How many classes in 11th or 12th should be AP level or how many are "too much"?

[Anonymous]

Related question - is the expectation to get all 5s if APs are taken? Or put another way, is it better to take no AP at all than an AP and get a 3 or a 4?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Related question - is the expectation to get all 5s if APs are taken? Or put another way, is it better to take no AP at all than an AP and get a 3 or a 4?

It is better to get As in the AP class than get lower grades and 5s.

[Anonymous]

Op, we used Final Year grades to make the determination. Subject had to be a B+ or better to consider taking the AP option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Related question - is the expectation to get all 5s if APs are taken? Or put another way, is it better to take no AP at all than an AP and get a 3 or a 4?

A 4 is a good score that should be reported. I'm not sure about the rest.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So I get Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics etc are seen as rigorous. What are APs that are considered not rigorous? seminar? Research? Psych etc?

Not sure if the non-core APs are not considered rigorous but they are really elective APs and many schools don’t offer them.

AP Psych, AP Human Geography,etc. anything outside of math, science, English, social studies and language.

I think there are actually like 35 AP classes in total, but there are plenty of HSs that only offer 12-15 (and some that offer 30+).

AP precalc is a joke and not worth anyone’s time.

What's the alternative?

Regular. So, it's not a joke to kids who want to take the advanced version of the class. Sure, it's a money-grab, but your kid has to take it if they are pushing for rigor.

It’s the mid-level choice. AP Cal is not rigorous. But it’s also not what struggling math students take.

*AP Pre Cal, I meant!

NP. How is it the mid-level choice? Most high schools aren't offering a precalc course that is more rigorous than AP. AP merely replaces honors precalc. And no one knows what the exam is going to look like yet, though no student should be hoping for college credit from it.

I agree with the PP that, while it's a CB money grab, we are paying for the extra GPA weight.

mcps covers fees for all APs beginning this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Related question - is the expectation to get all 5s if APs are taken? Or put another way, is it better to take no AP at all than an AP and get a 3 or a 4?

From many youtube posts, doesn't seem AP exam scores are important. It's more important to get as much rigor. You don't even have to take the exams especially if they are not transferable. Focus on getting A on those classes.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So I get Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics etc are seen as rigorous. What are APs that are considered not rigorous? seminar? Research? Psych etc?

Not sure if the non-core APs are not considered rigorous but they are really elective APs and many schools don’t offer them.

AP Psych, AP Human Geography,etc. anything outside of math, science, English, social studies and language.

I think there are actually like 35 AP classes in total, but there are plenty of HSs that only offer 12-15 (and some that offer 30+).

AP precalc is a joke and not worth anyone’s time.

What's the alternative?

Regular. So, it's not a joke to kids who want to take the advanced version of the class. Sure, it's a money-grab, but your kid has to take it if they are pushing for rigor.

It’s the mid-level choice. AP Cal is not rigorous. But it’s also not what struggling math students take.

*AP Pre Cal, I meant!

NP. How is it the mid-level choice? Most high schools aren't offering a precalc course that is more rigorous than AP. AP merely replaces honors precalc. And no one knows what the exam is going to look like yet, though no student should be hoping for college credit from it.

I agree with the PP that, while it's a CB money grab, we are paying for the extra GPA weight.

The GPA weight means nothing. Top Colleges have stated over and over that GPA doesn’t tell them what they need to know. You may be disappointed if you are simply thinking that your GPA is the ticket in

[Anonymous]

For admissions, you want A's in AP classes. Some Applicants report scores, but I have been told by some admissions officers that they don't really care, especially if the school doesn't give credit for AP classes.

[Anonymous]

The exams are important across the board. Thinking they are not due to some random YouTube video is insane.

The UC's give credit to all AP classes taken where a score of 3,4 or 5 is achieved (sometimes a more specific detailed credit for a 5 than for a 3).

Applications to the Uk universities often require a minimum of 3 AP exams at grade 5 in relevant subjects and often more than 3 exams at that level (Cambridge wants 5 x grade 5 AP exams)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The exams are important across the board. Thinking they are not due to some random YouTube video is insane.

The UC's give credit to all AP classes taken where a score of 3,4 or 5 is achieved (sometimes a more specific detailed credit for a 5 than for a 3).

Applications to the Uk universities often require a minimum of 3 AP exams at grade 5 in relevant subjects and often more than 3 exams at that level (Cambridge wants 5 x grade 5 AP exams)

Oo hello college board employee

[Anonymous]

My striver kid in a magnet program took the following APs:

Freshman year: CS Principles, Seminar
Sophomore year: Java, NSL
Junior (current): World, Stats, BC Cal, Psychology, Lang
Senior (expected): Physics C (this is 2), Environmental, Research, Geography. Note will be taking MV which isn’t AP.

So my kid will take 14. He took what he wanted. You’ll note AP Lit isn’t there as he’s not an English person. He hated Spanish and dropped it after level 4 YMWV.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So I get Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics etc are seen as rigorous. What are APs that are considered not rigorous? seminar? Research? Psych etc?

