AP classes in Public High School

[Anonymous]

My DD does better with AP classes than Honors classes. But, she also knows not to take AP math of any kind as that is not her strong suit. Honestly, the issue I have with AP classes, and that is that they are not thought well. Material is not presented, there is some idea of kids finding the information, but sometimes there is no clear presentation on what information they are to "find." As everything in the US school system it is done poorly. Well, at least at two schools my kids attended, one was private the other MoCo public. DD is still in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Honors classes in MoCo are a joke. My DD got a C in Honors Geography last year, it was thought by a math teacher who is a coach and only cares about coaching. He told me and DD's counselor that he doesn't teach Honors class, he expects them to "learn it on their own in Honors class." I asked if she could go to a regular class and he told me absolutely not, she will learn nothing there! It is for kids who can't learn! Now, while this teacher was an exception, and counselor was just stunned when she heard him say this... He said that since DD is smart, but makes silly mistakes, she shouldn't go to a regular class as that is for challenged kids! I kid you not! Apart from this clown, most of my DD's teachers have been great, but this tells you what they think of regular classes. Honors classes are not actually challenging any more.

[Anonymous]

My kids have had AP classes that seemed like honors classes, AP classes that seemed more difficult than real college classes, honors classes that seemed like AP classes, regular classes that seemed like middle school classes, regular classes that seemed like honors, etc. In our school, it really is entirely dependent on which teacher you get. My DD said her honors chemistry class (which was taught like AP) was more difficult than her general chemistry class in college. Her teacher had taught AP the year before and was too lazy to change the curriculum for the honors class.

My kids avoided certain AP classes and teachers not because of the difficulty but because of the time commitment. If you have 5 teachers who assign four hours of homework per class, you don't have time to do anything but homework (and there are plenty of teachers in the school who think AP just means "extensive busywork.")

Even if AP classes in some instances are easier than actual college classes, does it really matter, especially for a course like Human Geography? Does the average bright 14 year old need to be in something more like a 300-level college class?

[Anonymous]

My dd is taking AP US History as a freshman. She's doing well so far, but the workload is kicking her butt. She's up late every night studying. It isn't busy work. It is studying for tough exams that seem to be pretty sophisticated in nature. Sometimes two chapter tests per week. I'm hoping it will get easier once she gets the hang of the exams, which have a format that is new to her.

[Anonymous]

THe GMU professor Bryan Caplan had his homeschooled kids take AP UShistory in 7th and AP EuroHis and Econ in 8th. They got all 5s. Makes me wonder whether we can't expect more from younger adolescents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dd is taking AP US History as a freshman. She's doing well so far, but the workload is kicking her butt. She's up late every night studying. It isn't busy work. It is studying for tough exams that seem to be pretty sophisticated in nature. Sometimes two chapter tests per week. I'm hoping it will get easier once she gets the hang of the exams, which have a format that is new to her.

This is so wrong. My son was advised to take this freshman year (while in a public middle school) and we left public school forever. Now he is in a private school that does not even offer an AP in freshman year, and only one in sophomore year. As for AP History...you can't take that until junior year. And the beauty of this is that he will be just as competitive as the kid from the public school who takes twice as many APs. Why? Because the colleges are looking at what courses kids take relative to what the school offers. If they don't offer 3 or 4 APs in sophomore year, well, then, he can't take them. This alone is worth every penny we are paying for private school. If we had stayed in public, in order for my son to get into his top 20 dream school, he would have had to be taking all those APs. He is a junior this year and is taking his first AP ever. And he will have just as good of a chance for his dream school according to our college counselor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd is taking AP US History as a freshman. She's doing well so far, but the workload is kicking her butt. She's up late every night studying. It isn't busy work. It is studying for tough exams that seem to be pretty sophisticated in nature. Sometimes two chapter tests per week. I'm hoping it will get easier once she gets the hang of the exams, which have a format that is new to her.

This is so wrong. My son was advised to take this freshman year (while in a public middle school) and we left public school forever. Now he is in a private school that does not even offer an AP in freshman year, and only one in sophomore year. As for AP History...you can't take that until junior year. And the beauty of this is that he will be just as competitive as the kid from the public school who takes twice as many APs. Why? Because the colleges are looking at what courses kids take relative to what the school offers. If they don't offer 3 or 4 APs in sophomore year, well, then, he can't take them. This alone is worth every penny we are paying for private school. If we had stayed in public, in order for my son to get into his top 20 dream school, he would have had to be taking all those APs. He is a junior this year and is taking his first AP ever. And he will have just as good of a chance for his dream school according to our college counselor.

Not true but may ease the pain of writing tuition checks!