Can someone be honest? How many APs did your kid take privately?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been trying to figure this out also. We talked to a college counselor about it and have landed on 6 APs. The theory is because this is work completed outside of school, we shouldn't need as many as high-stats public school kids (10-14) but want to cover core courses - math, english, science, etc.

AP classes/scores will *maybe* help with US college apps, but are necessary for UK uni apps.

+1 college counselors have said that without the subject matter SATs and the test optional SAT/ACT, AP exams are the missing piece that many colleges are comfortable using to compare kids across schools after they have whittled down the within-school comparison. It just isn't entirely true that your are never compared to kids from other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a bit of an outside observer to this. It seems to me that some private schools deliberately keep the curriculum level because their “customers” are both average and above-average students. One thing you are buying when you pay for private is college access, through counseling, reputation, relationships, etc. So it makes sense that the privates would shy away from a two-tier system where some kids get an advantage based on coursework. However the ambitious smart kids are also “customers,” so I expect that if your kid is an academic standout, the school knows how to boost them into the top tier colleges. It will show in recommendations and coursework, not APs and weighted GPAs. And I expect the school counselors know how to advocate for their academically strong kids.

All of this is to say … when you buy private school, one of the things you are buying is the ability to ignore APs and weighted GPAs and the like.

But only if you are among that relatively small handful of kids the school is going to boost. After all, if every kid gets the 'best in class' recommendation or "once in a lifetime kid" letter, then the colleges will stop trusting, so no shcool will do that.

[Anonymous]

As a related question- how does the AP score a child receives impact admissions? the posts here make it sound like it’s more about course selection and picking a ‘rigorous’ schedule and less about AP exam scores. What happens if you take the challenging course and get a two on the AP. Does that hurt applications? Can you just not submit it? I am worried about this whole “self study” process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our private school assist students to sign up for AP exams and they take place on campus. They just don’t teach to it.

I mean the Calc Exam has calc on it. What does your school teach? Of course they "teach to it". They might not follow some particular plan to the letter but they teach the subject whether its Math, Physics, History, French, whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a related question- how does the AP score a child receives impact admissions? the posts here make it sound like it’s more about course selection and picking a ‘rigorous’ schedule and less about AP exam scores. What happens if you take the challenging course and get a two on the AP. Does that hurt applications? Can you just not submit it? I am worried about this whole “self study” process.

If you have a score from 9-11th grade you can submit it, but you don't have to, and many will just indicate in awards that they hit AP Scholar by Junior year (set by the average across all tests), or whatever. Then after that, you have a rigorous senior year schedule and indicate the APs (or beyond) that you are taking, and they can generally assess from the first quarter or mid-year grades (they sometimes ask for grade status for ED applicants) whether past performance is a good indicator of future success. If you are in an RD pool, they will look at AP scores from your school and make an assumption of what you are likely to score based on your grade in the class. Of course, they may not care at all if they had already put you in the admit pile, but if they are on the fence or if you have already been deferred or WL, this can help.

[Anonymous]

My kids all got into the same colleges with pretty much the same schedules (lots of APs) but wildly different AP exam scores. The scores didn’t matter.

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher, and I have tutored kids from schools that do not offer APs. This is largely just test prep. They generally come to me knowing some percentage of the material. For some, I am just working on test familiarity and strategies. For others, I need to fill in gaps in knowledge in addition to test taking prep.

So, while the students aren’t “secretly” taking the test, many of them do outside tutoring to prepare for the AP content and format. I have colleagues who tutor in their subject area, and their experiences are similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher, and I have tutored kids from schools that do not offer APs. This is largely just test prep. They generally come to me knowing some percentage of the material. For some, I am just working on test familiarity and strategies. For others, I need to fill in gaps in knowledge in addition to test taking prep.

So, while the students aren’t “secretly” taking the test, many of them do outside tutoring to prepare for the AP content and format. I have colleagues who tutor in their subject area, and their experiences are similar.

