how on earth are kids taking 10 AP classes?

[Anonymous]

Nsl
Apush, foreign language, comp sci
Calc bc, bio, world history, eng Lang
Phy, chem,

Classes taken in school. You can pad it up further by taking envio and psychology by self studying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also realize that AP I not what it was a generation ago. There are many more classes and some are on a lower level. Physics 1 and 2 are only algebra based for example. Physics C is the calc based class.

DP -- I think AP now is more like "Honors level" version of a subject than it was when I was in high school many years ago, when it was an advanced class you took AFTER taking a "regular" or prerequisite class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In public schools, a lot of kids load up on AP’s. Grade 9 might be AP Comp Sci Principles and AP Gov. Grade 10 might be AP US History and AP Physics 1 (some schools are promoting this as a first foray into physics). Grade 11: AP English Lang, AP World History, AP Calc AB. Grade 12: AP Psych, AP Eng Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Spanish Language. That’s 11.

Huh? Government is a senior year class. At my kid's school, the only AP available for Freshmen is AP Comp Sci Principles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine (smart and relatively hard-working but not a total superstar) did 12. Three sophomore year, 5 junior year, 4 senior year plus dual enrollment at a university for a class for semesters. At some public schools, there are only two options for the core classes: AP or on-level. At her school, on-level effectively meant remedial (teachers admit this) so she chose the all-AP route to the level allowed by her school. It all worked out and she wasn’t driven crazy by the workload, except for AP chemistry. She did not get into her first choice school but loves the second choice one and her AP credits are making it possible for her to do a dual major in two very different disciplines. Good luck deciding. There is no one correct answer.

Which three AP classes did she take Sophmore year? My kid is one of the kids taking the most challenging schedule at her school, and she is only able to take two - AP Western Civ, and AP C.S. There are no other options for her at this point. I really don't understand how kids are able to take that many AP's prior to JR. year. Isn't this stuff standardized?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine (smart and relatively hard-working but not a total superstar) did 12. Three sophomore year, 5 junior year, 4 senior year plus dual enrollment at a university for a class for semesters. At some public schools, there are only two options for the core classes: AP or on-level. At her school, on-level effectively meant remedial (teachers admit this) so she chose the all-AP route to the level allowed by her school. It all worked out and she wasn’t driven crazy by the workload, except for AP chemistry. She did not get into her first choice school but loves the second choice one and her AP credits are making it possible for her to do a dual major in two very different disciplines. Good luck deciding. There is no one correct answer.

Which three AP classes did she take Sophmore year? My kid is one of the kids taking the most challenging schedule at her school, and she is only able to take two - AP Western Civ, and AP C.S. There are no other options for her at this point. I really don't understand how kids are able to take that many AP's prior to JR. year. Isn't this stuff standardized?

No it is not standardized. If you accelerated in math in elementary and middle many kids can at AP BC calc in freshman or sophomore year (AP stats as well). AP music theory can be taken in grade 9 - depends on how much piano or music theory your child learnt in k-8 or through private music lessons. Ditto for AP art history or AP world history.

The DC area has 3 different state education systems and the AP path is different across VA MD and DC.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the kid. I had one who took 9 and one who took 3. The one who took 9 sailed through and received college credit for all of them. No stress. The one who took 3? Not so much. But. no stress there, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In public schools, a lot of kids load up on AP’s. Grade 9 might be AP Comp Sci Principles and AP Gov. Grade 10 might be AP US History and AP Physics 1 (some schools are promoting this as a first foray into physics). Grade 11: AP English Lang, AP World History, AP Calc AB. Grade 12: AP Psych, AP Eng Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Spanish Language. That’s 11.

Wrong . You cant take AP physics in FFX county without taking Physics 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In public schools, a lot of kids load up on AP’s. Grade 9 might be AP Comp Sci Principles and AP Gov. Grade 10 might be AP US History and AP Physics 1 (some schools are promoting this as a first foray into physics). Grade 11: AP English Lang, AP World History, AP Calc AB. Grade 12: AP Psych, AP Eng Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Spanish Language. That’s 11.

Wrong . You cant take AP physics in FFX county without taking Physics 1

It varies a lot by school. In APS you have to take non-AP Biology and Chemistry before the AP but you can go straight to AP Physics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a lot of striver parents don't realize is that this is starting to turn off college admissions officers. It paints the kids as automatons who are doing everything to get into college, rather than kids "pursuing their passions." The people who make their kids self-study for APs on top of school are the ones who really look like this. Let your child join a club instead.

