Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "Five Steps to a 5" series is excellent for the sciences. My children found the books to be very helpful, and both of them got 5s in AP Chemistry, Biology, and Physics.

Well, either your kids are very good students and excellent test takers, or someone with inside information gave them the questions in advance. I have seen it happen, especially when the tutoring costs several hundred dollars per hour.

The 'very good test takers' thing is such a load of bull- it's called being SMART.

I've heard the same thing about the AP Calc. Colleges want to see that you've taken AP Calc, but many, many students repeat it in college. Some of these things just take a while to grasp-- kids learn enough to do problems on the calc exam, but it sticks better and they have better intuition if they re-take freshmen year.

I got a 5 in bc calc but a 2 in ap chem

If you aren’t interested in the subject you aren’t going to do well - it’s a harder ap.

Anonymous wrote:The "Five Steps to a 5" series is excellent for the sciences. My children found the books to be very helpful, and both of them got 5s in AP Chemistry, Biology, and Physics.

Well, either your kids are very good students and excellent test takers, or someone with inside information gave them the questions in advance. I have seen it happen, especially when the tutoring costs several hundred dollars per hour.

My daughter's AP Chem teacher used to be a Chem professor and said that the students who struggled the most in higher level Chem classes in college were the ones who scored well enough to opt out of the basic 101 level or equivalent course.

I believe that to be true. I took AP Calc AB & then AP Calc BC in HS. I got a 5 on the AB test and a 4 on the BC test. The university I went to had a Calc III course that I was placed in and I struggled. There is a huge difference between learning college level courses from a high school teacher and learning college level courses from a professor. I don't mean to disparage HS teachers at all, but that's what I found to be true. I realized that my HS teachers pretty much never deviated from the textbooks. If it wasn't in that book, we didn't need to know it or consider it. College courses were filled with more outside resources. Problems were given from various other books and materials that the professor had.

PP here. Sorry for the typos and broken link. Idiosyncrasies of iPad typing.

What I meant to say is anything BELOW a 5 does not usually get any credit at top colleges and universities.

Here's the corrected link to Harvard's AP credit chart.


https://oue.fas.harvard.edu/apexams

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not all about the college credit, people! If the student is going pre-med in college, or otherwise a serious science students in college, they aren't going to want to - necessarily - skip the intro college class

Of course they would, if they had a true AP-level class in high school.

I was pre-med, and I AP'd out of the intro biology and intro chemistry classes, which allowed me to take more advanced classes which, in any case, were more interesting.

If you're a serious science person, all the more reason to launch into more advanced (and usually more interesting) advanced classes earlier on, so that you can take things you are actually interested in with others who have a deeper interest in the subject than people who are taking a class to fulfill a requirement or for pre-med.

Most top schools do not accept the AP credit fyi.

That's simply not true. You just have to score a 5 for most top colleges and universities.

See link to Harvards's chart for grantin AP credit;

https://oue.fas.harvard.edu/ap exams

So, yes, anything below a 4 won't get students any credit, but 5s do. This hasn't changes since I attended an Ivy over 20 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not all about the college credit, people! If the student is going pre-med in college, or otherwise a serious science students in college, they aren't going to want to - necessarily - skip the intro college class

Of course they would, if they had a true AP-level class in high school.

I was pre-med, and I AP'd out of the intro biology and intro chemistry classes, which allowed me to take more advanced classes which, in any case, were more interesting.

If you're a serious science person, all the more reason to launch into more advanced (and usually more interesting) advanced classes earlier on, so that you can take things you are actually interested in with others who have a deeper interest in the subject than people who are taking a class to fulfill a requirement or for pre-med.

Most top schools do not accept the AP credit fyi.

But it's good to take rigorous classes in high school - it means that you are already working on a high level which is needed at a top level university.

Your son also sounds a bit like my DD - naturally smart and maybe not needing to study a ton to get a good grade. This won't fly at a good college as you will need to fight with other smart kids for top grades. It's better to learn this in high school rather than in college. So - let him figure out for himself how to keep up with AP Chemistry.

