AP Exams and GDS

[Anonymous]

How common is it for students at GDS high school to take AP exams? We are new there in 10th grade and the college counselor says it doesn't make a difference in college applications because GDS does not offer AP classes nor prep students for the AP exams. To take it, a student would have to prepare for it outside of school. They seem to discourage it. I was just wondering if most kids get prep and do it anyway if they are taking an UL or Honors course in an AP subject? Do they actually get the extra prep to cover the content? Seems like a lot of extra work and cost. And does it really not make a difference to not have taken any AP classes in college applications?

Thanks for any insight.

[Anonymous]

If your school does not offer AP classes, it does not hurt the college application to not have AP classes. Colleges assess transcripts and rigor based on what the specific school offers.

There are other potential benefits to taking AP *exams* however, and each student (or family) has to make that determination on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How common is it for students at GDS high school to take AP exams? We are new there in 10th grade and the college counselor says it doesn't make a difference in college applications because GDS does not offer AP classes nor prep students for the AP exams. To take it, a student would have to prepare for it outside of school. They seem to discourage it. I was just wondering if most kids get prep and do it anyway if they are taking an UL or Honors course in an AP subject? Do they actually get the extra prep to cover the content? Seems like a lot of extra work and cost. And does it really not make a difference to not have taken any AP classes in college applications?

Thanks for any insight.

OP- I feel for you. Our school is the same way. The got rid of APs a few years ago and now the burden is totally on the student to 'study' because they are not taught. In our school that has no APs, a majority of students (like 75%) take the AP test and they even list that on the school profile including how many get 4s and 5s. It's dumb. Congratulations to all these private schools for deciding to stop APs for taking the moral high ground around being able to teach what the want. The reality is in the world of college admissions, AP classes are an objective standard --and even if they were not, taking an AP test means you can potentially opt out of core courses in college and get faster to the courses you want to take. In nearly every admissions tour we hve been on they talk about the importance of APs. I get the 'selective' schools like exeter have stopped APs. But the DMV is not exeter and quite frankly it feels like a cop out.

[Anonymous]

It is a lot of extra work to take AP exams in these schools that don't offer AP classes and they usually occur around the time of finals etc. I had a kid take 2 of them and did fine but not sure it was worth it. Only problem is that they then have no credits going into college and cant place out of anything which does put them at a disadvantage in some colleges.

[Anonymous]

We have an 11th grader at GDS. Multiple counselors inside and outside of the school have told us the same thing: An applicant is not disadvantaged in the college application process for not taking AP exams if the school does not offer AP classes. None of them have said you should take them solely for college application purposes. Whether you want to believe that and whether you want AP exam results for college placement purposes is up to you. I'm sure some schools do put weight on AP test scores in the application process, and I've also been on college tours where the student guide has stated that being able to use AP test scores in class placement or for credit is very difficult at their school. A lot of our kid's friend apparently signed up for the AP exams, but how many actually take them is unclear. Signing up for the tests isn't hard, but you need to be proactive early in the school year. You also have to figure out what the GDS class is not covering for the AP test. Some UL classes cover almost all of the AP course material, and others do not. Whether your kid wants to close that gap to do well on the test is up to them. The tests are the first two weeks of May, and GDS HS finals are after the Memorial Day weekend through the last day of school, so there is a break to get ready for finals.

[Anonymous]

Colleges care that you take the most rigorous classes available at your school. The exam doesn’t matter one way or the other. But if you are at a school with APs, you should definitely take the exam.

[Anonymous]

Our GDS college counselor said that APs aren't necessary, but at the same time, some college admissions folks could see it as "going above and beyond" to take APs when your school doesn't offer them, so that didn't help at all.
We were planning on taking some anyway ( I placed out of a bunch of classes in college I didn't want to take becasue of APs, and want to give my kid the same chances) but we won't do many.
Some of our teachers said their classes will prepare the kids well for APs, some say there are a lot of things on the AP test that they don't cover, so at least we know which tests to take.

[Anonymous]

I just responded on another post, but I’ll say it again here. Most private schools have stopped offering APs in many cases because they don’t want to report the scores. They will say it is because they want to be able to be flexible and nimble and innovative, and not teach a specific curriculum to a test. But it is also a well-known fact that private school teachers often have no certification or training and so having a clear rigorous curriculum with milestones and Tess is actually a good thing. College is due value APs as well. They are objective and the world is going to go back to prioritizing standardized, test, and scores on them. I think it would be good for private schools to offer a piece again, and it would certainly help lower income students who would like to transfer college credit and spend less in college.

[Anonymous]

My kids went to a local private with no AP's. They are recent graduates. They and many of their peers were admitted to top 50 and even top 20 and Ivy league universities. No AP tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just responded on another post, but I’ll say it again here. Most private schools have stopped offering APs in many cases because they don’t want to report the scores. They will say it is because they want to be able to be flexible and nimble and innovative, and not teach a specific curriculum to a test. But it is also a well-known fact that private school teachers often have no certification or training and so having a clear rigorous curriculum with milestones and Tess is actually a good thing. College is due value APs as well. They are objective and the world is going to go back to prioritizing standardized, test, and scores on them. I think it would be good for private schools to offer a piece again, and it would certainly help lower income students who would like to transfer college credit and spend less in college.

