Can someone be honest? How many APs did your kid take privately?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s something weird about kids paying more for study help on AP exams in these elite schools. Surely the school would offer free exams and tutoring in the name of equity?

My kid studied on their own - no paying anyone else. For the courses that were most likely (History, Literature) the teachers spend a small amount of time IN CLASS to let them know what to expect on the test and what areas they may need to supplement on their own

Personally, this is one reason why I find it so strange that the school generally tells parents/students it APs don't matter. Yet when it comes to AP test time, the teachers are clearly doing some AP prep and then the Juniors have no classes scheduled on the AP Lit and AP US test times. By then, it's way too late to sign up to take it. It always feels like mixed messaging and parents/kids feel duped (and I say this as a parent whose DC did take exams and ignored mixed messages from the school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, the top privates in the DMV collectively decided to do away with APs so they could appear different and better than the top DMV publics and justify charging their exorbitant tuitions. It was such an obvious move tbat the Justice Department actually looked into whether they violated antitrust laws.

Having said that, colleges make clear that (1) they judge your kids record by reference to the specific school that they attend, so if it doesn’t offer APs the college doesn’t expect to see APs or AP tests and (2) colleges don’t take AP exam scores into account in college admissions anyway. It’s taking the courses if they’re offered that they care about - not the scores in the exams afterwards. Remember, most students will take half or more of the AP exams that they’re ever going to take at the end of senior year, after they’ve already been admitted to college.

I served on one of the committees that decided to jettison the AP curriculum, and I can tell you that this lovely chesnut you put forth is clearly the product of your own demented fantasy and distrust of private schools. The main reason many of us supported getting rid of AP courses is because of all of the bureaucracy and red tape involved with dealing with the College Board, a questionable monopoly within itself. In order to use the AP designation for any course, a school must submit extensive documentation to show that the course meets the very narrow focus of the AP curriculum. Another determining factor in our decision was that teachers found themselves having to cut seminal information from their curriculum to ensure students were prepared to take the APs in May. Because of the nature of AP exams, this meant U.S. history teachers were cutting units that allowed them and their students to perform deeper dives on issues such as racism and its institutionalization, the emergence of sexual minority liberation movements, and even the 1980s and the implosion of the USSR. The reality is that many of our students take AP exams and earn 4s and 5s on them, so the dropping of the AP designation has not had many deterimental effects. Most people who argue for AP courses do so because they fear their children will be at severe disadvantage when it comes to applying for colleges. As many people have pointed out in other posts on this board, colleges use their own calculations when comparing a student with a weighted GPA versus one whose GPA is unweighted.

Sure, Jan.
Because calculus 1 and 2 have such unique perspectives in the fancy private schools.

I've since left the school, but my sense is that the AP designation still applies to some match, science, and language courses. Our committee discussed the curriculum in other disciplines and how it was deterimental to those classes. But go on with your snark and your pithy responses. We all know how productive those comments can be in an otherwise serious discussion among adults.

So your school didn't decide " to jettison the AP curriculum" and your teachers didn't have "to cut seminal information from their curriculum "
They are still offering AP classes in math, science, and language courses. So basically your school decided it didn't want to offer a survey course of US History. A totally fine, understandable, and reasonable decision that has nothing to do with the AP curriculum.

You think that the only discipline outside STEM is U.S. History? Oh, dear . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s something weird about kids paying more for study help on AP exams in these elite schools. Surely the school would offer free exams and tutoring in the name of equity?

The point is although the classes do not have an AP designation, they still prepare students for material on the exam. The decision to hire tutors to study for the AP exam is usually precipitated by parents for many reasons, including the misguided belief that their children must learn how to take the exam. Why should a school teach students test strategies? What does it tell us about these classes that teach students about the strategy of standardized test taking instead of covering the actual material on the exam? The reality is astute students should know to pore over past AP exams to get a sense of what the test looks like, what to expect, etc.

Continues to boggle my mind why we are paying what we pay and we'll be honest- we certainly had hopes of our top 3 private being a doorway into a better school choice. Anyone who says something different is probably fooling themselves. No one pays 45k a year with hopes for UMD. Or with outside tutoring for APs becoming necessary to play this crappy game. The public grading system is really screwing us all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids are taking the AP tests privately, not the classes. They are studying on their own.

