I'm not sure I see the problem. As I recall high school (which was at a good-not-great school), the standard approach was that all students in any "honors" classes were expected to take the AP exam, while those in the regular classes could choose whether or not to take the AP exam. I think I ended up with 10 APs (English, language, English lit, French, biology, chemistry, physics, calculus, US history, European history, art history). I can't remember whether we took the US government one. I don't recall any special prep for the APs or stress over them; you just took the regular course and then took the AP exam. I seem to recall that some teachers even let us skip the final exam if we took the AP, which made the course less stressful than other courses.

This is not some sort of brag -- I was only a good-not-great student. My point is simply that AP exams and courses need not be stressful if approached with the right attitude.

My perspective as the father of a Wottoon graduate who took a few of the hardcore AP classes, Chemistry, BC Calc, Statistics and one that I considered light Economics. He got 5s on all classes and was able to enter college with 30 transfer credits(he took a summer class at Cornell)

These credits are enabling him to graduate in 4 1/2 years with a BS in CHem Eng and a MS in Mech Eng. This will help him tremendously in the workplace with a higher starting salary and more job choices. The credits also helped him in that his workload is 4-5 classes each semester.

Now a lot of schools cap the number of AP credits they accept(his did at 30) and many schools dont honor them at all(check the Ivys)

So your milage may vary. Any kids who took 11 AP classes seriously needs to learn how to get a life in college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. I also interview in MoCo (for a Little Ivy) and have noticed the same trends. The applicant's enthusiasm counts for a lot in my books, so taking the initiative to do extra APs on one's own always impresses me, helping a kid get a strong alum write-up.

The term "Ivy" generally refers to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Brown, Darmouth, Cornell, or Columbia; which colleges/universities does the term "Little Ivy" refer to?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ivies

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is getting an A in the class, but a 3 on the test, of course s/he's not stressed -- the grading is too easy and the AP label is meaningless! This is exactly why the Mathews index makes no sense; not to mention why MCPS is the emperor with no clothes.

If you teach an AP class based on the standards, a student's grade will more often than not reflect his/her test score. Most of students I taught didn't enter with top skills. So they were already behind. Even with scaffolding (quite a bit, I'll add), 9 months isn't enough time to prepare them to 1) think at a much higher level than they're used to and 2) write at a level where they're able to express multiple, complex ideas during a timed writing segment.

So a C, for example, translated into a 2 on the test.

AP is just good instruction, IMO, and if kids are willing to challenge themselves, then a C is nothing to be ashamed of. But you simply can't close the gap in a year. And too many kids are being pushed into classes to make numbers look good.