students take AP and IB. Why are average students being pushed to take these classes? It does not make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would vote for doing away with AP CLASSES altogether.

Let them start taking college classes...when they hit college.

The real requires people of different intellectual capabilities to work together.

I think it is a big money-making scam. It also makes school administrators feel superior, based upon the performance of their students.

Everyone knows it is a scam. Look at the high failure rate. That is the only reason colleges still accept them. If the majority were passing, colleges would say no thanks. Actually schools are Harvard and others are no longer accepting any AP’s, any score. Even 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an Asian-American, the bar is the highest for my kid. With grade inflation at school there is no way they can differentiate between my student and others based on just GPA anymore. I like SAT/ACT, SAT Subject Exams, AP/IB as an impartial, race-blind way to quantify academic achievement. I am all for it because there is nothing better right now. I do not look at AP and IB as a way to earn college credit, rather I see it as a signaling device to the admission committee of the most selective colleges and courses for my kid. God knows, we can afford to pay full tuition...in a state school...LOL.

For in-state public colleges GPA and SATs are pretty much all you need, regardless of race. Sorry your child isn't interesting enough to get into a school you can brag about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an Asian-American, the bar is the highest for my kid. With grade inflation at school there is no way they can differentiate between my student and others based on just GPA anymore. I like SAT/ACT, SAT Subject Exams, AP/IB as an impartial, race-blind way to quantify academic achievement. I am all for it because there is nothing better right now. I do not look at AP and IB as a way to earn college credit, rather I see it as a signaling device to the admission committee of the most selective colleges and courses for my kid. God knows, we can afford to pay full tuition...in a state school...LOL.

For in-state public colleges GPA and SATs are pretty much all you need, regardless of race. Sorry your child isn't interesting enough to get into a school you can brag about.

Where in the world did you hear that? This is so incorrect. You would not get into any of the better state colleges if you didn't take any APs even with perfect gpa (unless you went to a school that didn't offer any AP, obviously). UVA, WM, Mich, UNC, Ga Tech, UCLA... All of these schools have an ave gpa over 4.0. How would you ever get that without taking any APs? In our schools Naviance, the counselor write up for Ga Tech specifically says "Number of APs matter!" I don't know which state college you're child is at but clearly not a very good one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both my children took enough to gain sophomore status and graduate a semester earlier than they would have without them. It was certain worth it for our family.

During my junior year I took a handful, and my worst Ap test...was the one that wasn’t accepted st my desired Univ anyway... so for senior year, I researched ahead of time. My desired univ didn’t accept one of my senior AP options. So I took all Ap except for that one class, which was an easy A.

Got into my university(!) and skipped sooo many courses by having the credit already in my transcript.

All in all, between1 sophomore year Ap, I took 6 Ap, and had 5 count towards college credit.

Similar here for our oldest. She knocked out a lot of basic liberal arts pre-reqs (english lit, comp sci, history, hard science). Her school required a score of 5s and took about 10 AP classes total. Half did not make sense for what our daughter intended to major in. So it was not nutsville, but was helpful for allowing her to double major in Chinese and Econ plus do a study abroad all in 4 years. This was Boston College.

[Anonymous]

and AP calc. tho by now she's had 2 levels of stats and econometrics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you all seen the statistics on AP testing results? ABYSMAL. We are talking only 5-9% getting a 5 and that is with a curve.

I am not sure the point of AP classes in high school. High school teachers can not teach them like college professors and the kids don’t have the time to digest them.

Public’s really need to start follow private school lead and offer advanced honors courses that prepare the kids for college courses, not try to cram a college course in from Aug to April and having kids take multiple AP tests and missing other classes during school time to do it. It is just way too chaotic to have juniors taking SAT or ACT, SAT subject tests, AP finals, other finals, and term papers all in the span of 1-2 months. These kids aren’t LEARNING anything. It is anxiety induced memorization.

Huh? The kids usually get nearly two semesters (most of a school year) to digest AP material. They will never have such a long time to learn material again. Once they hit college they will have half the time to learn just as much material. 1 semester, not 2 semesters.

AP is a good way to get a basic intro level into college. It's a great way to learn study skills and test preparation at a slower pace. Once the hit college that pace picks up.

Private school poster, I think you're confused about public school offerings. Public schools offer a gamut of levels - general, honors, AP, even "post-AP" courses. AP courses are year-long courses.

Some privates offer levels. My son's public did not offer honors English in 11th or 12th. AP, IB, general, English support. Same with US hist. Really no good choice for a good student with a STEM interest who thought 4APs were enough each year.