Ability to do well at multiple AP's is almost a requirement when looking to go to top universities.

The reality is that there are not that many spots at the top colleges and if you can't handle it, someone else will.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But is your kid ready for as much as you think? Remember, if this class s watered down, the basic tenth grade chem might have been too.

I don't know!! He got easy As in Honors Chem last year -- I never saw him study, anyhow. He's doing fine in AP Chem, so far. I just thought kids would have to work harder in an AP course.

I'll check his teacher's syllabus against another class.

Well good luck to you. I hope you can ignore the posts that are all about the value of AP chem. It isn't so remarkable to take this class.

My kid is in Physics C. I would expect the work load to be comparable, it is an effort, even if the kid is doing well and is a good student in the field (my kid). It isn't an insurmountable mountain, but it definitely more work than BC calc. Not the same volume as APUSH, but the teacher's load that up with unnecessary filler.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not all about the college credit, people! If the student is going pre-med in college, or otherwise a serious science students in college, they aren't going to want to - necessarily - skip the intro college class

Of course they would, if they had a true AP-level class in high school.

I was pre-med, and I AP'd out of the intro biology and intro chemistry classes, which allowed me to take more advanced classes which, in any case, were more interesting.

If you're a serious science person, all the more reason to launch into more advanced (and usually more interesting) advanced classes earlier on, so that you can take things you are actually interested in with others who have a deeper interest in the subject than people who are taking a class to fulfill a requirement or for pre-med.

Most top schools do not accept the AP credit fyi.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So, unless your kid really loves the subject, it's not a great idea for him to take AP classes and not do well on the exam.

Yes, he really loves the subject! He says it comes easily to him. I never saw him studying last year when he took honors Chemistry. He said he just listened to what the teacher said in class, and understood it. He got all As. He's loving AP chemistry. I just am not sure it's as hard as it is supposed to be... I have no way to know. I never took this class or any chemistry!! I still am not seeing him do any homework or study or anything. His grades so far are all over 90% without studying. I am finding it hard to believe he is some kind of genius in chemistry so it occurred to me, maybe the course just isn't as hard as it is supposed to be. If I saw him stressing over hard looking homework, I'd be a lot reassured!

Well you will find out when he takes the AP exam. If he gets a low score, then the teacher was lousy. I don't know any other way to tell. My son is taking AP Chem this year and a lot of it is review at the beginning, so maybe your son is just finding the early part easy. It should get more difficult as the year progresses.

What school is this OP?

Anonymous wrote:
So, unless your kid really loves the subject, it's not a great idea for him to take AP classes and not do well on the exam.

Yes, he really loves the subject! He says it comes easily to him. I never saw him studying last year when he took honors Chemistry. He said he just listened to what the teacher said in class, and understood it. He got all As. He's loving AP chemistry. I just am not sure it's as hard as it is supposed to be... I have no way to know. I never took this class or any chemistry!! I still am not seeing him do any homework or study or anything. His grades so far are all over 90% without studying. I am finding it hard to believe he is some kind of genius in chemistry so it occurred to me, maybe the course just isn't as hard as it is supposed to be. If I saw him stressing over hard looking homework, I'd be a lot reassured!

Anonymous wrote:It's not all about the college credit, people! If the student is going pre-med in college, or otherwise a serious science students in college, they aren't going to want to - necessarily - skip the intro college class

Of course they would, if they had a true AP-level class in high school.

I was pre-med, and I AP'd out of the intro biology and intro chemistry classes, which allowed me to take more advanced classes which, in any case, were more interesting.

If you're a serious science person, all the more reason to launch into more advanced (and usually more interesting) advanced classes earlier on, so that you can take things you are actually interested in with others who have a deeper interest in the subject than people who are taking a class to fulfill a requirement or for pre-med.

It's not all about the college credit, people! If the student is going pre-med in college, or otherwise a serious science students in college, they aren't going to want to - necessarily - skip the intro college class