High School Course Rigor - Is my DC signing up for too much?

[Anonymous]

Is this their first AP class? I think the poster that had the 1,2,3,4 as the number of APs each year was onto something with building rigor (and being able to evaluate at each step if ready to add more) while at the ending up with a high number of total APs. There is definitely a step up being in an AP class. For my kid at least, they way the teacher structured the quizzes to prepare them for the AP was brutal grading wise that first quarter and it took time for them to adjust to the type of preparation needed and understanding the formula so to speak in answering the questions. I think it was DBQs (document based questions) for AP World History.

IMO if they already took 1 AP Freshman year then I would say okay with 2 Sophomore year. If they have never taken an AP, only if they were deeply interested in both topics that they would be willing to push thru and not be discouraged to see the work as “worth it”. I know the dog poop analogy person might say “what, only take the really high level of extra work /rigor in a topic you love, what is that”. But in reality I am sure Op’s kid doesn’t love every class they take as honors but is doing it anyway and will likely over their high school career take APs in areas they tolerate but don’t love to challenge themselves/prepare all while playing 3 sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:You just don't want low grades. It's not worth the trade off so be careful. Schools say they value rigor over GPA but they kinda don't. Excessive rigor at the expense of grades is a very bad idea. Obviously you need decent rigor.

take care but don't take easy classes just to get As if the student is competent and interested in the more challenging material. Thing is, they actually will go off and enroll in college classes and will be at a disadvantage if they have not learned some of the material in high school.

You really want to get As or mostly As with a baseline of decent rigor. If the kid can get As with intense rigor and is happy; fine. If not ease up on the rigor. Very high rigor and all Bs or even a C is a sub optimal outcome

I disagree if they are easy As. Easy As indicate a missed opportunity to me to have leaned higher level material.

I am saying go for as much rigor as you want but make sure grades are high. If you go ultra high rigor but get all Bs, that is not a good look for college. You could say, ok, well who cares about college, it's all about learning. Fine. But then your kid may end up at a LESS RIGOROUS college than he or she otherwise could get into, because the transcript is messed up, versus other kids who have very high GPA because they picked a course load that was approrpriately rigorous.

Rigor in college depends on the student, not on the school. It is not the college's responsibility to push - the student has to pull. That is the difference between college and high school. College absolutely should challenge preconceived notions, underbaked convictions, childish ideas about 'society,' and all of those good things, but no one is going to check that a student is not bored with the classes they chose.

Whatever. Bottom line- if you want your kid to attend a selective college, don’t overload him with AP classes such that he can’t get high grades in them. If you want to screw up his transcript, let him bite off more than he can chew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I met a kid recently that did everything in HS he possibly could. IB diploma. Full stack of AP courses. Clubs and sports. Top 10% of his class. Became fully conversant in Spanish.

Didn't even bother applying to college. Construction work and very content. Not struggling in life at all.

I think it takes a rare bird to know you can compete with the collegiate kids and decide that you would rather work a blue collar job.

What will he do when he is injured on the job or his body can’t do the work anymore. Not being snarky but a smart kid would have a plan B.

As a smart kid, he’ll own the company and so he won’t be doing the manual labor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You just don't want low grades. It's not worth the trade off so be careful. Schools say they value rigor over GPA but they kinda don't. Excessive rigor at the expense of grades is a very bad idea. Obviously you need decent rigor.

take care but don't take easy classes just to get As if the student is competent and interested in the more challenging material. Thing is, they actually will go off and enroll in college classes and will be at a disadvantage if they have not learned some of the material in high school.

You really want to get As or mostly As with a baseline of decent rigor. If the kid can get As with intense rigor and is happy; fine. If not ease up on the rigor. Very high rigor and all Bs or even a C is a sub optimal outcome

I disagree if they are easy As. Easy As indicate a missed opportunity to me to have leaned higher level material.

I too disagree, but this is the game most colleges play. Then they let their profs tell the media that today’s kids are unprepared. So they offer remedial classes. Then they raise tuition to pay for the new Academic Resource Center. Rinse / repeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the guidance counselor think? Personally, I think it's too much. You don't want him to get burned out before Junior year when things really matter!

Agreed, but my kid is at a school which only allows 1 AP in 10th grade.

Think about building rigor, and as many people have mentioned, earning As.

Have you spoken to the school counselor?