Reply to Taking AP classes in science before Senior year?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Schools may allow this, but they are not supposed to, according to their agreement with the College Board to use the AP trademark.  (The exception is AP Physics 1, which is dependent on math placement.)

From the course descriptions:

The AP Biology course is an introductory college-level biology course. Students cultivate their understanding of biology through inquiry-based investigations as they explore the following topics: evolution, cellular processes, energy and communication, genetics, information transfer, ecology, and interactions.
RECOMMENDED PREREQUISITES
[b]Students should have successfully completed high school courses in biology and chemistry[/b].

The AP Chemistry course provides students with a college-level foundation to support future advanced coursework in chemistry. Students cultivate their understanding of chemistry through inquiry- based investigations, as they explore content such as: atomic structure, intermolecular forces and bonding, chemical reactions, kinetics, thermodynamics, and equilibrium. The AP Chemistry course is designed to be the equivalent of the general chemistry course usually taken during the first college year.
PREREQUISITES
[b]Students should have successfully completed a general high school chemistry course and Algebra II.[/b]

The AP Environmental Science course is designed to be the equivalent of a one-semester, introductory college course in environmental science, through which students engage with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships within the natural world. The course requires that students identify and analyze natural and human-made environmental problems, evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and examine alternative solutions for resolving or preventing them. Environmental science is interdisciplinary, embracing topics from geology, biology, environmental studies, environmental science, chemistry, and geography.
RECOMMENDED PREREQUISITES
[b]Students should have completed two years of high school laboratory science—one year of life science and one year of physical science [/b](e.g., a year of biology and a year of chemistry). Due to the quantitative analysis required in the course, students should also have taken at least one year of algebra. Also desirable (but not necessary) is a course in earth science.

AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism is a calculus-based, college- level physics course, especially appropriate for students planning to specialize or major in physical science or engineering. The course explores topics such as electrostatics; conductors, capacitors, and dielectrics; electric circuits; magnetic fields; and electromagnetism. Introductory differential and integral calculus are used throughout the course.
PREREQUISITES
[b]Students should have taken or be concurrently taking calculus.[/b]

AP Physics 1 is an algebra-based, introductory college-level physics course. Students cultivate their understanding of physics through inquiry-based investigations as they explore these topics: kinematics, dynamics, circular motion and gravitation, energy, momentum, simple harmonic motion, torque and rotational motion.
PREREQUISITES
[b]Students should have completed Geometry and be concurrently taking Algebra II or an equivalent course. [/b]Although the Physics 1 course includes basic use of trigonometric functions, this understanding can be gained either in the concurrent math course or in the AP Physics 1 course itself.

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Be careful about thinking that AP Physics 1 is easy. It has the lowest pass rate of all the APs and one of the hardest to get a 5. Kids assume it is easy because it is not calculus based but conceptually it is surprisingly difficult [/quote]

Something to remember - there are students (think students advanced in math and science) who are likely to get a 5 and bring up the pass rate if they take this exam, but skip it because they would anyway be taking the calc based AP Physics exams. That is part of the reason the statistics looks so scary. Another reason is students who should not be taking it get pushed into taking it; I know parents who were not too thrilled about their kids in the Blair CAP taking AP Physics 1 in ninth grade.[/quote]

NP here. I don’t think your assessment is accurate. Most kids take AP Physics 1 before AP Physics C. It is generally recommended not to skip AP Phys 1 and go straight to AP Physics C although I’m sure there are a few kids who skip it regardless [/quote]

Taking AP Physics C as the first COURSE in physics is not recommended; I am not sure if any school would even allow it. I think it usually has a prerequisite of Honors Physics or AP Physics 1 or some such COURSE.

My point about some students skipping AP physics 1 applies to the EXAM.

DC's physics teacher in ninth grade was of the opinion that for students who were really into math and physics - students who were certainly going to take courses in calc, mv calc, physics C, etc. as well as take AP physics C exam - AP physics 1 exam was unnecessary. DC and friends looked at how useful AP physics 1 EXAM would be at UMD (they looked at what courses they can get waived or how many credits they can get ...), if they were anyway going to take the AP Physics C EXAM later. The upshot was whatever benefit they would get based on AP Physics C exams would be a superset of what they can get out of AP Physics 1 exam, and DC and friends decided to skip it. (We were happy to save ~$90!)

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