Moving to the U.S. soon. What is the difference between/among regular, honors and AP courses?

[Anonymous]

My family is moving to the DC area soon and my 8th grader will most likely be going to a Montgomery County public high school next year. I am not from the U.S. so I don't really understand what the difference is between/among these class. How does it work for freshman students? Do they review your transcript and recommend regular vs. honors classes? Do you have to get a certain minimum grade in order to take honors/AP courses in subsequent years? Can anyone sign up for any of them? A friend of mine in the area told me her kids have to get nothing below an 80% in a regular course in order to be eligible to take an honors/AP course but this is a private school. Any info would be helpful.

[Anonymous]

If your kid has been getting As and Bs in middle school, they'll be recommended for Honors courses. For AP courses, it varies by school which ones are available to 9th graders. Honors are no big deal. I would avoid the regular classes unless your kid has been having a hard time in a particular subject.

[Anonymous]

OP are you coming from the UK? Basically you want the most advanced classes for your kid in their best subjects. AP stands for "advanced placement" and can earn college credits in some places, there is an exam at the end and this is useful for university applications. Basically like the equivalent of A levels / much higher level GCSEs - in that you can take as little as 3 or as many as 10 depending on availability at the school.

If you already have a school picked out and your child accepted you are better off talking directly with them, about what they have on offer.

Rule of thumb is that if your child is not AP level then they should be "honors" level. Anything below that is basically remedial learning. Which is fine if you have a remedial learner but not if you don't.

[Anonymous]

There are also IB classes and/or the IB program. But your 8th grader is too late to apply for the Middle years IB program which starts in the 9th grade. Your DC could apply for the 11th grade IB diploma program. The IB program is globally recognized, too, and it's tough. Not for the faint of heart.

[Anonymous]

Obviously you asked re: MD. If you were in Va, FCPS "regular" classes are college-prep. On-level regular classes will not get a student into the most selective schools, but they are prepared for college and can go to most 4 year colleges.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Not from the UK but from an international school. So regular classes are mostly remedial in MD public schools? How is it that those students do well in college? In my mind, I pictured honors as very challenging and AP is only for the top students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Not from the UK but from an international school. So regular classes are mostly remedial in MD public schools? How is it that those students do well in college? In my mind, I pictured honors as very challenging and AP is only for the top students.

Take everything here on dcum with a grain of salt. Regular classes are not remdial but they are the lowest offered. They have a wide range of kids. Dcum tends to focus on the highest performing kids and very selective colleges. The idea of regular is unacceptable...which us part of the reason we have so mnany kids in honors classes who might nit be in other definitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Not from the UK but from an international school. So regular classes are mostly remedial in MD public schools? How is it that those students do well in college? In my mind, I pictured honors as very challenging and AP is only for the top students.

Take everything here on dcum with a grain of salt. Regular classes are not remdial but they are the lowest offered. They have a wide range of kids. Dcum tends to focus on the highest performing kids and very selective colleges. The idea of regular is unacceptable...which us part of the reason we have so mnany kids in honors classes who might nit be in other definitions.

+1 kids who take regular classes do still go to college, just probably not the competitive ones. If you're looking for your kid to go to a selective American college here, and you want your kid to take several AP classes/exams.

[Anonymous]

AP classes have an important advantage in that they use a defined external curriculum, and not anything homegrown from MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid has been getting As and Bs in middle school, they'll be recommended for Honors courses. For AP courses, it varies by school which ones are available to 9th graders. Honors are no big deal. I would avoid the regular classes unless your kid has been having a hard time in a particular subject.

Yes, regular classes in MCPS are considered remedial courses for kids struggling or not looking to go to college. Definitely avoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Not from the UK but from an international school. So regular classes are mostly remedial in MD public schools? How is it that those students do well in college? In my mind, I pictured honors as very challenging and AP is only for the top students.

They are not remedial in most public schools, but they are in MCPS. The county as a whole has a very inflated grading system that has been in the news lately for all the right reasons. Things will hopefully change, but for now it is really hard to differentiate between average, smart, and truly gifted students. As most of them have the same high GPA.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yes, I have been following the MCPS threads about grade inflation and what a disservice they are doing to the students. I guess MCPS doesn't care because once a student leaves the county, their stats don't matter. I wonder how many students 1) go to college after graduation and more importantly, 2) how many graduate. It is unfair to lead a student down the primrose path when they will eventually hit the wall in college. Remedial classes cost extra money and then kids drop out owing student loans that they have no way of paying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Yes, I have been following the MCPS threads about grade inflation and what a disservice they are doing to the students. I guess MCPS doesn't care because once a student leaves the county, their stats don't matter. I wonder how many students 1) go to college after graduation and more importantly, 2) how many graduate. It is unfair to lead a student down the primrose path when they will eventually hit the wall in college. Remedial classes cost extra money and then kids drop out owing student loans that they have no way of paying.

OP the answer varies wildly, depending on the high school. In the US, the socio-economic status of student families factors heavily into student experiences and outcomes, and MCPS schools serve communities running the gamut from elite to deprived.

[Anonymous]

OP it will depend in part on what school you are in. The curriculum is a standard on track curriculum across the county. My DC went to one of the top performing high schools and the regular track classes were not remedial per se, but the kids in them often struggled with the topic so it wasn't always the best learning environment. Honors classes typically cover more material (the rule of thumb is 35% more material) at a faster pace. AP classes are AP classes.

My DC took 10 APs (only 1 in 9th grade though) and the rest were honors classes (except where honors wasn't an option, like PE). DC took one regular class where an honors class was an option. It was fine, but DC was able to get an A without really doing any work. DC actually did learn the content though.

College bound rates vary from high school to high school as well. At DCs school it was 95+% college bound, many of them to the top schools in the country, but also some to MC. I don't know what the graduation rate but among DCs friends it was 100%.

[Anonymous]

OP- there is significant grade inflation in MCPS and more importantly a lack of rigor in grading overall that makes it really difficult for kids to get anything lower than an A or B. The kids getting C or lower grades usually have undiagnosed learning disabilities, struggle with organization/losing or forgetting their work or are just not doing most of the work. Yes, the regular classes in MCPS are remedial.

MCPS -at the high school level- does not practice gate keeping. Many schools require more rigorous placement tests, test performance or high grades to be in honors or AP courses. MCPS is the opposite. In many lower performing high school, MCPS pushes kids that are not academically capable into AP courses so it can report higher numbers of kids in those courses. You'll see that the AP scores vary pretty highly among schools.