JR - better to get B’s in AP classes or A’s in non AP classes?

[Anonymous]

How many AP's would you recommend to take a year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have they been an A student, a B student or a C student? I would pay (some) attention to their unweighted gpa and keep the unweighted equal to or above this: A student 3.8, B student 3.5, C student 3.0

Straight Bs should be a 3.0 unweighted. C students should have below a 3.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a former teacher at JR - the difference in quality of education between Honors classes and AP classes Junior and Senior year is huge. For some classes - think middle school vs. college. So, if you want your kid to learn skills that allow them to do well in college and life but then as many APs as possible.

Thank you for chiming in. That's a good point. In that case, B in AP is better for the learning experience than A in Honors.

DP: That is true anyway; most college ADs look at the rigor of the schedule first, the GPA second.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP—enough with the A in AP classes. Yes we all know that is the best a student can do and schools will look favorably upon that. However, that was not one of the choices OP provided. A B in an AP class or an A in an Honors class is a real scenario that many students face. For students in this scenario, stating A in an AP class is not helpful.

For students choosing between an A in a regular course and a B in an AP course, elite colleges are not on the table.

And non-elite colleges don’t “look favorably” on anything. Non-elite colleges admit (and grant merit) by the weighted GPA printed on the transcript (and test scores if you submit them). In that scenario the choice presented is a wash, so college admissions are irrelevant to the decision.

[Anonymous]

My JR kid:
- none in 9th
- 1 AP in 10th - 5 on test
- 4 in 11th - getting a mix of A, A-. and B+ so far; did not take AP Physics, only Hons, which they said is very easy/lame (but AP Physics would have been a killer, according to friends)
- will take 4-5 next year

Personally, I'd prefer a B+ in an AP than an A in a joke class, but could not convince my kid to take AP Physics. (They will not be applying for aSTEM major).

[Anonymous]

Just a quick note...most classes don't have an Honors option at JR once you have an AP option.

I think the exceptions are just like Physics and PreCalc, but there is no Honors Calculus, just AP Calc BC or Calc AB. There is no honors US History or Honors Government...it's just grade level or AP.

Grade level classes are a joke...I get you will end up with the same weighted GPA if you get an A in grade level vs. a B in AP...but don't have your kid take grade level of there is an option.

[Anonymous]

What about foreign language? It looks like that is all grade level until you are very advanced. Do most kids who aren't advanced in a language stop after 2 years?

[Anonymous]

This is a no-brainer. You want to take the AP classes regardless of the grades you get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about foreign language? It looks like that is all grade level until you are very advanced. Do most kids who aren't advanced in a language stop after 2 years?

Correct, there are no honors options. Many kids will finish a language at the AP level if they are shooting for say top 50 colleges, though I do know several very high stats kids at top 20 schools who took 4 years of a language but never took AP.

Even the top colleges let you skip any language requirement if you score a 4 or 5 on AP language, which gives some kids (who honestly hate Foreign Language) enough incentive to do well enough on the AP test. My kid is one, and I kid you not, if you asked him two weeks later to take that same AP test (he scored a 5) he probably would have scored a 2 because it's cram it in, get the score...and then out of the brain it goes.

[Anonymous]

My kid does not like foreign language at all and is in Spanish II as a sophomore. Wants prob a t 50+ school and would only take Spanish III to look better for college but I'm thinking he would be better off adding another AP in that slot and just being done after 2 years.