AP classes in Public High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Honestly I think people are getting confused about rigor and APs. Colleges are looking for rigor in CORE classes. They may not even really look at things like art history, unless the student is on an overall arts track. Many selective schools calculate a GPA that includes only core classes and leave out electives, whether AP or not. So filling a schedule with a bunch of random APs is not going to be much of a boost and you may want to encourage your kid to focus on the core classes rather than get distracted by extraneous APs.


I hate this theory of the "lesser" APs. My DS is interested in psych and music theory so he's going to take those along with physics, stats and calculus. He's not interested in English, government, or biology, so it wouldn't make sense for him to take those AP classes. He's not taking them to "boost" anything - he's just taking the classes he wants to take. Seems like the simplest route to having a happy kid with a balanced workload.

Then that's great. My DC took AP Psych, loved it, and is now majoring in Psych. My point is that you should take elective APs because you are interested in them, not just because you think a college is looking for a particular number of APs. Colleges focused on rigor are looking at core classes, not the sheer number of APs. I think people overlook this point, and sometimes work in the core classes suffer because a kid is bogged down with the work in elective APs in which they may not even be interested.

I didn't call them lesser APs, but there are electives and core classes.

I agree with the above approach. My DS1 took AP classes in world history, American history, English language, English lit, US government, economics, French, and environmental science--all subjects he was interest in. He took regular math and science (other than environmental) tracks (geometry, algebra II, trig, pre-calculus; biology, earth science, chemistry).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some public school districts don't allow freshmen to take AP courses. I know Arlington is one of them.

That isn't quite true. The pre-IB group is offered AP World History, and some number of them take it. Generally, though, you are correct.

A spillover of all the AP/IB classes is that there is no honors English offered in 11th because a school can only offer so many choices.

Not just the pre-IB group; Arlington allows other freshmen to take AP World History if recommended by their 8th grade geography teacher. IME, only a small number of students get recommended.

When we went to the W-L freshman information meeting with the counselors they discouraged kids from taking the AP World History class, even if recommended (which my DS was). He's doing the intensified level instead of AP.

My DS1 was recommended for AP World History as a freshman, took it (his choice, I thought it was ridiculous TBH), and did well--Bs in the class and a 4 on the exam. But he was a pretty unusual student/kid (reading adult history books for fun; in the end, his test score was accomplished mostly on the basis of sheer knowledge, not much studying). My DS2 is currently a freshman at W-L, a bright kid whom I expect will pursue an AP track eventually. But not this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is crazy. It isn't really college work, but a move toward some semblance of a national curriculum combined with an arms race to up gpas (which are weighted)

Just to clarify, nobody is taking AP's to "up their GPAs" or because they "need a 4.6 GPA" like another pp said. Colleges only look at unweighted GPAs. Some colleges take your unweighted GPA and reweight it using their own proprietary weights, so that an A in Phys Es doesn't count as much as an A in Calc B/C. But public and private schools alike send unweighted GPAs on the transcripts they send to colleges. (Public schools may include the weighted GPA on the transcript, but colleges don't care.)

As PPs said, it's about demonstrating that you took the most rigorous classes classes available. Many kids also send AP test results of 4s or 5s with their college applications, even though sending the AP scores isn't necessary; they do its because it proves you did well in your AP classes. At top universities that don't give credit for AP classes, sending in your score with your application may be the only benefit you get.

If your high school ranks, then your weighted GPA matters for your class rank. And colleges do look at class ranks, when available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous[b wrote:]Mine did AP Gov in 9th grade[/b]. It was not a hard class and he got a 5 on the test. Even if it's college level it's not college pace because you cover in a year what would be covered in a semester in college.

Honestly I think people are getting confused about rigor and APs. Colleges are looking for rigor in CORE classes. They may not even really look at things like art history, unless the student is on an overall arts track. Many selective schools calculate a GPA that includes only core classes and leave out electives, whether AP or not. So filling a schedule with a bunch of random APs is not going to be much of a boost and you may want to encourage your kid to focus on the core classes rather than get distracted by extraneous APs.

Where was this done? at a HRCS?

[Anonymous]

DS started taking elective AP's in his freshman and sophomore years until he could replace his core classes with APs. Pretty much everyone on the most competitive track took Geography freshman year. By the time he was a senior, all of his classes were APs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS started taking elective AP's in his freshman and sophomore years until he could replace his core classes with APs. Pretty much everyone on the most competitive track took Geography freshman year. By the time he was a senior, all of his classes were APs.

That's so sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it is nuts. DS is took five AP classes this year as a senior. Took 4 as a junior, 3 as a sophomore and 2 as a freshman. I think sophomore and freshman year were the hardest because a number of the AP classes were electives so added to math, science, language, history, literature schedule.

Ugh.

If you don't mind sharing . . . would you encourage your DS to do anything differently if you knew then what you know now? And if so, how do you think it would have changed his trajectory/experience, both for better or worse?

