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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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).

Curious how there were different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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).

Curious how there were different?

For example, my one kid learned an absolute ton of detail about China but really nothing about the Aztecs/Incas. They both got an incredible understanding of the big principles (things like colonialism, revolution, industrialism, etc etc ) but would
now have to go back and see (for the first time) a lot of specifics of the history. It is very clear the teachers are not "teaching to the test" and just getting XYZ facts out about XYX cultures. They are teaching big concepts.

[Anonymous]

I never took AP in high school (only IB). So I'm confused as to whether there is some universal standard for class exams and grading for all AP classes. Is it possible that AP classes at school #1 are totally easy and you can get an A without being prepared for the exam, vs at school #2 where AP classes are hard and you might get a B while being well prepared for the exam?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, the top privates in the DMV collectively decided to do away with APs so they could appear different and better than the top DMV publics and justify charging their exorbitant tuitions. It was such an obvious move tbat the Justice Department actually looked into whether they violated antitrust laws.

Having said that, colleges make clear that (1) they judge your kids record by reference to the specific school that they attend, so if it doesn’t offer APs the college doesn’t expect to see APs or AP tests and (2) colleges don’t take AP exam scores into account in college admissions anyway. It’s taking the courses if they’re offered that they care about - not the scores in the exams afterwards. Remember, most students will take half or more of the AP exams that they’re ever going to take at the end of senior year, after they’ve already been admitted to college.

I served on one of the committees that decided to jettison the AP curriculum, and I can tell you that this lovely chesnut you put forth is clearly the product of your own demented fantasy and distrust of private schools. The main reason many of us supported getting rid of AP courses is because of all of the bureaucracy and red tape involved with dealing with the College Board, a questionable monopoly within itself. In order to use the AP designation for any course, a school must submit extensive documentation to show that the course meets the very narrow focus of the AP curriculum. Another determining factor in our decision was that teachers found themselves having to cut seminal information from their curriculum to ensure students were prepared to take the APs in May. Because of the nature of AP exams, this meant U.S. history teachers were cutting units that allowed them and their students to perform deeper dives on issues such as racism and its institutionalization, the emergence of sexual minority liberation movements, and even the 1980s and the implosion of the USSR. The reality is that many of our students take AP exams and earn 4s and 5s on them, so the dropping of the AP designation has not had many deterimental effects. Most people who argue for AP courses do so because they fear their children will be at severe disadvantage when it comes to applying for colleges. As many people have pointed out in other posts on this board, colleges use their own calculations when comparing a student with a weighted GPA versus one whose GPA is unweighted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never took AP in high school (only IB). So I'm confused as to whether there is some universal standard for class exams and grading for all AP classes. Is it possible that AP classes at school #1 are totally easy and you can get an A without being prepared for the exam, vs at school #2 where AP classes are hard and you might get a B while being well prepared for the exam?

yes of course. The official AP exam is the only constant from school to school. Which is why at a school like JR the majority of of kids get an A in the class but then a 1, 2 or 3 on the exam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Most kids don’t submit ap scores and a lot of public school kids do not even take the exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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).

Curious how there were different?

For example, my one kid learned an absolute ton of detail about China but really nothing about the Aztecs/Incas. They both got an incredible understanding of the big principles (things like colonialism, revolution, industrialism, etc etc ) but would
now have to go back and see (for the first time) a lot of specifics of the history. It is very clear the teachers are not "teaching to the test" and just getting XYZ facts out about XYX cultures. They are teaching big concepts.

Big concepts as in themes, but out of context and out of chrono order: power, injustice, revolutions, uprising, discourse, etc.
For history class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, the top privates in the DMV collectively decided to do away with APs so they could appear different and better than the top DMV publics and justify charging their exorbitant tuitions. It was such an obvious move tbat the Justice Department actually looked into whether they violated antitrust laws.

Having said that, colleges make clear that (1) they judge your kids record by reference to the specific school that they attend, so if it doesn’t offer APs the college doesn’t expect to see APs or AP tests and (2) colleges don’t take AP exam scores into account in college admissions anyway. It’s taking the courses if they’re offered that they care about - not the scores in the exams afterwards. Remember, most students will take half or more of the AP exams that they’re ever going to take at the end of senior year, after they’ve already been admitted to college.

