Taking an AP exam in middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP-people here are speculating. Each HS is different. HSs DO have the ability (or at least 3 or 4 years ago they had the ability) to waive the prereq to the AP science courses. But whether they will do that or not depends on the school. They sometimes say no because it would open the floodgates to other students asking for the same thing, and they don't have good criteria to use to make that decision. (Getting a high AP score would be a way to make the argument, but it's not the only way.) A few years ago, our HS changed prereq policies abruptly one year when a new principal arrived. They claimed that many of the students waiving the prereq weren't really prepared, and they didn't have a way of knowing which ones ahead of time, so they just started enforcing the prereq.)

If you have an 8th grader, you can contact the HS counselor associated with your last name, explain the situation, and ask. The HS counselors will in any case be meeting with 8th graders in like Jan or Feb, but it sounds like you'd like info earlier and I think they would be responsive to the question... they just may not give you the answer you'd like.

Thank you, this is helpful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree school won’t have authority to waive freshman Bio due to state requirements. I know someone who got permission to skip honors chem to go into AP chem but that child had been home schooled. Not sure the AP would be helpful in that argument or not. If it’s physics, you don’t need to take the easier physics before taking the harder physics APs, so could just jump into those.

I think a bored 8th grader would be better off just doing outside reading and experiments and such at home. It’s not hard to double up on science classes from 10th grade on. My kid is doing it this year (if you count comp sci as a science, is takkmg 3 sciences).

My kid is at a top 10 college and they required kids to take their own science placement test to test out of the first level science classes. Lots of kids that took the AP and got 5s could not do it so are taking the intro level as freshman.

How is it not hard? What about foreign language, music, art?

You have 7 classes, and there are only 4 core academic subjects, which leaves you three extra periods per year -- that's a lot even if you take a foreign language every year. My kid is a sophomore, taking English, History, Math, Foreign Language 4, Comp Sci, Chem and Physics. Next year will take English, History, Physics, AP Chem, Math, plus have two more spots to take something else (probably Econ and Stats, but maybe AP foreign language instead of one of those). Hates art but will take some kind of art as a senior to have it to graduate. Probably taking health independent study, but even if they didn't could still do 2 sciences as a senior -- English, History, Math, Two Sciences, Art, Health.

[Anonymous]

There needs to be clarification here between taking a class and taking the exam.

Taking the exam might be able to get you covered from the exam component, but you would still need a HS course credit for a Life Science class.

Those are state of Maryland requirement not MCPS.