Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a school get rid of AP classes? It doesn't just give a GPA boost, it lets you earn college credits. I know kids who started college with sophomore standing.

because of the DEI and equity stuff. huge mistake when those seniors go and try to get into college

It’s not about DEI, I think it avoids transparency for private schools that have no AP classes. It makes it harder to compare private schools to public schools or other private schools. I would question a private school that had low AP pass rates.

BINGO!

Anonymous wrote:My DD is a junior at a DMV private that does not offer AP classes. She has taken three AP exams last year, language, US history, French. She got 5s on all of them, with minimum prep, and a few pointers from the teachers. She found the AP exams easy, except the French one!

Some of the schools are not offering the exams and the kids can't find a place to take them.

My DD is a junior at a DMV private that does not offer AP classes. She has taken three AP exams last year, language, US history, French. She got 5s on all of them, with minimum prep, and a few pointers from the teachers. She found the AP exams easy, except the French one!

Anonymous wrote:I was supportive of this decision initially but am now rethinking. I have been looking at various college websites and many colleges recalculate GPA and add a point per AP class. Our school also also doesn’t weight the advanced classes. There are notes on the transcript but suddenly thinking this could be a problem that was never discussed. Our school has a very difficult curriculum for kids taking advanced. You could conceivably have kids who didn’t take advanced looking like the same student who didn’t take advanced and even worse when you compare schools with AP. I know several schools got rid of AP. How did this all work out?

Which FCPS schools have done this?

OP - can you post a list of schools which eliminated AP altogether ?

Anonymous wrote:Many private school transcripts never printed the letters “AP”. So in those cases former HS Biology AP classes would print on the transcript as “Biology ADV” instead. Surprise, many of those schools still print “Biology ADV” on the transcript for the course which no longer is labeled AP” in the internal course catalog.

Regardless, for the schools I am thinking about, they still offer on-site AP exams for their students and encourage students to sit the AP exams. Colleges are happy to see students sit the exams, and are less hung up about the precise name of the course.

DCUM begs to differ of course, reality not withstanding.

That’s 100% not true. Link to the course catalog from before where an AP class was labeled ADV.

I’ll give you that the classes may be rigorous, but that doesn’t mean they will be given the same weight as an AP class. In the UC system for example, those students are at a disadvantage.

Many private school transcripts never printed the letters “AP”. So in those cases former HS Biology AP classes would print on the transcript as “Biology ADV” instead. Surprise, many of those schools still print “Biology ADV” on the transcript for the course which no longer is labeled AP” in the internal course catalog.

Regardless, for the schools I am thinking about, they still offer on-site AP exams for their students and encourage students to sit the AP exams. Colleges are happy to see students sit the exams, and are less hung up about the precise name of the course.

DCUM begs to differ of course, reality not withstanding.

Anonymous wrote:I was supportive of this decision initially but am now rethinking. I have been looking at various college websites and many colleges recalculate GPA and add a point per AP class. Our school also also doesn’t weight the advanced classes. There are notes on the transcript but suddenly thinking this could be a problem that was never discussed. Our school has a very difficult curriculum for kids taking advanced. You could conceivably have kids who didn’t take advanced looking like the same student who didn’t take advanced and even worse when you compare schools with AP. I know several schools got rid of AP. How did this all work out?

Why were you supportive of that decision initially?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools can and do still indicate high-level/added rigor courses on the transcript, and grades should be weighted accordingly. My understanding is that dropping AP is more about choosing not to teach specifically to a test. Wish there were a private hs counselor in here, they could explain it better than I.

That was the line they gave parents, but the truth is that there are many ways to teach an AP class (as evidenced by the kids who self teach and take tests). Some schools offer 15 different versions of AP Language and Literature, for example. Either they didn't really understand what the college board required in a curriculum, they didn't know how to write a curriculum, or they were not being fully transparent.

If people were dumb enough to believe that excuse of having more freedom on teaching the class, I have no sympathy for them.

I’d be very curious to hear how differently they teach calculus without the constraints of the AP curriculum. Even within the AP curriculum, there’s plenty of freedom to organize it as seen fit as long as the fundamental concepts are taught, and why would any teacher choose to omit some? Can someone give one example on how the class would be taught differently?

When college admissions are so competitive, why would universities go on a limb and give those high schools the benefit of the doubt that they are as rigorous as AP? If I were a student, I’d take the AP exam at another location.

For the OP, your child is at a disadvantage, you need to address that best you can.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at a private that dropped APs. It is still possible to take the APs with a little extra work. My DD took 7 and got 5s. She started reviewing in Feb/March. She only had to spend a couple of days on the language AP. She’ll graduate with 10/11 APs. If you are looking at UC schools or schools abroad you should have some APs.

You mean AP exams, not actual AP classes.

Yes, and if you can pass the AP exam without the formal class, that shows that you have had a rigorous education.

If you can find a place to take the test.

Also, many college are beginning to talk about the AP score as a substitute for test optional SAT.

Anonymous wrote:Private schools can and do still indicate high-level/added rigor courses on the transcript, and grades should be weighted accordingly. My understanding is that dropping AP is more about choosing not to teach specifically to a test. Wish there were a private hs counselor in here, they could explain it better than I.

That was the line they gave parents, but the truth is that there are many ways to teach an AP class (as evidenced by the kids who self teach and take tests). Some schools offer 15 different versions of AP Language and Literature, for example. Either they didn't really understand what the college board required in a curriculum, they didn't know how to write a curriculum, or they were not being fully transparent.

Anonymous wrote:I am more concerned that my kid who took all
the hard classes will have trouble getting into school in this tough environment. We assumed that the advanced classes would come across the same to colleges. They are very hard. I am not sure how you overcome missing the extra points given to AP classes.

You don’t. The seems pretty bad OP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at a private that dropped APs. It is still possible to take the APs with a little extra work. My DD took 7 and got 5s. She started reviewing in Feb/March. She only had to spend a couple of days on the language AP. She’ll graduate with 10/11 APs. If you are looking at UC schools or schools abroad you should have some APs.

You mean AP exams, not actual AP classes.

Yes, and if you can pass the AP exam without the formal class, that shows that you have had a rigorous education.

I am more concerned that my kid who took all
the hard classes will have trouble getting into school in this tough environment. We assumed that the advanced classes would come across the same to colleges. They are very hard. I am not sure how you overcome missing the extra points given to AP classes.

Anonymous wrote:Why would a school get rid of AP classes? It doesn't just give a GPA boost, it lets you earn college credits. I know kids who started college with sophomore standing.

Many private schools have few students for whom the college tuition saved by getting credit for AP coursework really matters. The schools don’t care as much about those few students as they do about the wealthy students who don’t want to be measured against the kids taking APs at other schools.

Anonymous wrote:We are at a private that dropped APs. It is still possible to take the APs with a little extra work. My DD took 7 and got 5s. She started reviewing in Feb/March. She only had to spend a couple of days on the language AP. She’ll graduate with 10/11 APs. If you are looking at UC schools or schools abroad you should have some APs.

You mean AP exams, not actual AP classes.