Our high school definitely pressures the top students to max out on APs. Our friends' son (now in college) chose to opt out of a few APs his last two years, and he took some crap for it at school - from the school counselor, a teacher, and even from some peers (who seemed to be parroting what they heard from their parents about him tanking his chances to get into a "good college". )

Our friends supported their son's choice, and in the end he seemed to be happier and more relaxed in high school than he might have been otherwise. He also got into a fabulous college. But it definitely felt like he was swimming against the tide in some respects.

This all seems like a lot of pressure for a teenager to navigate . . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it is nuts. DS is took five AP classes this year as a senior. Took 4 as a junior, 3 as a sophomore and 2 as a freshman. I think sophomore and freshman year were the hardest because a number of the AP classes were electives so added to math, science, language, history, literature schedule.

Ugh.

If you don't mind sharing . . . would you encourage your DS to do anything differently if you knew then what you know now? And if so, how do you think it would have changed his trajectory/experience, both for better or worse?

Our high school definitely pressures the top students to max out on APs. Our friends' son (now in college) chose to opt out of a few APs his last two years, and he took some crap for it at school - from the school counselor, a teacher, and even from some peers (who seemed to be parroting what they heard from their parents about him tanking his chances to get into a "good college". )

Our friends supported their son's choice, and in the end he seemed to be happier and more relaxed in high school than he might have been otherwise. He also got into a fabulous college. But it definitely felt like he was swimming against the tide in some respects.

This all seems like a lot of pressure for a teenager to navigate . . . .

Hi. No, I don't think I would do anything differently as this was 100% my son's decision and he had to learn to regulate his schedule to handle the additional work in his Freshman and Sophomore years. Junior and Senior year were actually easier for him as all of his classes were AP and he only had five classes each year. He got into the college he wanted and a hefty merit scholarship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some public school districts don't allow freshmen to take AP courses. I know Arlington is one of them.

That isn't quite true. The pre-IB group is offered AP World History, and some number of them take it. Generally, though, you are correct.

A spillover of all the AP/IB classes is that there is no honors English offered in 11th because a school can only offer so many choices.

AP World History is also offers to all freshmen at Wakefield and the pass rate is quite high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous[b wrote:]Mine did AP Gov in 9th grade[/b]. It was not a hard class and he got a 5 on the test. Even if it's college level it's not college pace because you cover in a year what would be covered in a semester in college.

Honestly I think people are getting confused about rigor and APs. Colleges are looking for rigor in CORE classes. They may not even really look at things like art history, unless the student is on an overall arts track. Many selective schools calculate a GPA that includes only core classes and leave out electives, whether AP or not. So filling a schedule with a bunch of random APs is not going to be much of a boost and you may want to encourage your kid to focus on the core classes rather than get distracted by extraneous APs.

Where was this done? at a HRCS?

it was an MCPS in Bethesda. Where is HRCS?

[Anonymous]

In MCPS, taking APs rather than Honors likely hurts your GPA. AP and Honors both get the one point 'bump' on the GPA and in our limited experience, AP is MUCH more work. That said, my understanding is that colleges look carefully at what courses the student chooses to take and favor students who took the most rigorous courses possible. So I don't know the tradeoff-- B in AP vs A in Honors. The latter improves your weighted GPA but I suspect the total effect varies based on the preferences of the college admissions committee.

When I look at my daughter's workload and exams in AP US History, I'd say they are close to being on par with a university intro course, though the university course would likely also have a paper/project in addition to tests, and I haven't heard that one will be required in the AP course.

[Anonymous]

Today's academics are quite watered down in high school.

AP courses are more like the honors courses of 30 years ago. Honors is more like a standard class and standard is now the "rock for jocks" geology course of the past.

Don't fool yourself that AP is college level, maybe Community College level but certainly nothing higher.

[Anonymous]

DD took 3 total throughout HS : AP Chem, AP Physics C, Calculus BC
College want rigor. IMHO, college value rigor that shows passion,
If the student wants to illustrate a passion. Clearly DD was interested
in Math/Science and had a direction. Would it have been nice to have
also been gifted in English Literature? Sure! I think the actual dilemma
is the idea of doors closing. That's what's hard to accept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS started taking elective AP's in his freshman and sophomore years until he could replace his core classes with APs. Pretty much everyone on the most competitive track took Geography freshman year. By the time he was a senior, all of his classes were APs.

That's so sad.

NP and maybe I'm missing something, but why is it sad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP Geography actually is mainly taken by high school freshman nationwide. It has a reputation as the easiest AP. Honors classes have gotten dumbed down at many schools, and AP classes provide some assurance of rigor.

This. The schools are dumbed down so much these advanced classes are NBD. The caliber of leaner in some of the basic classes is so incredibly low, so any student wuth even a modicum of academic potential can handle these classes.