Reply to If not Basis or Latin, where?

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[quote=Anonymous][/quote]

I am not so sure about the extent of the cramming for AP exams at BASIS since the curriculum appears to be well thought out. For example, if a student starts in 5th grade, they have classics which encompasses ancient history. For 6th, they have US History. For 7th, world history and for many in 8th AP world history. BASIS tries to lay the foundation and build on it from 5th grade on so that they are truly ready by the time they take the AP exam. Another example, is the sciences at BASIS in which the students have Biology, Chemistry, and Physics every year in some shape or form from 5th to 8th grade which lays the foundation for many AP science courses. Again, English seems to have a purposely thought out curricula to lay the foundation for AP English courses. So as you can see, BASIS has carefully planned for students to be ready for AP exams by coordinating curricula. [/quote]

Still don't buy it.  The Basis Tuscon teacher talked about kids taking as many as 3 AP tests freshman year, and some juniors taking 8 or 9.  So, that's what, ultimately at least a dozen, and maybe as many as 15 AP tests for the best students?  No program could have planned well for that volume.

My niece, who attends an average US embassy-sponsored international school abroad, was admited to Harvard and Brown (yesterday).  She's still waiting to hear from Stanford.  She did the full IB, the equivalent of 6 or 7 AP classes/tests, not a dozen. Her extra curriculars were very strong. The Basis HS approach doesn't sound balanced, or enjoyable for most by jr. or sr. year.  Raise the bar, great, but why not along the line of privates, vs. European or Asian cram schools?  My spouse, who has a PhD in social sciences and speaks four languages, went to an ordinary academic HS in Austria.  He says the curriculum and approach was so punishing toward the end that he hated it.

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