Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you take 5 or 7 AP's senior year.

In MCPS you literally need 1 class to graduate once you are a senior.

The only way this is true is if your kid has no plans to go to college.

Signed, MCPS mom

There's no way they need to take 7 PAs either (that's total BS).

Signed Also a MCPS mom.

Another Burgundy Middle school parent. 6th grade. So far, I'd say about 60-90 mins/night. DC does most right after school, about an hour, then does reading in bed for another 1/2 hour.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walter Johnson, all AP classes. !2th grade. Average is 3-4 hours.

Wow..impressive. Did you DC have to qualify to take those AP classes? I know at my DD school, she had to have at least a B+ and recommended by a teacher in a prerequisite class before the school would allowed you into any AP class. She's took AP history and it was a whole lot of work; she had 3 essays to write over the summer before the 1st day of class. Can't even begin to imagine 6+ AP classes.

Why is everyone so upset that a particular kid in a public school in MoCo is taking all AP classes? Maybe the kid is exceptionally bright and wanted that schedule? Maybe it's just not that tough to be in AP classes at many public high schools? Lot of kids take AP classes for the challenge and to be with top-performing peers rather than for the college credit they'll receive. The amount of college credit you get is usually limited anyway when that kid is applying to Ivies or similarly elite universities. Often a 4 or 5 on the AP exam just gets you into a more advanced class in that subject rather than allowing you credit that translates into graduating early. Of course, it's a different story if you go to someplace like University of Maryland. Then you could probably cut a full year off your college experience with a heavy AP courseload.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you take 5 or 7 AP's senior year.

In MCPS you literally need 1 class to graduate once you are a senior.

The only way this is true is if your kid has no plans to go to college.

Signed, MCPS mom

Not true. Some kids are mature and over HS and could care less about prom and varsity sport and just want to move onto college. You are saying that colleges are not interested in kids that finish HS in 3 years and go to college for a year locally.

How many kids is this, though? Many more kids take 1 class (and I'm still not positive that's even possible for many kids) because they don't plan to go to college, as opposed to the tiny fraction who take all college-level courses instead. Of the dozens of kids I know who went from MoCo public schools to highly selective colleges this fall, which includes magnet kids who are at very advanced levels, none of them did this. Many more public school kids do what my teenager did, going to school for 1/2 day and taking 4 APs, working in the afternoons/evenings, and getting into a highly selective college. Sure, a few took a handful of college classes, but none was entirely absent from the school for all of senior year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you take 5 or 7 AP's senior year.

In MCPS you literally need 1 class to graduate once you are a senior.

The only way this is true is if your kid has no plans to go to college.

Signed, MCPS mom

Not true. Some kids are mature and over HS and could care less about prom and varsity sport and just want to move onto college. You are saying that colleges are not interested in kids that finish HS in 3 years and go to college for a year locally.

Burgundy Farm Middle School around 2 hours/night.

Sometimes more, sometimes less.

Week-ends vary, also. Can lose an entire day or more of the week-end for homework/projects. Sometimes it is a much lighter load for the week-end.

Anonymous wrote:Walter Johnson, all AP classes. !2th grade. Average is 3-4 hours.

Wow..impressive. Did you DC have to qualify to take those AP classes? I know at my DD school, she had to have at least a B+ and recommended by a teacher in a prerequisite class before the school would allowed you into any AP class. She's took AP history and it was a whole lot of work; she had 3 essays to write over the summer before the 1st day of class. Can't even begin to imagine 6+ AP classes.

Anonymous wrote:Did it go up again in 10th and 11th grade?

Too early to tell. I think 10th grade will be kept in check by PE and Arts requirement (true in 9th as well). Dreading 11th without them.

Anonymous wrote:Why would you take 5 or 7 AP's senior year.

In MCPS you literally need 1 class to graduate once you are a senior.

The only way this is true is if your kid has no plans to go to college.

Signed, MCPS mom

Did it go up again in 10th and 11th grade?

FWIW, DC's experience with GDS was that HW went way up in 8th grade. Before 8th grade it was never an issue. 8th was a slog on weeknights, but rarely interfered with weekends. (And the teachers did seem to coordinate with each other in most cases -- easier to do when everyone in the grade is taking pretty much the same courses.) 9th was when sleep deprivation kicked in and when at least one weekend day started being taken over by HW.

With the exception of community service (a couple of extra hours after school one night a week), DC's extracurriculars remained pretty constant over that period, so the difference really was homework load.

GDS, 7th grade, 2+ hours a night.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aim low, it's the new American way.

You are clearly completely ignorant about how useless homework is. Might want to read something about that before you post stupid comments.

Are you seriously arguing that students:
1. Should never write papers outside of class time?
2. Should never read novels outside of class time?
3. Should never read a history textbook, monagraph, or primary source document outside of class?
4. Should not work on practicing their grammar or vocabulary in a foreign language?
5. Should not practice math or physics problems sets outside of class?

Of course not. But according to Harris Cooper at Duke University, the benefits of homework decline after 2 - 2.5 hours per night. Most of the kids around here get lots more homework than that. People who think limiting homework is "aiming low" really need to do some research.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you take 5 or 7 AP's senior year.

In MCPS you literally need 1 class to graduate once you are a senior.

To go to college? Colleges want to see a progression of classes so if you've been taking honors/APs you can't drop down to on level your senior year.

But he could take 4 AP classes, weight lifting and art. So the only reason is that college might like this because nobody actually know the answer to this question. Did the school recommend this? Technically he could take 1 class and then a bunch of classes at Montgomery College and go into college with actual college credits, no AP tests needed.

I find this scheduling situation odd. Not picking on you specifically. I have 2 groups of friends: TEAM AP: 4, 5, 6, 7 AP's senior year and TEAM College Credit: 1 English (sometimes done the summer before senior year) and attend Montgomery College, going to college with transferable college credit.

If you are taking 7 APs and plan to attend a top tier college...hopefully you've checked out whether that particular college (or colleges) will even accept the AP credit. If they do not, then taking above 4 in one year would suggest its a waste of time (don't forget the effort).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you take 5 or 7 AP's senior year.

In MCPS you literally need 1 class to graduate once you are a senior.

To go to college? Colleges want to see a progression of classes so if you've been taking honors/APs you can't drop down to on level your senior year.

But he could take 4 AP classes, weight lifting and art. So the only reason is that college might like this because nobody actually know the answer to this question. Did the school recommend this? Technically he could take 1 class and then a bunch of classes at Montgomery College and go into college with actual college credits, no AP tests needed.

I find this scheduling situation odd. Not picking on you specifically. I have 2 groups of friends: TEAM AP: 4, 5, 6, 7 AP's senior year and TEAM College Credit: 1 English (sometimes done the summer before senior year) and attend Montgomery College, going to college with transferable college credit.