Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Intense. Why would you start your 13-14yr old with a college level course. Why are you that mom?

OP here. Am I that “mom”? I don’t know you tell me. My kid who will already have a very demanding magnet course load wants to take AP history. I was wondering if I should gently discourage him. But ultimately it’s up to him. Certainly not something I’ve raised.

OP, if your kid really wants to take the course, I think he should be able to (and it's great that you are supporting him in considering it).

From page 5 of the MCPS gifted and talented policy:https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ioa.pdf
In Grades 9-12, students will be admitted to Honors and Advanced Placement classes on the basis of mastery of course prerequisites, willingness to complete challenging assignments, previous grades, student interest, teacher/counselor recommendations, or other appropriate measures.
Your son sounds like he's got the willingness and the interest, and I'm assuming your son has the right grades and teacher recognition of his abilities..

The AP does not have any prerequisites for this. (see: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-united-states-history
I don't see any statements by MCPS that they have school-system-specific prerequisites, although this is where you might get some pushback by administration people saying that there are.

These days, it's very necessary to parents to advocate more for their academically advanced kids at the HS level. And by advocating for them we set a precedent for MCPS improving their practices so that these improvements benefit all advanced kids, including those parents may not be able to advocate for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid took APUSH as freshman and is now in AP World as a junior. She finds AP World much, much easier (less time consuming) than APUSH, though it may vary by school.

AP World has become much easier in the last few years because they cut everything before 1200 AD. So the course material is about half of what it used to be. AND your daughter has already learned all three essay formats by taking APUSH (since all of the AP history exams are now standardized). And she is two years older. So, not really a good comparison - AP teacher

Great info thanks!

Anonymous wrote:My kid took APUSH as freshman and is now in AP World as a junior. She finds AP World much, much easier (less time consuming) than APUSH, though it may vary by school.

AP World has become much easier in the last few years because they cut everything before 1200 AD. So the course material is about half of what it used to be. AND your daughter has already learned all three essay formats by taking APUSH (since all of the AP history exams are now standardized). And she is two years older. So, not really a good comparison - AP teacher

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is AP NSL?

It's what MCPS calls AP US Government and Politics. NSL stands for National, State and Local, which is a component of the Maryland state social studies requirement, and MCPS appends the NSL to the AP course name to indicate that it's one of the courses that fulfills that requirement.

Even though the College Board doesn't allow violation of their trademark. What great modeling for the kids!

This is ok if DC isn't going to be super swamped with work. Our HS has APUSH or HUSH as the 9th grade course, so obviously it can be handled.

Anonymous wrote:What is AP NSL?

It's what MCPS calls AP US Government and Politics. NSL stands for National, State and Local, which is a component of the Maryland state social studies requirement, and MCPS appends the NSL to the AP course name to indicate that it's one of the courses that fulfills that requirement.

What is AP NSL?