As far as I understand it, the schools are only "approved" to proctor AP exams for classes they offer.
I was looking into having my kid take AP World History and my kid's DC private does not offer the exam and neither does Jackson Reed (because they don't offer the AP world history class either).
I would have to contact Walls or Banneker or MCPS.

For what it's worth, we decided against this as I got a review book and the content differences are pretty significant (what my kid has learned vs. what is on the exam).

This is not true. Our school offers to proctor a wide range of AP exam for in subjects that they are not teaching a certified AP course. Simplest examples are AP Literature and AP US History. These are the most commonly taken AP exams at our school, but the school doesn't teach AP courses - just their own 11th grade English and US History that everyone has to take.

What school is this? My kids' school does not seem to proctor anything they do not currently teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s something weird about kids paying more for study help on AP exams in these elite schools. Surely the school would offer free exams and tutoring in the name of equity?

The point is although the classes do not have an AP designation, they still prepare students for material on the exam. The decision to hire tutors to study for the AP exam is usually precipitated by parents for many reasons, including the misguided belief that their children must learn how to take the exam. Why should a school teach students test strategies? What does it tell us about these classes that teach students about the strategy of standardized test taking instead of covering the actual material on the exam? The reality is astute students should know to pore over past AP exams to get a sense of what the test looks like, what to expect, etc.

Continues to boggle my mind why we are paying what we pay and we'll be honest- we certainly had hopes of our top 3 private being a doorway into a better school choice. Anyone who says something different is probably fooling themselves. No one pays 45k a year with hopes for UMD. Or with outside tutoring for APs becoming necessary to play this crappy game. The public grading system is really screwing us all.

It’s not just the public grading system. It was also self-inflicted by these DMV schools that got rid of APs and on top of it, are counseling students not to take AP exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s something weird about kids paying more for study help on AP exams in these elite schools. Surely the school would offer free exams and tutoring in the name of equity?

The point is although the classes do not have an AP designation, they still prepare students for material on the exam. The decision to hire tutors to study for the AP exam is usually precipitated by parents for many reasons, including the misguided belief that their children must learn how to take the exam. Why should a school teach students test strategies? What does it tell us about these classes that teach students about the strategy of standardized test taking instead of covering the actual material on the exam? The reality is astute students should know to pore over past AP exams to get a sense of what the test looks like, what to expect, etc.

Continues to boggle my mind why we are paying what we pay and we'll be honest- we certainly had hopes of our top 3 private being a doorway into a better school choice. Anyone who says something different is probably fooling themselves. No one pays 45k a year with hopes for UMD. Or with outside tutoring for APs becoming necessary to play this crappy game. The public grading system is really screwing us all.

If privates keep APs, then there is a very easy point of comparison. Public school students know that they have to load of on AP classes if they want to go to a good college, so they'll have scores that either serve to validate a high GPA or to call it into question. Maybe if privates encouraged them the way publics do, their students could point to 10 5s to demonstrate that their 3.2 GPA would have been a 4.8 in public.

[Anonymous]

Private schools may have made a mistake by dropping APs. They should have more confidence that they can teach a course not solely focused on the tests but still have students with strong scores. How else will colleges compare GPAs?

Are any considering adding AP courses back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids are taking the AP tests privately, not the classes. They are studying on their own.

As far as I understand it, the schools are only "approved" to proctor AP exams for classes they offer.
I was looking into having my kid take AP World History and my kid's DC private does not offer the exam and neither does Jackson Reed (because they don't offer the AP world history class either).
I would have to contact Walls or Banneker or MCPS.

For what it's worth, we decided against this as I got a review book and the content differences are pretty significant (what my kid has learned vs. what is on the exam).

This is not true. Our school offers to proctor a wide range of AP exam for in subjects that they are not teaching a certified AP course. Simplest examples are AP Literature and AP US History. These are the most commonly taken AP exams at our school, but the school doesn't teach AP courses - just their own 11th grade English and US History that everyone has to take.

What school is this? My kids' school does not seem to proctor anything they do not currently teach.

I would check with them -- I was in a public school a million years ago and they were happy to proctor me for an exam in a course they didn't teach.

If they really won't proctor, you should be able to find someone who will, and your school may have recommendations. There are enough homeschoolers who take AP exams that this isn't too far out of the ordinary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a bit of an outside observer to this. It seems to me that some private schools deliberately keep the curriculum level because their “customers” are both average and above-average students. One thing you are buying when you pay for private is college access, through counseling, reputation, relationships, etc. So it makes sense that the privates would shy away from a two-tier system where some kids get an advantage based on coursework. However the ambitious smart kids are also “customers,” so I expect that if your kid is an academic standout, the school knows how to boost them into the top tier colleges. It will show in recommendations and coursework, not APs and weighted GPAs. And I expect the school counselors know how to advocate for their academically strong kids.

