Reply to APs count more in first 3 years of high school?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My child at a W school took 2 APs sophomore year, 3 junior, and 5 senior (2 of the senior year ones she considered to be really interesting and not too demanding (AP environmental science and psych). She did very well in admissions as an unhooked kid (excellent test scores helped, I'm sure) and is having a great experience at an academically intense top 20 school.

I have the sense that she enjoyed her HS academic experience more than her similarly capable friends who loaded up on APs prior to senior year, because she was a better and more confident student as a senior. She spent much less time on even the tough APs she took senior year (like physics) than I think she would have had she taken the class as a sophomore or junior.  She also was on the low end of her cohort for total APs taken--some of her friends had taken 14-16 all together--but did as well as or better in admissions than many of them.  I know this is just one anecdote, but I really have not seen any admissions benefit to taking more APs earlier on. [/quote]

This is sad.  The PP doesn't even realize that this is considered to be a heavy AP coarse load.  Again, my DS took only 6 total...2 in junior year and 4 in senior year -- admitted to a top 20 school with merit potential AND nominated for B/K merit scholarship at UMD and has secured merit elsewhere.  The PP's DC took a total of 10 -- and this is moderate in DC's school.  Think about how stressed kids are trying to keep up with that pace.  Sophomores have no business taking 3 APs...sorry.[/quote]

I'm the PP you are responding too, and I think you are off-base on a number of things. For starters, you are pulling the thread off-topic. OP asked if kids need to front load APs, and I'm sharing our experience with a kid that did the opposite and had good outcomes.  We do actually think 10 was a pretty heavy load, but virtually all of them were classes she would have wanted to take anyway. At her school, many of the AP teachers are outstanding, and she enjoyed all but one of the AP classes she took.

And if you are the person up thread who referred to "pathetic public schools," it seems a bit odd that you are so obsessed with this topic. Sounds like your son ended up in the same type of place as my DD and her friends did, but was (in your view) lucky to get there without having to take many APs.  Good for him, but we are very happy that our kid had the chance to get an excellent and free public education, and the AP classes were part of what prepared her well for college.

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