9th grade AP physics at Blair

[Anonymous]

Any thoughts on how tough 9th grade AP physics is a Blair (or at MCPS schools in general)? DD was placed in it because of her math level, but I've heard it was pretty rough going this past year. This may have been partly because teaching was mostly remote this year. She is a good student, but I don't want her to be put in a position to really struggle and get a lousy grade right out of the gate in high school.

Insights from the peanut gallery are much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Bump

My son will also attend Blair and was placed in AP physics I. I am also worried but he wants to take the class. We made a deal that he has to do an online Algebra review course this summer and he is also taking an intro to Physics (mechanics) course this summer to prepare.

[Anonymous]

is it physics based or calc based ? is it just mechanics or is it mechanics and electromagnetism in one year?

[Anonymous]

AP Physics 1 is one of the more difficult AP courses. It's not about the math level - it has a lot of deep conceptual reasoning that is challenging for younger teen brains. College Board adjusted it to remove a couple of units that were sort of disconnected, so there should be less time pressure next year. It's not a course I would recommend for 9th grade, but Blair does its own thing.

-AP Physics 1 teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:is it physics based or calc based ? is it just mechanics or is it mechanics and electromagnetism in one year?

According to Princeton Review:

"AP Physics 1 is the equivalent of the first semester of an introductory college-level course on algebra-based physics, covering the topics of Newtonian mechanics; work, energy, and power; mechanical waves and sound; and introductory, simple circuits."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP Physics 1 is one of the more difficult AP courses. It's not about the math level - it has a lot of deep conceptual reasoning that is challenging for younger teen brains. College Board adjusted it to remove a couple of units that were sort of disconnected, so there should be less time pressure next year. It's not a course I would recommend for 9th grade, but Blair does its own thing.

-AP Physics 1 teacher

I asked a Blair counselor about this and they said don't worry about it, the kids they place do well. Do you think this is true for the most part? Any idea why Blair does this?

[Anonymous]

I think they've only been encouraging 9th graders to take this class for a year or two-- maybe mostly kids coming from the TP magnet who aren't in SMAC? My 11th grader is just finishing AP Physics at Blair and just an hour ago, remarked "it's the last week of AP Physics and I don't understand my homework at all". They managed an A in the class through showing up regularly for academic support and working their tail off, but it was their hardest class this year.

[Anonymous]

My junior took Honors Physics as a freshman with Dr. Davis. It didn't go particularly well although the 2nd semester final grade was a B after lots of effort and tutoring. I can't imagine how rough it would've been with AP instead of honors. My kid is more of a humanities type, though. There are pros and cons to taking physics this early rather than an "easier" class like biology. On the positive side, it's nice to get it done early on when they aren't taking as many other APs and some may like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP Physics 1 is one of the more difficult AP courses. It's not about the math level - it has a lot of deep conceptual reasoning that is challenging for younger teen brains. College Board adjusted it to remove a couple of units that were sort of disconnected, so there should be less time pressure next year. It's not a course I would recommend for 9th grade, but Blair does its own thing.

-AP Physics 1 teacher

I asked a Blair counselor about this and they said don't worry about it, the kids they place do well. Do you think this is true for the most part? Any idea why Blair does this?

Because the demographics in Blair (the usual suspects) will take a lot of sh1t from Blair administration and teachers (since they want the LOR for college), and the parents will make up for all the knowledge gaps by teaching everything themselves to their students or by getting them tutoring.

Let me be more clear - the problem with having Asian American students in any classroom is that they will not complain even if the quality of education is craaap. They will quietly take on the burden themselves and sacrifice time, resources, peace of mind, money - to educate their child themselves. The school does not care because on paper their stats look AMAZING and makes them look good. MCPS loves to have Asian American students because they require no effort in teaching. However, they also hate them because they don't want to give them any resources.

When AA or HI or poorer WH kids come to Blair, believing that there is something magical in the air, they are left underperforming because they don't realize that there is zero help from the teachers, and Asian Americans are only doing well because they are killing themselves and their mental health doing the entire hard work at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP Physics 1 is one of the more difficult AP courses. It's not about the math level - it has a lot of deep conceptual reasoning that is challenging for younger teen brains. College Board adjusted it to remove a couple of units that were sort of disconnected, so there should be less time pressure next year. It's not a course I would recommend for 9th grade, but Blair does its own thing.

-AP Physics 1 teacher

I asked a Blair counselor about this and they said don't worry about it, the kids they place do well. Do you think this is true for the most part? Any idea why Blair does this?

Because the demographics in Blair (the usual suspects) will take a lot of sh1t from Blair administration and teachers (since they want the LOR for college), and the parents will make up for all the knowledge gaps by teaching everything themselves to their students or by getting them tutoring.

