What are Honors courses exactly?

[Anonymous]

My DD is in 9th grade honors courses in one of the 'W' schools in Montgomery County. She says this means the course is on grade level. So, are most kids in honors? Is there a level below honors? Just not sure what exactly this means. Are honors classes weighted higher like AP classes when figuring GPA?

THanks!

[Anonymous]

Yes most kids are in honors particularly at W schools. Some schools only offer honors classes. Yes they are weighted like AP classes (A = 5). Basically the grading is out of 5 in MCPS. At 4.0 is not unusual...you have to have over 4.5 to be considered a strong student.

[Anonymous]

At many high schools in the county, only Honors courses are offered. For this reason, the courses are dumbed down to mirror what used to be called On Level courses. It's a shame for a couple of reasons. The disparity of skills in these classes is very large, so kids who belong in a true honors class tend to be bored and left unchallenged so that the needs of struggling students can be met. Secondly, struggling students are being awarded weighted credits when they really don't belong in honors classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes most kids are in honors particularly at W schools. Some schools only offer honors classes. Yes they are weighted like AP classes (A = 5). Basically the grading is out of 5 in MCPS. At 4.0 is not unusual...you have to have over 4.5 to be considered a strong student.

NP here. So what it the difference between the honors and the AP class?

[Anonymous]

On level classes are for kids that will go to MC, lower ranked colleges or no college at all.

Honors are college prep classes for kids going to lower ranked colleges and high ranked colleges.

AP classes are college prep classes for kids gunning for a top 50 school and they take a test to earn college credit so they can brag they graduated in 3 years or they did 3 and 2 with a graduate degree before they could drink legally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On level classes are for kids that will go to MC, lower ranked colleges or no college at all.

Honors are college prep classes for kids going to lower ranked colleges and high ranked colleges.

AP classes are college prep classes for kids gunning for a top 50 school and they take a test to earn college credit so they can brag they graduated in 3 years or they did 3 and 2 with a graduate degree before they could drink legally.

No AP's are widely taken by kids aiming for a full range of colleges. My middle of the road kid who is at a college you have not heard of took 10. He was not an outlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On level classes are for kids that will go to MC, lower ranked colleges or no college at all.

Honors are college prep classes for kids going to lower ranked colleges and high ranked colleges.

AP classes are college prep classes for kids gunning for a top 50 school and they take a test to earn college credit so they can brag they graduated in 3 years or they did 3 and 2 with a graduate degree before they could drink legally.

No AP's are widely taken by kids aiming for a full range of colleges. My middle of the road kid who is at a college you have not heard of took 10. He was not an outlier.

It's an outlier.

My son took no APs and is at a top 50 school... it's an outlier.

Most middle of the road kids take 1-3 APs then wonder why they wasted their time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On level classes are for kids that will go to MC, lower ranked colleges or no college at all.

Honors are college prep classes for kids going to lower ranked colleges and high ranked colleges.

AP classes are college prep classes for kids gunning for a top 50 school and they take a test to earn college credit so they can brag they graduated in 3 years or they did 3 and 2 with a graduate degree before they could drink legally.

No AP's are widely taken by kids aiming for a full range of colleges. My middle of the road kid who is at a college you have not heard of took 10. He was not an outlier.

It's an outlier.

My son took no APs and is at a top 50 school... it's an outlier.

Most middle of the road kids take 1-3 APs then wonder why they wasted their time.

This statement would not be true in my non-W community but all schools do have different cultures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes most kids are in honors particularly at W schools. Some schools only offer honors classes. Yes they are weighted like AP classes (A = 5). Basically the grading is out of 5 in MCPS. At 4.0 is not unusual...you have to have over 4.5 to be considered a strong student.

NP here. So what it the difference between the honors and the AP class?

AP classes let the more advanced kids spin off since honors is more like regular. Some High Schools allow APs in 9th. Others wait till 10th.

[Anonymous]

Everything is pretty easy anyway, as long as they don’t assign busywork to drag out homework. Have your student take the most advanced classes in their favorite subjects.

[Anonymous]

We have found Honors to be too easy/little effort required and most APs in core subjects (US/World history, science, etc) to require a LOT of effort. APs in elective subjects (Human Geography, Computer Science Principles) are pretty easy, but maybe fun if the kid has an interest. At our W school, by junior year, most kids have more than half of their schedule filled by AP classes but don't necessarily take the AP in the subjects they care least about.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I should say, most juniors aiming for top colleges take more than half the schedule as AP (in my dd's group, I don't know of any exceptions). Probably not true in the population as a whole.