Number of AP classes for top 20% of MCPS HS grads?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school, 1-2 freshman year, 2-3 sophomore year (depending on whether the kid is ready for calc yet). And 5-6 junior and senior year.

wow - for top 20%? basically between 13 and 17. That's crazy and may not be right. What's top 10% do? 20-24?

If top 20% is 13-17, then the top 10% is the 17 of the range.

For example, at Whitman HS, you can see 13 AP exams and that over 100 students (20% Of 500 take), and 8 more that over 50 students take.

3-4 Social Studies
2 Math
2 English
2-4 Science
1 World Language
1-2 CS (one of them is Principles fake AP class)

And a smattering of electives that could add 2 per student.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jPaF7kQ1nUdfsODVwh-U4sesYZYn3y0s/view

This immediately doesn’t make sense. Assume top 20% are doing calc as juniors, what is their second AP? Are the majority doing stats? Very unlikely.

Also very few are doing four AP science classes. Very very few.

I'm sorry that facts hurt your feelings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP—the number of APs (with good grades and test scores) is important relative to peers because colleges evaluate applicants vs kids from their school. I assume that’s why OP asked…

I agree that we should be asking about the need for APs freshman year, the AP “arms race” in general, kids taking AP classes to get the GPA bump while still having the option to skip the exam, and overall quality of instruction. These speak more to the quality vs quantity and are outside the scope of OP’s question.

Take that up with University Admissions. When your graduating class is 500-600 students in a district of 10,000-12,000 seniors, and your state flagship gets 60K applications for 5Kish spots, families are going to do whatever to get ahead. APs are one of those ways.

1K ish spots for the local district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP—the number of APs (with good grades and test scores) is important relative to peers because colleges evaluate applicants vs kids from their school. I assume that’s why OP asked…

I agree that we should be asking about the need for APs freshman year, the AP “arms race” in general, kids taking AP classes to get the GPA bump while still having the option to skip the exam, and overall quality of instruction. These speak more to the quality vs quantity and are outside the scope of OP’s question.

AP has no GPA bump over Honors in MCPS.

I am aware there’s no GPa bump difference btwn AP and Honors classes at MCPS. My point was—you do not have to take the AP exam if you take the AP class which then makes the class another honors class but you still get the AP “credit” listed on your transcript. Sure colleges can see you didn’t take the exam or report the score but they see the elevated GPA nevertheless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP—the number of APs (with good grades and test scores) is important relative to peers because colleges evaluate applicants vs kids from their school. I assume that’s why OP asked…

I agree that we should be asking about the need for APs freshman year, the AP “arms race” in general, kids taking AP classes to get the GPA bump while still having the option to skip the exam, and overall quality of instruction. These speak more to the quality vs quantity and are outside the scope of OP’s question.

Take that up with University Admissions. When your graduating class is 500-600 students in a district of 10,000-12,000 seniors, and your state flagship gets 60K applications for 5Kish spots, families are going to do whatever to get ahead. APs are one of those ways.

1K ish spots for the local district.

I’m the PP who mentioned the AP arms race—I totally agree that this is an issue for university admissions. UMD has always been competitive but I don’t recall (maybe I’ve forgotten?) the AP hysteria when I was in HS amongst kids who wanted UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school, 1-2 freshman year, 2-3 sophomore year (depending on whether the kid is ready for calc yet). And 5-6 junior and senior year.

wow - for top 20%? basically between 13 and 17. That's crazy and may not be right. What's top 10% do? 20-24?

If top 20% is 13-17, then the top 10% is the 17 of the range.

For example, at Whitman HS, you can see 13 AP exams and that over 100 students (20% Of 500 take), and 8 more that over 50 students take.

3-4 Social Studies
2 Math
2 English
2-4 Science
1 World Language
1-2 CS (one of them is Principles fake AP class)

And a smattering of electives that could add 2 per student.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jPaF7kQ1nUdfsODVwh-U4sesYZYn3y0s/view

This immediately doesn’t make sense. Assume top 20% are doing calc as juniors, what is their second AP? Are the majority doing stats? Very unlikely.

Also very few are doing four AP science classes. Very very few.

I'm sorry that facts hurt your feelings.

Facts don’t hurt my feelings. MVC is not an AP classes. A good class? Sure. An AP class? No.

My senior has taken MVC and linear algebra and is taking differential equations for her last semester. All fine classes but I would not characterize any of them as AP classes because they are not. Nor would I include them in her AP count if someone asked how many APs she has taken. They are an opportunity to explore an interest in depth, not a competition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our school, 1-2 freshman year, 2-3 sophomore year (depending on whether the kid is ready for calc yet). And 5-6 junior and senior year.

wow - for top 20%? basically between 13 and 17. That's crazy and may not be right. What's top 10% do? 20-24?

If top 20% is 13-17, then the top 10% is the 17 of the range.

For example, at Whitman HS, you can see 13 AP exams and that over 100 students (20% Of 500 take), and 8 more that over 50 students take.

