are AP exams really necessary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you all seen the statistics on AP testing results? ABYSMAL. We are talking only 5-9% getting a 5 and that is with a curve.

I am not sure the point of AP classes in high school. High school teachers can not teach them like college professors and the kids don’t have the time to digest them.

Public’s really need to start follow private school lead and offer advanced honors courses that prepare the kids for college courses, not try to cram a college course in from Aug to April and having kids take multiple AP tests and missing other classes during school time to do it. It is just way too chaotic to have juniors taking SAT or ACT, SAT subject tests, AP finals, other finals, and term papers all in the span of 1-2 months. These kids aren’t LEARNING anything. It is anxiety induced memorization.

Huh? The kids usually get nearly two semesters (most of a school year) to digest AP material. They will never have such a long time to learn material again. Once they hit college they will have half the time to learn just as much material. 1 semester, not 2 semesters.

AP is a good way to get a basic intro level into college. It's a great way to learn study skills and test preparation at a slower pace. Once the hit college that pace picks up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you all seen the statistics on AP testing results? ABYSMAL. We are talking only 5-9% getting a 5 and that is with a curve.

I am not sure the point of AP classes in high school. High school teachers can not teach them like college professors and the kids don’t have the time to digest them.

Public’s really need to start follow private school lead and offer advanced honors courses that prepare the kids for college courses, not try to cram a college course in from Aug to April and having kids take multiple AP tests and missing other classes during school time to do it. It is just way too chaotic to have juniors taking SAT or ACT, SAT subject tests, AP finals, other finals, and term papers all in the span of 1-2 months. These kids aren’t LEARNING anything. It is anxiety induced memorization.

Agree about the teachers. You want college classes? Go to community college.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm. Would a student who took and passed General Chem at their local CC be able to get a 4 or 5 on the AP Chem test w/o additional study?

Would a student who took AP Chem and achieved or 4 or 5 on the AP exam be able to take and pass the Gen Chem final at their local CC w/o any additional study?

Are the courses truly interchangeable? Are the exams of equal difficulty? I wonder if anyone has studied this?

[Anonymous]

My DC was shooting for schools where few from her HS applied. We figured APs would help colleges feel confident of what she was learning from an unknown school, basically a way to compare her to students from other schools. Seems more objective than grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you all seen the statistics on AP testing results? ABYSMAL. We are talking only 5-9% getting a 5 and that is with a curve.

I am not sure the point of AP classes in high school. High school teachers can not teach them like college professors and the kids don’t have the time to digest them.

Public’s really need to start follow private school lead and offer advanced honors courses that prepare the kids for college courses, not try to cram a college course in from Aug to April and having kids take multiple AP tests and missing other classes during school time to do it. It is just way too chaotic to have juniors taking SAT or ACT, SAT subject tests, AP finals, other finals, and term papers all in the span of 1-2 months. These kids aren’t LEARNING anything. It is anxiety induced memorization.

Huh? The kids usually get nearly two semesters (most of a school year) to digest AP material. They will never have such a long time to learn material again. Once they hit college they will have half the time to learn just as much material. 1 semester, not 2 semesters.

AP is a good way to get a basic intro level into college. It's a great way to learn study skills and test preparation at a slower pace. Once the hit college that pace picks up.

Private school poster, I think you're confused about public school offerings. Public schools offer a gamut of levels - general, honors, AP, even "post-AP" courses. AP courses are year-long courses.

[Anonymous]

My kids are in public school, and I agree with the private school poster. AP courses are the only way to get some kind of rigor in many public high schools, because the "honors" classes are really just on grade level. It would be better to offer a hard, rigorous honors class, that didn't necessarily track the AP curriculum.

[Anonymous]

College credit and impact aside, at our HS there are very clear differences in the material being taught and the students in the classes, in three categories: Regular, Honors and AP. Regular is cell phone city, Honors is a mix of smart and/or ambitious kids and some not so much, and AP is serious kids and the best teachers fully engaged. It may or may not be equivalent to a college course, and it can be a little too intense, but there’s a heckuva lot more learning going on in those AP rooms. It’s essentially like three different high schools that share a building and sports teams. My kids go to school with kids they haven’t laid eyes on since middle school. They only know they’re there because we see the parents and ask about junior. “Haven’t seen that dude in years.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know several kids who went to university as sophomores with AP credit and found they weren't at all prepared. It stunned them and started college off on a bad note. Just be aware.

+1. I know a student who went to college with 9 APs. He thought of himself as some kid of genius. Now he is barely averaging a 3.0.

[Anonymous]

A low AP test sore will not result in an admission being revoked.

However, some high schools will not give AP credit unless you take the exam and drop you down to honors. If you have 5 AP classes and take no tests, that would look to colleges like you dropped down a level from what they admitted you on in all 5.

YES, some colleges warn students about this exact thing in post-acceptance communications.

YES it sucks.

But it is real.

Advice: Sit for the test, you don't have to submit the score if you don't get credit or if you just don't want to.

[Anonymous]

I'm not going to dis the regular classes because I think that a firm foundation is so extremely important. If a kid feels more confident taking regular Algebra than Algebra 1 honors - that is fine by me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know several kids who went to university as sophomores with AP credit and found they weren't at all prepared. It stunned them and started college off on a bad note. Just be aware.

+1. I know a student who went to college with 9 APs. He thought of himself as some kid of genius. Now he is barely averaging a 3.0.

It happens. Especially in intensive majors like engineering. Use AP credits for general ed requirements, but beware and get advice on skipping out on core classes. If aiming for MED school, MED school geernslky don’t take AP credit - just an FYI.

[Anonymous]

*generally*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know several kids who went to university as sophomores with AP credit and found they weren't at all prepared. It stunned them and started college off on a bad note. Just be aware.

+1. I know a student who went to college with 9 APs. He thought of himself as some kid of genius. Now he is barely averaging a 3.0.

It happens. Especially in intensive majors like engineering. Use AP credits for general ed requirements, but beware and get advice on skipping out on core classes. If aiming for MED school, MED school geernslky don’t take AP credit - just an FYI.

I dunno. The general ed elective type intro courses help to break up a tough schedule. Intro to Psych can be a fun course to take in college. I wouldn't have wanted to place out of that class.

[Anonymous]

My college professor sibling in a science field said that the students who struggle the most in her class are the ones who received AP credit for the intro level course and were able to skip it and go directly to her course. The material they learned and receiving a 4 or 5 on the test is NOT equal to the depth of the material taught in the level 101 course according to her. She strongly advised against taking APs for credit and did the same for her kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My college professor sibling in a science field said that the students who struggle the most in her class are the ones who received AP credit for the intro level course and were able to skip it and go directly to her course. The material they learned and receiving a 4 or 5 on the test is NOT equal to the depth of the material taught in the level 101 course according to her. She strongly advised against taking APs for credit and did the same for her kids.

I can see why she would advise not taking the science related APs for credit. But at the same time, I don't think that the students should use this as an excuse to not take the AP exam at all.....which I think some of them do. Anyone can claim that they would have gotten a 4 or a 5 on the test. That's not the same thing as actually scoring a 4 or a 5 on the exam.