How many classes in 11th or 12th should be AP level or how many are "too much"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My oldest is a freshman and I'm glad I didn't have to consider it this year. Next year he has selected to take AP Pre Calc and AP World History and I told him he's going to have to work hard and he says he's up for the challenge so I am going to allow it.

I think there are too many APs offered and I recently wondered where to draw the line in 11/12th grade. I don't want him to feel like he has to take them all. I recently had an epiphany from my time working as a college admissions counselor (a long time ago) (and I haven't yet hired a college counselor but may in the future) - that I think the 4 core classes - math, history, science, and social studies would be the ones to focus on. If you can't take it all 4 of those, I would suggest to him to prioritize the classes he is more interested in pursuing in college.

Elite college admissions are a total crapshoot even for the best of the best so nothing is worth making yourself totally miserable for IMO - since at best you only get a crapshoot even if you made yourself completely miserable.

I meant english instead of double counting history and social studies, btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I get Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics etc are seen as rigorous. What are APs that are considered not rigorous? seminar? Research? Psych etc?

Not sure if the non-core APs are not considered rigorous but they are really elective APs and many schools don’t offer them.

AP Psych, AP Human Geography,etc. anything outside of math, science, English, social studies and language.

I think there are actually like 35 AP classes in total, but there are plenty of HSs that only offer 12-15 (and some that offer 30+).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I get Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics etc are seen as rigorous. What are APs that are considered not rigorous? seminar? Research? Psych etc?

Not sure if the non-core APs are not considered rigorous but they are really elective APs and many schools don’t offer them.

AP Psych, AP Human Geography,etc. anything outside of math, science, English, social studies and language.

I think there are actually like 35 AP classes in total, but there are plenty of HSs that only offer 12-15 (and some that offer 30+).

AP precalc is a joke and not worth anyone’s time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I get Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics etc are seen as rigorous. What are APs that are considered not rigorous? seminar? Research? Psych etc?

Not sure if the non-core APs are not considered rigorous but they are really elective APs and many schools don’t offer them.

AP Psych, AP Human Geography,etc. anything outside of math, science, English, social studies and language.

I think there are actually like 35 AP classes in total, but there are plenty of HSs that only offer 12-15 (and some that offer 30+).

AP precalc is a joke and not worth anyone’s time.

That’s a silly statement…especially if schools are offering only AP Precalc or just grade level (which is what what our school district has done).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My oldest is a freshman and I'm glad I didn't have to consider it this year. Next year he has selected to take AP Pre Calc and AP World History and I told him he's going to have to work hard and he says he's up for the challenge so I am going to allow it.

I think there are too many APs offered and I recently wondered where to draw the line in 11/12th grade. I don't want him to feel like he has to take them all. I recently had an epiphany from my time working as a college admissions counselor (a long time ago) (and I haven't yet hired a college counselor but may in the future) - that I think the 4 core classes - math, history, science, and social studies would be the ones to focus on. If you can't take it all 4 of those, I would suggest to him to prioritize the classes he is more interested in pursuing in college.

Elite college admissions are a total crapshoot even for the best of the best so nothing is worth making yourself totally miserable for IMO - since at best you only get a crapshoot even if you made yourself completely miserable.

5 core subjects, add foreign language to that list.

[Anonymous]

Your kid needs to try to set themselves up for “success”. My FCPS kid took 0 APs sophmore year, 3 jr year, 4 senior year. The goal for him was straight As. If he didn’t think that was achievable he would have dialed back to an honors class somewhere.

My next kid won’t look like this one. His success might be 2 APs jr year and he might get one B, but any more than that and I’d suggest a dial back.

There are kids who will max out APs on their schedule and earn straight As. If your kid can and wants to do that, great, but I wouldn’t suggest chasing those kids if your student can’t hang. It’s a lot of work and a lot of pressure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest is a freshman and I'm glad I didn't have to consider it this year. Next year he has selected to take AP Pre Calc and AP World History and I told him he's going to have to work hard and he says he's up for the challenge so I am going to allow it.

I think there are too many APs offered and I recently wondered where to draw the line in 11/12th grade. I don't want him to feel like he has to take them all. I recently had an epiphany from my time working as a college admissions counselor (a long time ago) (and I haven't yet hired a college counselor but may in the future) - that I think the 4 core classes - math, history, science, and social studies would be the ones to focus on. If you can't take it all 4 of those, I would suggest to him to prioritize the classes he is more interested in pursuing in college.

Elite college admissions are a total crapshoot even for the best of the best so nothing is worth making yourself totally miserable for IMO - since at best you only get a crapshoot even if you made yourself completely miserable.