Not sure if the non-core APs are not considered rigorous but they are really elective APs and many schools don’t offer them.

AP Psych, AP Human Geography,etc. anything outside of math, science, English, social studies and language.

I think there are actually like 35 AP classes in total, but there are plenty of HSs that only offer 12-15 (and some that offer 30+).

AP precalc is a joke and not worth anyone’s time.

What's the alternative?

Regular. So, it's not a joke to kids who want to take the advanced version of the class. Sure, it's a money-grab, but your kid has to take it if they are pushing for rigor.

It’s the mid-level choice. AP Cal is not rigorous. But it’s also not what struggling math students take.

*AP Pre Cal, I meant!

NP. How is it the mid-level choice? Most high schools aren't offering a precalc course that is more rigorous than AP. AP merely replaces honors precalc. And no one knows what the exam is going to look like yet, though no student should be hoping for college credit from it.

I agree with the PP that, while it's a CB money grab, we are paying for the extra GPA weight.

The GPA weight means nothing. Top Colleges have stated over and over that GPA doesn’t tell them what they need to know. You may be disappointed if you are simply thinking that your GPA is the ticket in

You are missing the point. In my kid’s school you can take either AP Precalc or grade level. There is no honors.

The vast majority of the kids taking grade level will never take another math class in HS. None will take AP Calculus.

For some reason, there are people that hate the AP Precalc course. I don’t really know why. However, they are under the misimpression that many schools offer an Honors or some other PreCalc that is actually more rigorous.

Perhaps that is true at other schools, but 100% not the case at ours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:So I get Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Physics etc are seen as rigorous. What are APs that are considered not rigorous? seminar? Research? Psych etc?

Not sure if the non-core APs are not considered rigorous but they are really elective APs and many schools don’t offer them.

AP Psych, AP Human Geography,etc. anything outside of math, science, English, social studies and language.

I think there are actually like 35 AP classes in total, but there are plenty of HSs that only offer 12-15 (and some that offer 30+).

AP precalc is a joke and not worth anyone’s time.

What's the alternative?

Regular. So, it's not a joke to kids who want to take the advanced version of the class. Sure, it's a money-grab, but your kid has to take it if they are pushing for rigor.

It’s the mid-level choice. AP Cal is not rigorous. But it’s also not what struggling math students take.

*AP Pre Cal, I meant!

NP. How is it the mid-level choice? Most high schools aren't offering a precalc course that is more rigorous than AP. AP merely replaces honors precalc. And no one knows what the exam is going to look like yet, though no student should be hoping for college credit from it.

I agree with the PP that, while it's a CB money grab, we are paying for the extra GPA weight.

The GPA weight means nothing. Top Colleges have stated over and over that GPA doesn’t tell them what they need to know. You may be disappointed if you are simply thinking that your GPA is the ticket in

You are missing the point. In my kid’s school you can take either AP Precalc or grade level. There is no honors.

The vast majority of the kids taking grade level will never take another math class in HS. None will take AP Calculus.

For some reason, there are people that hate the AP Precalc course. I don’t really know why. However, they are under the misimpression that many schools offer an Honors or some other PreCalc that is actually more rigorous.

Perhaps that is true at other schools, but 100% not the case at ours.

Don’t get so bent out of shape over it. As you probably know, colleges look at your transcript to see if the student is taking the most rigorous classes offered. So, if AP Pre Calc is part of the most rigorous math track at your kid’s school then it’s fine! Yes, many schools have other choices but you don’t need to consider that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:our student is at a public HS with limited college or guidance counseling so he is pretty confused and we're from out of country.

he is aiming for UVA, Tufts etc. he knows that is hard. he is currently getting unweighted grades of B+ to A range.

how many APs should he take in junior year to be competitive? he's picking his courses next week.

If he’s getting B+’s in non-AP classes he needs to lower his college expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the student, what they want to do and what they think they can handle. DD likes to do it all. She is taking APUSH in 10th and plans to take:

11th grade: AP World, AP Lang, AP Chem, AP Calc BC
12th grade: AP Lit, AP Bio, AP Stats, AP Latin, probably an AP social science (Micro/Macro, Euro History, US Gov, Human Geo.

So that's 10 or 11?

DS, who's graduating this year and going to a LAC ranked in the top 50, will have taken 6 (Micro/Macro, Env Sci, Calc AB, European History, Stats). He doesn't take honors everything; he doesn't want to kill himself and plans his courseload accordingly.

My DD is similar to yours with an almost identical course selection. But getting B’s in Cal BC. A’s in everything else.

BC is hard. My kid did AB first, and got a B in first semester of BC. Teacher aims to make it challenging, and over the last 10+ years, has a 99%+ success rate for 4s or 5s on the AP test. In fact it's over 95% for 5s. So my kid got a 5 and took credit for calc 1 and 2 at a T40 as engineering major. Was well prepared for Calc3/4/Diff Eq. And officially that B- became an A- due to the AP test score (but by then the final transcript was sent and who really cares).