I agree with this. My kid is in a private that offers AP classes. Aside from the actual content they teach test prep and strategies. I also have a kid now in college who was in public and her classes were similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our private school assist students to sign up for AP exams and they take place on campus. They just don’t teach to it.

I mean the Calc Exam has calc on it. What does your school teach? Of course they "teach to it". They might not follow some particular plan to the letter but they teach the subject whether its Math, Physics, History, French, whatever.

True except for history and some of the sciences -- not all private schools cover the breadth and depth of a college preparatory AP course (which is designed to be the college freshman survey course in a subject). They go slower and have a narrow focus, often of whatever slice of history the teacher likes best. A lot of historical context and content is left out, so these kids will need the freshman survey courses in those subjects, which is fine. They'll just take it as a part of a liberal arts core. It mostly holds back the STEM college kids who prefer to test out of the really basic core courses, but it's not the end of the world. They'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

My private school offers AP tests, but my kid added an additional self-study class that didn’t fit the schedule. I think he’s a bit overloaded with APs, but his choice.

My school’s college counselors feel that the AP classes and scores make a difference only when kids apply to large state flagships that are not familiar with this particular school. Harried admissions staff have a way to easily judge the transcript.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been trying to figure this out also. We talked to a college counselor about it and have landed on 6 APs. The theory is because this is work completed outside of school, we shouldn't need as many as high-stats public school kids (10-14) but want to cover core courses - math, english, science, etc.

AP classes/scores will *maybe* help with US college apps, but are necessary for UK uni apps.

+1 core classes so you can waive into next level or fulfill a requirement
+1 covers bases for non-U.S. uni’s, state flagship schools and scholarships

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our private school assist students to sign up for AP exams and they take place on campus. They just don’t teach to it.

I mean the Calc Exam has calc on it. What does your school teach? Of course they "teach to it". They might not follow some particular plan to the letter but they teach the subject whether its Math, Physics, History, French, whatever.

True except for history and some of the sciences -- not all private schools cover the breadth and depth of a college preparatory AP course (which is designed to be the college freshman survey course in a subject). They go slower and have a narrow focus, often of whatever slice of history the teacher likes best. A lot of historical context and content is left out, so these kids will need the freshman survey courses in those subjects, which is fine. They'll just take it as a part of a liberal arts core. It mostly holds back the STEM college kids who prefer to test out of the really basic core courses, but it's not the end of the world. They'll be fine.

+1000. Our biggest rub is the lack of content covered. We feel it hinders kids from knowing context and figuring out passions. They only get presented with the narrow passions or mission of the school or teacher. Not wide exposure and develop their own taste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in MCPS public where the pressure to take as many APs as possible is immense (my senior took 11 total), but I wish to add an interesting factoid to this conversation: their friends in MCPS magnets, where magnet courses are more rigorous than APs, are also under pressure to take APs, and some take them privately, in order to distinguish themselves from the magnet pack!

So it's the same arms race everywhere, OP. People gunning for the most selective college (and my senior did not apply to Ivies, his highest reach has a 9% acceptance rate) will always try to outdo their cohort.

It's crazy wherever you are, however I believe that if you apply thoughtfully, you do get into a school that's a good fit. My senior is not Ivy material. He applied to colleges that have a well-developed version of the major he is interested in, and in the end he will go where he is supposed to go.

And in the south kids are taking APs and tests in grade 7,8 magnet schools and going to college campuses by 11th grade for certain classes. g&T program.

[Anonymous]

The kids are taking the AP tests privately, not the classes. They are studying on their own.

As far as I understand it, the schools are only "approved" to proctor AP exams for classes they offer.
I was looking into having my kid take AP World History and my kid's DC private does not offer the exam and neither does Jackson Reed (because they don't offer the AP world history class either).
I would have to contact Walls or Banneker or MCPS.

For what it's worth, we decided against this as I got a review book and the content differences are pretty significant (what my kid has learned vs. what is on the exam).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Not offered at any private school"?

The private school were my kids go (not in DC, and not a "Big Whatever" school) offers APs.

Ok, great. This is a DC centric site. Your point is irrelevant.