Has anyone's kid taken AP Chem without taking Regular or Honors Chem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My very STEM oriented kid (has gotten five's on all of his APs, is take Multivariable calc junior year, etc) took Honors Chem instead of AP Chem. I am not sure why. But he tends to take the hardest STEM classes he can.

Because HS Chem is a prerequisite for AP Chem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone's kid taken AP Chem without taking Regular or Honors Chem first?

My sophomore enrolled in AP Physics this year and is doing well (unconventional, but allowed). He wants to take AP Chem next year but won't have taken regular or honors Chem first. We can't quite figure out if the AP Chem content builds on the first Chem class or if if MCPS just frowns upon kids taking AP Chem without an initial Chem class.

Yes, he'll talk to the counsellor. We are just trying to see if this is a county curriculum thing or a school thing.

"AP Physics" is not a class.

There are 4 different AP Physics classes.

AP Physics 1 and AP C Mechanics (full-year pace) do not have a Physics prereq.

AP Physics C (1-semester pace for each of Mechanics and E&M) has a prereq of Honora Physics or AP Physics 1.

AP Chem has Chem prereq.

AP Physics C only has a Calculus pre-req.

Go with College Board recommendations posted on its website. It's strongly recommended to do some chemistry before tackling AP Chem. My kid is/will be doing Honors Chem (9), AP Chem (10), AP Physics C (11) and AP Bio (12, to relax while doing college apps).

AP Bio, especially if you skip HS Bio, is not "to relax", except perhaps if it is a full-year double period course so it is effectively half study hall.

[Anonymous]

It was 20 years ago but I took AP Chem without taking Honors chemistry. We did all have to complete certain assignments over the summer. Same for taking AP Physics. I did fine in the class and the exam. Whether MCPS would allow that is just something you have to ask them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone's kid taken AP Chem without taking Regular or Honors Chem first?

My sophomore enrolled in AP Physics this year and is doing well (unconventional, but allowed). He wants to take AP Chem next year but won't have taken regular or honors Chem first. We can't quite figure out if the AP Chem content builds on the first Chem class or if if MCPS just frowns upon kids taking AP Chem without an initial Chem class.

Yes, he'll talk to the counsellor. We are just trying to see if this is a county curriculum thing or a school thing.

My child took AP Physics 1 last year without having taking Physics prior. He enjoyed the class and received As and a 5 on his AP test.

He is current in AP Chem, and it really is a different beast. The content is very difficult for many kids. He is getting a low A, but has to work his butt off for it. Overall, he is a solid student and has taken Honors Chem last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone's kid taken AP Chem without taking Regular or Honors Chem first?

My sophomore enrolled in AP Physics this year and is doing well (unconventional, but allowed). He wants to take AP Chem next year but won't have taken regular or honors Chem first. We can't quite figure out if the AP Chem content builds on the first Chem class or if if MCPS just frowns upon kids taking AP Chem without an initial Chem class.

Yes, he'll talk to the counsellor. We are just trying to see if this is a county curriculum thing or a school thing.

"AP Physics" is not a class.

There are 4 different AP Physics classes.

AP Physics 1 and AP C Mechanics (full-year pace) do not have a Physics prereq.

AP Physics C (1-semester pace for each of Mechanics and E&M) has a prereq of Honora Physics or AP Physics 1.

AP Chem has Chem prereq.

Thank you for this information that I already knew? Obviously my kid is in AP Physics 1. And obviously we are asking about the enforcement of the AP Chem pre-req.

How on earth do you expect anonymous strangers to know what you do and don't know, when you are asking about basic course structure.

Because I asked a very specific question which is: Has anyone's kid taken AP Chem without taking Regular or Honors Chem first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is currently in AP Chem and there is one student in the class who has not taken honors Chem. I don't think they asked. It is common knowledge in class that this student is earning low Cs on the tests.

It’s gross that that is “common knowledge “

PP here, the student announces and bemoans their grades to everyone. That is also how they all know that the student did not take honors Chem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My senior took honors physics in 9th, AP bio in 10th, and AP chem in 11th (along with Calc BC, if that matters).

Single period or dual period, for those APs?

Both were double period. He met with his counselor when he did his registration, it wasn’t an issue. My sophomore was told honors bio was the only choice in 9th grade, but I think that was because of MISA. FWIW, he got all A’s in both AP’s, a 3 on the AP bio test and a 5 on AP chem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My senior took honors physics in 9th, AP bio in 10th, and AP chem in 11th (along with Calc BC, if that matters).

Single period or dual period, for those APs?

Both were double period. He met with his counselor when he did his registration, it wasn’t an issue. My sophomore was told honors bio was the only choice in 9th grade, but I think that was because of MISA. FWIW, he got all A’s in both AP’s, a 3 on the AP bio test and a 5 on AP chem.

That 3 on the AP Bio exam is why you don’t skip the Biology pre-req.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone's kid taken AP Chem without taking Regular or Honors Chem first?

My sophomore enrolled in AP Physics this year and is doing well (unconventional, but allowed). He wants to take AP Chem next year but won't have taken regular or honors Chem first. We can't quite figure out if the AP Chem content builds on the first Chem class or if if MCPS just frowns upon kids taking AP Chem without an initial Chem class.

Yes, he'll talk to the counsellor. We are just trying to see if this is a county curriculum thing or a school thing.

My child took AP Physics 1 last year without having taking Physics prior. He enjoyed the class and received As and a 5 on his AP test.

He is current in AP Chem, and it really is a different beast. The content is very difficult for many kids. He is getting a low A, but has to work his butt off for it. Overall, he is a solid student and has taken Honors Chem last year.