If there were only someplace where a kid of high school age could go, perhaps for free, and take all the AP courses they wanted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just responded on another post, but I’ll say it again here. Most private schools have stopped offering APs in many cases because they don’t want to report the scores. They will say it is because they want to be able to be flexible and nimble and innovative, and not teach a specific curriculum to a test. But it is also a well-known fact that private school teachers often have no certification or training and so having a clear rigorous curriculum with milestones and Tess is actually a good thing. College is due value APs as well. They are objective and the world is going to go back to prioritizing standardized, test, and scores on them. I think it would be good for private schools to offer a piece again, and it would certainly help lower income students who would like to transfer college credit and spend less in college.

If there were only someplace where a kid of high school age could go, perhaps for free, and take all the AP courses they wanted.

Ha, best answer I've seen in a while.
Seriously though, nothing has been worse for education in the US in general than teachers being forced to teach to tests, and being evaluated by how well their students do on standardized tests. It's the curse of our entire system, so I think it's great for a school to trust their teachers instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just responded on another post, but I’ll say it again here. Most private schools have stopped offering APs in many cases because they don’t want to report the scores. They will say it is because they want to be able to be flexible and nimble and innovative, and not teach a specific curriculum to a test. But it is also a well-known fact that private school teachers often have no certification or training and so having a clear rigorous curriculum with milestones and Tess is actually a good thing. College is due value APs as well. They are objective and the world is going to go back to prioritizing standardized, test, and scores on them. I think it would be good for private schools to offer a piece again, and it would certainly help lower income students who would like to transfer college credit and spend less in college.

If there were only someplace where a kid of high school age could go, perhaps for free, and take all the AP courses they wanted.

Ha, best answer I've seen in a while.
Seriously though, nothing has been worse for education in the US in general than teachers being forced to teach to tests, and being evaluated by how well their students do on standardized tests. It's the curse of our entire system, so I think it's great for a school to trust their teachers instead.

Except when those teachers have no training and no curriculum. This is why some schools have students reading 1 book and writing no essays in 8th grade. That is what I heard about Maret's 8th grade last year. The teacher "redid" the book list and assignments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just responded on another post, but I’ll say it again here. Most private schools have stopped offering APs in many cases because they don’t want to report the scores. They will say it is because they want to be able to be flexible and nimble and innovative, and not teach a specific curriculum to a test. But it is also a well-known fact that private school teachers often have no certification or training and so having a clear rigorous curriculum with milestones and Tess is actually a good thing. College is due value APs as well. They are objective and the world is going to go back to prioritizing standardized, test, and scores on them. I think it would be good for private schools to offer a piece again, and it would certainly help lower income students who would like to transfer college credit and spend less in college.

If there were only someplace where a kid of high school age could go, perhaps for free, and take all the AP courses they wanted.

Ha, best answer I've seen in a while.
Seriously though, nothing has been worse for education in the US in general than teachers being forced to teach to tests, and being evaluated by how well their students do on standardized tests. It's the curse of our entire system, so I think it's great for a school to trust their teachers instead.

Except when those teachers have no training and no curriculum. This is why some schools have students reading 1 book and writing no essays in 8th grade. That is what I heard about Maret's 8th grade last year. The teacher "redid" the book list and assignments.

Then that's on the school to sort out. Or pick a school that's better at that. Switching back to AP's simply lets someone else set the curriculum, and if that's the goal, and you want the AP curriculum across the board, then you may as well send you kid to public.

[Anonymous]

If you want to study abroad, you need AP classes (or IB). Not relevant for many people, but I know some that realized too late that they wanted their kids to study abroad, but couldn’t because of no AP classes.

[Anonymous]

GDS parent here. Many kids in UL classes sign up in Sept/Oct for AP testing - often at Churchill. The college office at GDS will reluctantly give you the info - like pulling teeth and they will shame you or your kid for asking. You must sign up by late Sept or early Oct. The MoCo public schools are great about helping out (unlike GDS)

Both of my high schoolers did this in last few years and I of course can't prove if it helped their T20 admissions or not but they both took 2-3 APs 10th/11th grade total and reported their 5s.

Several GDS UL teachers (history dept, math) do special sessions to help kids self studying. And all of those teachers grumble that GDS got rid of AP testing option. They got rid of AP classes first which was fine - re-labeled as friendly "UL" though exact same content acc to 3 GDS teachers. Then 3 years later uner Yom Fox they got rid of testing and announced that first day of school. The CCO head hates all testing and will tell you that.

My guess is about 20-40 kids in the 11th grade class did AP tests last year. Most I know took 2 to 3.

I know there is this anti-test movement at some of these private schools. I wont get into the politics of it but the reality is public school kids are applying with 6 to 10 APs....like I said, whether it matters or not, I dont know but in a LLM admissions world where the LLM is the first screen, it can't hurt if your kid is ready for the self study late March through early May

Like most things GDS:
1) Performative virtue signaling is strong by leadership
2) They always gaslight if you ask probing questions
3) They go out of their way to not help motivated kids who do want to self study and instead guilt them by saying "this has no bearing on your chances of getting in"