5 core subjects, add foreign language to that list.

How is English not a core subject?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest is a freshman and I'm glad I didn't have to consider it this year. Next year he has selected to take AP Pre Calc and AP World History and I told him he's going to have to work hard and he says he's up for the challenge so I am going to allow it.

I think there are too many APs offered and I recently wondered where to draw the line in 11/12th grade. I don't want him to feel like he has to take them all. I recently had an epiphany from my time working as a college admissions counselor (a long time ago) (and I haven't yet hired a college counselor but may in the future) - that I think the 4 core classes - math, history, science, and social studies would be the ones to focus on. If you can't take it all 4 of those, I would suggest to him to prioritize the classes he is more interested in pursuing in college.

Elite college admissions are a total crapshoot even for the best of the best so nothing is worth making yourself totally miserable for IMO - since at best you only get a crapshoot even if you made yourself completely miserable.

5 core subjects, add foreign language to that list.

How is English not a core subject?

It is…they meant to say that but repeated history/social studies.

[Anonymous]

DD was as follows:
10: Human Geog, AP US History
11: Calc AB, Euro Hist, Lang, Bio
12: Stats, Lit, Spanish Lang, Gov

Was fine: got 5's on all except Calc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:our student is at a public HS with limited college or guidance counseling so he is pretty confused and we're from out of country.

he is aiming for UVA, Tufts etc. he knows that is hard. he is currently getting unweighted grades of B+ to A range.

how many APs should he take in junior year to be competitive? he's picking his courses next week.

It really depends what his school cohort is doing. Those are his first comparison points for college admissions, particularly for UVA. As the pp mentioned, I would at least try to end high school with APs in each of the 5 core subjects. But to be totally honest with you, UVA has said they want the rigor and the As. Your DS has lofty goals and plenty of kids with 4.0s don’t get accepted to either of the schools you mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest is a freshman and I'm glad I didn't have to consider it this year. Next year he has selected to take AP Pre Calc and AP World History and I told him he's going to have to work hard and he says he's up for the challenge so I am going to allow it.

I think there are too many APs offered and I recently wondered where to draw the line in 11/12th grade. I don't want him to feel like he has to take them all. I recently had an epiphany from my time working as a college admissions counselor (a long time ago) (and I haven't yet hired a college counselor but may in the future) - that I think the 4 core classes - math, history, science, and social studies would be the ones to focus on. If you can't take it all 4 of those, I would suggest to him to prioritize the classes he is more interested in pursuing in college.

Elite college admissions are a total crapshoot even for the best of the best so nothing is worth making yourself totally miserable for IMO - since at best you only get a crapshoot even if you made yourself completely miserable.

5 core subjects, add foreign language to that list.

How is English not a core subject?

Ah, skimmed over and assumed English was there. Replace social studies with English. Math, history (bleeds into social studies in some ways), English, science, foreign language

[Anonymous]

My student is taking 5 this (Jr) year: Math, English, History, Science, FL. Taking Math, Science, English, History, Economics, Music Theory next (Sr) year.

Hopefully the grades will hold up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I get Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics etc are seen as rigorous. What are APs that are considered not rigorous? seminar? Research? Psych etc?

Not sure if the non-core APs are not considered rigorous but they are really elective APs and many schools don’t offer them.

AP Psych, AP Human Geography,etc. anything outside of math, science, English, social studies and language.

I think there are actually like 35 AP classes in total, but there are plenty of HSs that only offer 12-15 (and some that offer 30+).

AP precalc is a joke and not worth anyone’s time.

Not a joke

Our school is offering AP Pre-calc or regular. The option for intensified is gone. It will give the GPA boost and shows rigor. It is the first year it's being taught and there are definitely growing pains. It's not a cake-walk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I get Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics etc are seen as rigorous. What are APs that are considered not rigorous? seminar? Research? Psych etc?

Not sure if the non-core APs are not considered rigorous but they are really elective APs and many schools don’t offer them.

AP Psych, AP Human Geography,etc. anything outside of math, science, English, social studies and language.

I think there are actually like 35 AP classes in total, but there are plenty of HSs that only offer 12-15 (and some that offer 30+).

AP precalc is a joke and not worth anyone’s time.

What's the alternative?

[Anonymous]

When all is said and done, mine will have:

1 FL
2 English
2 Math
1 or 2 History
1 or 2 Electives
1 of 2 Science

The debate is whether or not to take AP Gov, AP Econ (vs online over the summer) and a 2nd AP Science. Since AP science is a schdule wrecker, we are debating if it's worth it. Is 1 AP science enough?