Mine took 10 APs, got 4s and 5s on all the tests, and was in 3 varsity sports a year, plus a club sport outside of school (DC went to the state championships 4 times so these were not resume sports). Sports were a passion. Not all these kids are one dimensional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine (smart and relatively hard-working but not a total superstar) did 12. Three sophomore year, 5 junior year, 4 senior year plus dual enrollment at a university for a class for semesters. At some public schools, there are only two options for the core classes: AP or on-level. At her school, on-level effectively meant remedial (teachers admit this) so she chose the all-AP route to the level allowed by her school. It all worked out and she wasn’t driven crazy by the workload, except for AP chemistry. She did not get into her first choice school but loves the second choice one and her AP credits are making it possible for her to do a dual major in two very different disciplines. Good luck deciding. There is no one correct answer.

Which three AP classes did she take Sophmore year? My kid is one of the kids taking the most challenging schedule at her school, and she is only able to take two - AP Western Civ, and AP C.S. There are no other options for her at this point. I really don't understand how kids are able to take that many AP's prior to JR. year. Isn't this stuff standardized?

No, I assume that every school has its own rules. Yes, the goal for some kids is to take the most challenging course load at their own school. Colleges realize that kids have no control over what is offered and when.

In sophomore year, mine took AP world history, human geography (great class), and a language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In public schools, a lot of kids load up on AP’s. Grade 9 might be AP Comp Sci Principles and AP Gov. Grade 10 might be AP US History and AP Physics 1 (some schools are promoting this as a first foray into physics). Grade 11: AP English Lang, AP World History, AP Calc AB. Grade 12: AP Psych, AP Eng Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Spanish Language. That’s 11.

Huh? Government is a senior year class. At my kid's school, the only AP available for Freshmen is AP Comp Sci Principles

Huh?
Surely you realize that different districts and different schools schedule things differently.
Government is a sophomore class at my kid's school, and they can take AP or regular.
AP Comp Gov and AP US Gov are both college-semester classes, rather than year-long classes, so they're a great into to AP level work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a lot of striver parents don't realize is that this is starting to turn off college admissions officers. It paints the kids as automatons who are doing everything to get into college, rather than kids "pursuing their passions." The people who make their kids self-study for APs on top of school are the ones who really look like this. Let your child join a club instead.

Mine took 10 APs, got 4s and 5s on all the tests, and was in 3 varsity sports a year, plus a club sport outside of school (DC went to the state championships 4 times so these were not resume sports). Sports were a passion. Not all these kids are one dimensional.

I want to lead by saying there is no snark here. My kid will be in HS next year and I'm trying to wrap my head around what a 'day in the life' of a kid like yours looks like. When does he/she sleep, meal times, are they multitaskers (HW while eating dinner/in the car to club sports), how often do they read outside class, family time. Please again no offense meant. I'm in awe and want to make sure my expectations for my kid are conditioning on the norm and not on some very special child who can manage more than the norm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some posters mention that their kids are taking 9-10 AP classes in high school. How is this even possible? You need to take bio, chem or physics before you take those APs, so that's only 1-2 AP sciences, max. And then maybe AP English, Government, a language, comp sci? that's still only 6. How do kids do it? And doesn't it mean a killer schedule?

3-5 a year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a lot of striver parents don't realize is that this is starting to turn off college admissions officers. It paints the kids as automatons who are doing everything to get into college, rather than kids "pursuing their passions." The people who make their kids self-study for APs on top of school are the ones who really look like this. Let your child join a club instead.

Mine took 10 APs, got 4s and 5s on all the tests, and was in 3 varsity sports a year, plus a club sport outside of school (DC went to the state championships 4 times so these were not resume sports). Sports were a passion. Not all these kids are one dimensional.

I want to lead by saying there is no snark here. My kid will be in HS next year and I'm trying to wrap my head around what a 'day in the life' of a kid like yours looks like. When does he/she sleep, meal times, are they multitaskers (HW while eating dinner/in the car to club sports), how often do they read outside class, family time. Please again no offense meant. I'm in awe and want to make sure my expectations for my kid are conditioning on the norm and not on some very special child who can manage more than the norm

Its not as hard as it sounds.

[Anonymous]

I want to lead by saying there is no snark here. My kid will be in HS next year and I'm trying to wrap my head around what a 'day in the life' of a kid like yours looks like. When does he/she sleep, meal times, are they multitaskers (HW while eating dinner/in the car to club sports), how often do they read outside class, family time. Please again no offense meant. I'm in awe and want to make sure my expectations for my kid are conditioning on the norm and not on some very special child who can manage more than the norm

Some kids thrive on being extremely busy. Others need more down time. I have one each. The one that needs the down time alone is actually the better student. The other thrives on being busy and with other people. The sports activities are the "down time" for him.