AP Physics 1 doesn’t have Physics as a suggested prerequisite. There are whole threads on the Physics sequence discussion. AP Physics 1 is not an advanced physics course and certainly not one that universities care about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone's kid taken AP Chem without taking Regular or Honors Chem first?

My sophomore enrolled in AP Physics this year and is doing well (unconventional, but allowed). He wants to take AP Chem next year but won't have taken regular or honors Chem first. We can't quite figure out if the AP Chem content builds on the first Chem class or if if MCPS just frowns upon kids taking AP Chem without an initial Chem class.

Yes, he'll talk to the counsellor. We are just trying to see if this is a county curriculum thing or a school thing.

"AP Physics" is not a class.

There are 4 different AP Physics classes.

AP Physics 1 and AP C Mechanics (full-year pace) do not have a Physics prereq.

AP Physics C (1-semester pace for each of Mechanics and E&M) has a prereq of Honora Physics or AP Physics 1.

AP Chem has Chem prereq.

Thank you for this information that I already knew? Obviously my kid is in AP Physics 1. And obviously we are asking about the enforcement of the AP Chem pre-req.

DP. This wasn't obvious from your post. I assumed the opposite because a) It is not at all unconventional for a sophomore to take AP Physics 1 (my sophomore is in it and almost the whole class is sophomores), and b) the fact that a kid is in this class doesn't tell us much about readiness for AP Chem (whereas any of the other AP physics classes would signal much more about strength in science).

In sum, PP was snarky, but this post from you is equally snarky.

FWIW, I've had two graduate from MCPS and both took AP Bio and multiple of the AP Physics classes but avoided AP Chem because it is thought to be the hardest of all of them. On the other hand, at our school, at least, Honors Chem is essentially a joke class. My sophomore is taking it concurrently with AP Physics 1 and has like a 98%. It's hard to imagine it does very much to prep students for AP Chem. Also, over the years, our school has varied in enforcement of the prereq. They used to allow students to skip honors bio and honors chem before taking the AP versions but they found that a lot of kids weren't doing well. Not clear if this was because the prereqs were important or if the waiving of prereqs encouraged too many not-very-STEMy kids to go for the AP version in the general AP arm's race that we have at our school. (I think probably more the latter than the former.).

[Anonymous]

My kid is 11th grade, AP Chem without taking Hon Chem. Also in Calc BC, fwiw. Really, really hard but manages to hold a B. My impression is the 2 important questions to ask yourselves is:

1. Do you want your child to show that they've taken the most rigorous classes and managed to do ok when applying to college?
2. Is the teacher an excellent teacher of the subject matter?

Remember, they can always drop out of it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is 11th grade, AP Chem without taking Hon Chem. Also in Calc BC, fwiw. Really, really hard but manages to hold a B. My impression is the 2 important questions to ask yourselves is:

1. Do you want your child to show that they've taken the most rigorous classes and managed to do ok when applying to college?
2. Is the teacher an excellent teacher of the subject matter?

Remember, they can always drop out of it!

Question number 1 should be did student take the most rigorous or relevant classes for them and manage to do well. It makes no sense to take a AP class and get a C when you could have taken a honors class and gotten an A. Particularly if you’re skipping over the honors class to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone's kid taken AP Chem without taking Regular or Honors Chem first?

My sophomore enrolled in AP Physics this year and is doing well (unconventional, but allowed). He wants to take AP Chem next year but won't have taken regular or honors Chem first. We can't quite figure out if the AP Chem content builds on the first Chem class or if if MCPS just frowns upon kids taking AP Chem without an initial Chem class.

Yes, he'll talk to the counsellor. We are just trying to see if this is a county curriculum thing or a school thing.

"AP Physics" is not a class.

There are 4 different AP Physics classes.

AP Physics 1 and AP C Mechanics (full-year pace) do not have a Physics prereq.

AP Physics C (1-semester pace for each of Mechanics and E&M) has a prereq of Honora Physics or AP Physics 1.

AP Chem has Chem prereq.

Thank you for this information that I already knew? Obviously my kid is in AP Physics 1. And obviously we are asking about the enforcement of the AP Chem pre-req.

DP. This wasn't obvious from your post. I assumed the opposite because a) It is not at all unconventional for a sophomore to take AP Physics 1 (my sophomore is in it and almost the whole class is sophomores), and b) the fact that a kid is in this class doesn't tell us much about readiness for AP Chem (whereas any of the other AP physics classes would signal much more about strength in science).

In sum, PP was snarky, but this post from you is equally snarky.

FWIW, I've had two graduate from MCPS and both took AP Bio and multiple of the AP Physics classes but avoided AP Chem because it is thought to be the hardest of all of them. On the other hand, at our school, at least, Honors Chem is essentially a joke class. My sophomore is taking it concurrently with AP Physics 1 and has like a 98%. It's hard to imagine it does very much to prep students for AP Chem. Also, over the years, our school has varied in enforcement of the prereq. They used to allow students to skip honors bio and honors chem before taking the AP versions but they found that a lot of kids weren't doing well. Not clear if this was because the prereqs were important or if the waiving of prereqs encouraged too many not-very-STEMy kids to go for the AP version in the general AP arm's race that we have at our school. (I think probably more the latter than the former.).

Whether it is typical for students to take AP Physics I as a sophomore is very school dependent. The typical path in our W HS is Hon Bio, Hon Chem, Physics (Hon, 1 or C depending). STEMy kids will often double up on the Hon Bio/Hon Chem in 9th grade. Then you might see them in AP Physics I or AP Chem in Sophomore year. (Too much demand for AP Bio, sophomores can't get in). The AP Physics teacher is tough, so those who take AP Physics I sophomore year often shy away from encountering that teacher again in AP Physics C, and will pick up other AP/advanced science courses.