3-4 Social Studies
2 Math
2 English
2-4 Science
1 World Language
1-2 CS (one of them is Principles fake AP class)

And a smattering of electives that could add 2 per student.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jPaF7kQ1nUdfsODVwh-U4sesYZYn3y0s/view

This immediately doesn’t make sense. Assume top 20% are doing calc as juniors, what is their second AP? Are the majority doing stats? Very unlikely.

Also very few are doing four AP science classes. Very very few.

I'm sorry that facts hurt your feelings.

Facts don’t hurt my feelings. MVC is not an AP classes. A good class? Sure. An AP class? No.

My senior has taken MVC and linear algebra and is taking differential equations for her last semester. All fine classes but I would not characterize any of them as AP classes because they are not. Nor would I include them in her AP count if someone asked how many APs she has taken. They are an opportunity to explore an interest in depth, not a competition.

Ma'am, this a Wendy's.

[Anonymous]

As a parent and college counselor working with students applying to top 20 schools, I advise that taking the AP exam isn't always necessary, especially if your child isn’t interested in earning college credit. The added stress might not be worth it. Colleges primarily value the rigor of the AP course and the weighted GPA it provides. However, achieving an 'A' in the class itself can significantly strengthen their application. And I have plenty of examples of acceptances to prove this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent and college counselor working with students applying to top 20 schools, I advise that taking the AP exam isn't always necessary, especially if your child isn’t interested in earning college credit. The added stress might not be worth it. Colleges primarily value the rigor of the AP course and the weighted GPA it provides. However, achieving an 'A' in the class itself can significantly strengthen their application. And I have plenty of examples of acceptances to prove this.

There is zero downside to taking the AP exam. You don’t like the score you can expunge it. If the added stress to take an exam is not worth it, then what are you going to do in college.

If there’s no score for the AP class it will be noted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent and college counselor working with students applying to top 20 schools, I advise that taking the AP exam isn't always necessary, especially if your child isn’t interested in earning college credit. The added stress might not be worth it. Colleges primarily value the rigor of the AP course and the weighted GPA it provides. However, achieving an 'A' in the class itself can significantly strengthen their application. And I have plenty of examples of acceptances to prove this.

There is zero downside to taking the AP exam. You don’t like the score you can expunge it. If the added stress to take an exam is not worth it, then what are you going to do in college.

If there’s no score for the AP class it will be noted.

so you are saying - even for kids who wants to study psychology in college, it's better to take AP Calc BC exam - lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read Atlantic's APs are a scam article
College Board = $$$ making

I agree. Kids should take HS classes in HS. Why do they need college credit so young???

That said, we played the game. One IB, one dual enrollment, 8 AP classes. Going to top 20 SLAC as a recruited athlete. 8 AP classes probably wouldn’t have cut it if he wasn’t a good athlete (although he could have handled more if he wasn’t devoted to sports 20 hours most weeks).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent and college counselor working with students applying to top 20 schools, I advise that taking the AP exam isn't always necessary, especially if your child isn’t interested in earning college credit. The added stress might not be worth it. Colleges primarily value the rigor of the AP course and the weighted GPA it provides. However, achieving an 'A' in the class itself can significantly strengthen their application. And I have plenty of examples of acceptances to prove this.

There is zero downside to taking the AP exam. You don’t like the score you can expunge it. If the added stress to take an exam is not worth it, then what are you going to do in college.

If there’s no score for the AP class it will be noted.

so you are saying - even for kids who wants to study psychology in college, it's better to take AP Calc BC exam - lol

100% yes. If the kid who wants to study psychology took the AP calculus BC class, they should sit for the AP exam. Otherwise the admission officers will be assuming the worst, eg no passing score. That’s why a lot of AP classes require the student to take the exam. You can demonstrate rigor with classes taken, grades and exam scores, preferably all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read Atlantic's APs are a scam article
College Board = $$$ making

I agree. Kids should take HS classes in HS. Why do they need college credit so young???

That said, we played the game. One IB, one dual enrollment, 8 AP classes. Going to top 20 SLAC as a recruited athlete. 8 AP classes probably wouldn’t have cut it if he wasn’t a good athlete (although he could have handled more if he wasn’t devoted to sports 20 hours most weeks).

You answered your own question. The kids that take HS classes in HS don’t end up at top 20 colleges, because there are too many students with similar profiles or better. So you need to differentiate yourself in some way, either academic or athletic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is top 20% in mcps do you know? Are they all from school like Blair HS.for example?

Blair magnet discourages APs

Lot of Magnet students self-study for AP exams, same for IB students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is top 20% in mcps do you know? Are they all from school like Blair HS.for example?

Blair magnet discourages APs

Right. Blair magnet discourages AP *classes*, and ism neutral in exams.

Lot of Magnet students self-study for AP exams, same for IB students

[Anonymous]

Right. Blair SMCS magnet discourages AP *classes* for science/math/CS, and slightly discourages non-STEM APs (workload concerns), and is neutral on exams.