I served on one of the committees that decided to jettison the AP curriculum, and I can tell you that this lovely chesnut you put forth is clearly the product of your own demented fantasy and distrust of private schools. The main reason many of us supported getting rid of AP courses is because of all of the bureaucracy and red tape involved with dealing with the College Board, a questionable monopoly within itself. In order to use the AP designation for any course, a school must submit extensive documentation to show that the course meets the very narrow focus of the AP curriculum. Another determining factor in our decision was that teachers found themselves having to cut seminal information from their curriculum to ensure students were prepared to take the APs in May. Because of the nature of AP exams, this meant U.S. history teachers were cutting units that allowed them and their students to perform deeper dives on issues such as racism and its institutionalization, the emergence of sexual minority liberation movements, and even the 1980s and the implosion of the USSR. The reality is that many of our students take AP exams and earn 4s and 5s on them, so the dropping of the AP designation has not had many deterimental effects. Most people who argue for AP courses do so because they fear their children will be at severe disadvantage when it comes to applying for colleges. As many people have pointed out in other posts on this board, colleges use their own calculations when comparing a student with a weighted GPA versus one whose GPA is unweighted.

Agree with all this and our kid will be sitting for 5-6 AP tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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).

Curious how there were different?

For example, my one kid learned an absolute ton of detail about China but really nothing about the Aztecs/Incas. They both got an incredible understanding of the big principles (things like colonialism, revolution, industrialism, etc etc ) but would
now have to go back and see (for the first time) a lot of specifics of the history. It is very clear the teachers are not "teaching to the test" and just getting XYZ facts out about XYX cultures. They are teaching big concepts.

Big concepts as in themes, but out of context and out of chrono order: power, injustice, revolutions, uprising, discourse, etc.
For history class?

No, not out of order. But there was a lot going on world-wide at each of those critical moments in history and I have found that my kids' teachers often focused on (went deeper/explored) one culture/country over another vs giving facts/dates/info about every one at the same level. Does this make sense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Most kids don’t submit ap scores and a lot of public school kids do not even take the exams.

This is not true. Everyone who has a score above a 3 submits it. And the public schools are filled with kids with 4s and 5s because the curriculum matches the test. APs exams are free to public school kids and are a part of the regular school day, so they ALL take them. At DC private they have APs and the kids are REQUIRED to take them if they are taking the course.

[Anonymous]

As an example, DC from TJ took 9 APs, all 5s. Many kids had more bc they self studied. 30% of the class (over 100 kids) go to top 20 schools. So yes, colleges like them. But only if you get a 3,4 or 5. Its just one more good data point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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).

Curious how there were different?

For example, my one kid learned an absolute ton of detail about China but really nothing about the Aztecs/Incas. They both got an incredible understanding of the big principles (things like colonialism, revolution, industrialism, etc etc ) but would
now have to go back and see (for the first time) a lot of specifics of the history. It is very clear the teachers are not "teaching to the test" and just getting XYZ facts out about XYX cultures. They are teaching big concepts.

Big concepts as in themes, but out of context and out of chrono order: power, injustice, revolutions, uprising, discourse, etc.
For history class?

No, not out of order. But there was a lot going on world-wide at each of those critical moments in history and I have found that my kids' teachers often focused on (went deeper/explored) one culture/country over another vs giving facts/dates/info about every one at the same level. Does this make sense?

As someone who majored in Asian studies and languages, Yes it makes sense.

I get peeved at the lack of big picture. Focusing on one movement in one USA region but neglecting other major things going on like Chicago mafia, plague in CA, foreign policy issues, etc and pretending the only thing in the country happening was XYZ. And how horrible it was that leaderhsioncouslntnhurry about and fix XYZ, when in reality they’re with 15+ XYZ things going on that same decade.

[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.

Then don't post here, your input is not relevant to this discussion.
In DC there are more than a few schools that have done away with AP tests because they teach at that level (or higher) and don't want to have to "teach to the test".

OP, I am curious about this as well. I have one child at a "big 3" in DC and another at a well regarded DMV public. The public student will have likely taken 10/12 AP classes by graduation and I am curious if this will help them more than the child at the "big 3"s reputation for rigor? It is hard to say and I would be curious of my private school child should be planning on taking APs on the side as well, at least in their strongest subjects?

[Anonymous]

There’s something weird about kids paying more for study help on AP exams in these elite schools. Surely the school would offer free exams and tutoring in the name of equity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never took AP in high school (only IB). So I'm confused as to whether there is some universal standard for class exams and grading for all AP classes. Is it possible that AP classes at school #1 are totally easy and you can get an A without being prepared for the exam, vs at school #2 where AP classes are hard and you might get a B while being well prepared for the exam?

Yes, that's definitely possible, but schools have historic data on how kids from any given school did on an AP exam. So they know that School A offers AP Calc BC, but the school average from the previous few years is a 2.3, while School B offers AP Calc BC, and the previous few years' school average is 4.3.
Of course this can work against a kid from school A who ends up getting a 5 at the end of senior year.