Let me be more clear - the problem with having Asian American students in any classroom is that they will not complain even if the quality of education is craaap. They will quietly take on the burden themselves and sacrifice time, resources, peace of mind, money - to educate their child themselves. The school does not care because on paper their stats look AMAZING and makes them look good. MCPS loves to have Asian American students because they require no effort in teaching. However, they also hate them because they don't want to give them any resources.

When AA or HI or poorer WH kids come to Blair, believing that there is something magical in the air, they are left underperforming because they don't realize that there is zero help from the teachers, and Asian Americans are only doing well because they are killing themselves and their mental health doing the entire hard work at home.

Not at Blair, and don’t agree with the racialized analysis in the PP post, but I do agree that in MCPS high schools there are a plethora of harder classes where the MCPS curriculum and teaching is pretty crappy and middle and upper income parents don’t say anything and just hire a tutor. Classes where this frequently happens are math from Algebra I up, sciences like chem, physics and any harder AP science, and AP Lang and LIt plus some AP history classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they've only been encouraging 9th graders to take this class for a year or two-- maybe mostly kids coming from the TP magnet who aren't in SMAC? My 11th grader is just finishing AP Physics at Blair and just an hour ago, remarked "it's the last week of AP Physics and I don't understand my homework at all". They managed an A in the class through showing up regularly for academic support and working their tail off, but it was their hardest class this year.

Shouldn't the A reflect a mastery of the topic? Isn't there a separate effort grade? What you describe sounds like effort and not mastery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP Physics 1 is one of the more difficult AP courses. It's not about the math level - it has a lot of deep conceptual reasoning that is challenging for younger teen brains. College Board adjusted it to remove a couple of units that were sort of disconnected, so there should be less time pressure next year. It's not a course I would recommend for 9th grade, but Blair does its own thing.

-AP Physics 1 teacher

I asked a Blair counselor about this and they said don't worry about it, the kids they place do well. Do you think this is true for the most part? Any idea why Blair does this?

Because the demographics in Blair (the usual suspects) will take a lot of sh1t from Blair administration and teachers (since they want the LOR for college), and the parents will make up for all the knowledge gaps by teaching everything themselves to their students or by getting them tutoring.

Let me be more clear - the problem with having Asian American students in any classroom is that they will not complain even if the quality of education is craaap. They will quietly take on the burden themselves and sacrifice time, resources, peace of mind, money - to educate their child themselves. The school does not care because on paper their stats look AMAZING and makes them look good. MCPS loves to have Asian American students because they require no effort in teaching. However, they also hate them because they don't want to give them any resources.

When AA or HI or poorer WH kids come to Blair, believing that there is something magical in the air, they are left underperforming because they don't realize that there is zero help from the teachers, and Asian Americans are only doing well because they are killing themselves and their mental health doing the entire hard work at home.

Not at Blair, and don’t agree with the racialized analysis in the PP post, but I do agree that in MCPS high schools there are a plethora of harder classes where the MCPS curriculum and teaching is pretty crappy and middle and upper income parents don’t say anything and just hire a tutor. Classes where this frequently happens are math from Algebra I up, sciences like chem, physics and any harder AP science, and AP Lang and LIt plus some AP history classes.

I thought the AP curriculum was standardized--is that not true? If if it standardized, what is the issue regarding teaching? Well, I guess I will preemptively hire a tutor late this summer. Not sure what else UMC parents can do.

[Anonymous]

Blair really pressures students taking Algebra II to simultaneously take AP Physics (so much so that even though my child registered for a different science class, the school enrolled her in AP Physics in the summer and DC had to contact them to switch it back). DC took Honors Bio instead and is very happy with that decision. Even before virtual learning, DC had heard horror stories about AP Physics in 9th grade and I'm sure being virtual made the class even more challenging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair really pressures students taking Algebra II to simultaneously take AP Physics (so much so that even though my child registered for a different science class, the school enrolled her in AP Physics in the summer and DC had to contact them to switch it back). DC took Honors Bio instead and is very happy with that decision. Even before virtual learning, DC had heard horror stories about AP Physics in 9th grade and I'm sure being virtual made the class even more challenging.

Is Algebra II standard for Blair SMAC 9th graders?

[Anonymous]

DC has gotten all As so far in AP Physics 1 at Blair. What do you want to know? If your child is bright and a hard worker, it’s manageable. Make sure they form/join a study group and don’t hesitate to ask questions to the teacher. BTW Blair isn’t the only MoCo HS that recommends AP Physics 1 in 9th grade. Students in other HSs complete it successfully.