All of this is to say … when you buy private school, one of the things you are buying is the ability to ignore APs and weighted GPAs and the like.

No. The privates ditched AP but kept Honors and Advanced classes. SOme kids take those classes and then sit for AP tests anyway. I suspect that the privates dropped AP classes because it gives the appearance of parity with public school classes. Privates want the parents and colleges to appreciate that difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Taking AP exams is not a "hook" to get into a T20.

This exactly! They look at school to see what most rigorous courses are. If there are no AP classes, you are not penalized. If you are at a private high school here in town that does not have AP classes, you can still sign up and take them. The school just doesn’t necessarily teach to the test. My DC studied on his own the weekend before the AP and still managed to do quite well on 6 exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s something weird about kids paying more for study help on AP exams in these elite schools. Surely the school would offer free exams and tutoring in the name of equity?

The point is although the classes do not have an AP designation, they still prepare students for material on the exam. The decision to hire tutors to study for the AP exam is usually precipitated by parents for many reasons, including the misguided belief that their children must learn how to take the exam. Why should a school teach students test strategies? What does it tell us about these classes that teach students about the strategy of standardized test taking instead of covering the actual material on the exam? The reality is astute students should know to pore over past AP exams to get a sense of what the test looks like, what to expect, etc.

Continues to boggle my mind why we are paying what we pay and we'll be honest- we certainly had hopes of our top 3 private being a doorway into a better school choice. Anyone who says something different is probably fooling themselves. No one pays 45k a year with hopes for UMD. Or with outside tutoring for APs becoming necessary to play this crappy game. The public grading system is really screwing us all.

Yes, tragic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know that APs are not offered at any private schools but I hear all the time that students take them privately. My child wants to take 2-3 in total but a friend’s son took 7 AP exams privately (over 4 years of HS) and got into one of the HPY. Same HS as our DC. If one is looking to get into competitive Ivy Leagues with all other factors in place (High GPA, SAT scores, robust activities etc.,). What is a good and reasonable number of APs to take?

Or are their parents here that can share that their DC took NO AP exams privately and their DC still got into a top school in the last 3 years? (Not a sport recruit)

Just trying to figure out whether we encourage our DC to take more AP, a few, or none.

Thank you for sharing.

Not sure where you are hearing they are not offered at any private schools. They are offered at the Cathedral Schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that APs are not offered at any private schools but I hear all the time that students take them privately. My child wants to take 2-3 in total but a friend’s son took 7 AP exams privately (over 4 years of HS) and got into one of the HPY. Same HS as our DC. If one is looking to get into competitive Ivy Leagues with all other factors in place (High GPA, SAT scores, robust activities etc.,). What is a good and reasonable number of APs to take?

Or are their parents here that can share that their DC took NO AP exams privately and their DC still got into a top school in the last 3 years? (Not a sport recruit)

Just trying to figure out whether we encourage our DC to take more AP, a few, or none.

Thank you for sharing.

Not sure where you are hearing they are not offered at any private schools. They are offered at the Cathedral Schools.

St Stephen and St Agnes School has APs too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in MCPS public where the pressure to take as many APs as possible is immense (my senior took 11 total), but I wish to add an interesting factoid to this conversation: their friends in MCPS magnets, where magnet courses are more rigorous than APs, are also under pressure to take APs, and some take them privately, in order to distinguish themselves from the magnet pack!

So it's the same arms race everywhere, OP. People gunning for the most selective college (and my senior did not apply to Ivies, his highest reach has a 9% acceptance rate) will always try to outdo their cohort.

It's crazy wherever you are, however I believe that if you apply thoughtfully, you do get into a school that's a good fit. My senior is not Ivy material. He applied to colleges that have a well-developed version of the major he is interested in, and in the end he will go where he is supposed to go.

DS is magnet at Blair. The teachers encourage the relevant APs -- it is assumed the magnet kids take them. Nothing private or secretive.

[Anonymous]

DC has not taken any AP exams. Will attend an Ivy League school this fall. Top grades, many honors classes. Not an athlete, legacy, or URM.