Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is at TJ and is taking Precal, although they didn't recommend taking the AP test for it. He will take the CS AP test since he is taking TJ's computer science 2 class, which is a post-AP level class.

Question for you. This makes a lot of sense to not take the AP precalc test since it's not a real college class anyway and no decent school will give credit for this class. Is this OK to not take the AP test? Will colleges frown upon it? It's seems like a waste of time.

In some school systems, you don’t get the GPA quality point unless you take the AP exam.

My child, at a non-FCPS private school, where you just get a certain GPA in your previous class and teacher permission to register for an AP, and there is no “add/drop” period at the beginning of the year

9th - not allowed to take APs

10th - she pushed so hard at the end of 9th grade to get 9th grade math teacher to sign off on letting her register for AP Pre-Calc for 10th grade with a 97 % GPA so she could get her first AP, did it for the extra boost to GPA

11th - school does not let it anyone go straight to Calc BC so doing Calc AB; also AP Physics I

12th anticipated: AP Computer Science, AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, and I think some other AP in English and/or History

Yes, AP World is a bear. About 50 pages of reading with note taking a week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1st: did AP World (no AP pre-calc) then in 11th did APUSH, AP Calc A/B, AP Lang, AP Bio, and AP Human Geo, then in 12th is doing AP Comp Gov, AP statistics, AP Lit, and AP Environmental Science.

His two hardest APs were AP World and AP Biology. He has gotten 5s on all exams and As with an A- in AP lang.

2nd is 10th is only doing AP pre-Calc BC after knowing AP world was hard for his brother.

What makes AP World hard?

It is one of the most reading intensive courses and covers a lot of material. As it tends to be the first essay writing AP the learning curve is steep. My oldest didn’t retake a single AP world test but at our school the vast majority by far retakes tests and even with doing so cannot earn an A. Parents post about their kids mental health crashing while taking it. I assume this is because kids take it for the AP with no actual interest in World History. My oldest LOVES world history and found the class a joy but his STEM focused classmates viewed it as a necessary evil.

What school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is at TJ and is taking Precal, although they didn't recommend taking the AP test for it. He will take the CS AP test since he is taking TJ's computer science 2 class, which is a post-AP level class.

Question for you. This makes a lot of sense to not take the AP precalc test since it's not a real college class anyway and no decent school will give credit for this class. Is this OK to not take the AP test? Will colleges frown upon it? It's seems like a waste of time.

Because they will pay for a finite number of AP tests, the reasoning is that it is better to save that up for other ones, especially since they will take AP Calc next year.

As for how it looks to colleges, taking both AP Precal and AP Calc, or only taking AP Calc but skipping the AP test for Precal, I'm not sure. And I'm not sure colleges know yet either, since it's a very new class.

Anonymous wrote:DS is at TJ and is taking Precal, although they didn't recommend taking the AP test for it. He will take the CS AP test since he is taking TJ's computer science 2 class, which is a post-AP level class.

Question for you. This makes a lot of sense to not take the AP precalc test since it's not a real college class anyway and no decent school will give credit for this class. Is this OK to not take the AP test? Will colleges frown upon it? It's seems like a waste of time.

Anonymous wrote:My son took AP World, AP CS A, and AP Precalc in 10th grade.

My now-junior did the same in 10th. It was fine.

MCPS magnet kid a few years ago -
9th was AP Gov, and AP CS
10th was APUSH, AP Spanish Language and AP Bio.
11th was AP English, AP Calc BC, AP Chem.

I know that he did both physics and World History - in 12th and something else that I don't remember? Something to do with literature or history. Or was it Stats?

DS is at TJ and is taking Precal, although they didn't recommend taking the AP test for it. He will take the CS AP test since he is taking TJ's computer science 2 class, which is a post-AP level class.

OP, it's very child dependent, which is why no one can give you a great answer. Does you kid know anyone currently taking the APs that he wants to take next year? If so, he should ask them about the workload for that specific teacher in that specific class.

Otherwise, I'd consider each of these points when deciding how many APs would be too many:
-How many hours per night of homework does your kid have in 9th grade honors classes?
-Is your kid actually interested in the class, or is he just grubbing for more APs?
-How organized and efficient is your kid?
-Does your kid have any time intensive ECs?

My now 11th grader took 4 APs in 10th grade with no problems. She was interested in all of the classes, very organized, very efficient, and with no majorly time consuming ECs. She took AP European History and not World, but many of the same issues apply.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1st: did AP World (no AP pre-calc) then in 11th did APUSH, AP Calc A/B, AP Lang, AP Bio, and AP Human Geo, then in 12th is doing AP Comp Gov, AP statistics, AP Lit, and AP Environmental Science.

His two hardest APs were AP World and AP Biology. He has gotten 5s on all exams and As with an A- in AP lang.

2nd is 10th is only doing AP pre-Calc BC after knowing AP world was hard for his brother.

What makes AP World hard?

It is one of the most reading intensive courses and covers a lot of material. As it tends to be the first essay writing AP the learning curve is steep. My oldest didn’t retake a single AP world test but at our school the vast majority by far retakes tests and even with doing so cannot earn an A. Parents post about their kids mental health crashing while taking it. I assume this is because kids take it for the AP with no actual interest in World History. My oldest LOVES world history and found the class a joy but his STEM focused classmates viewed it as a necessary evil.

Anonymous wrote:1st: did AP World (no AP pre-calc) then in 11th did APUSH, AP Calc A/B, AP Lang, AP Bio, and AP Human Geo, then in 12th is doing AP Comp Gov, AP statistics, AP Lit, and AP Environmental Science.

His two hardest APs were AP World and AP Biology. He has gotten 5s on all exams and As with an A- in AP lang.

2nd is 10th is only doing AP pre-Calc BC after knowing AP world was hard for his brother.

What makes AP World hard?

Anonymous wrote:All these APs are a stressful waste of time; please don’t subject your poor kid to this unnecessary pain.

+1

1st: did AP World (no AP pre-calc) then in 11th did APUSH, AP Calc A/B, AP Lang, AP Bio, and AP Human Geo, then in 12th is doing AP Comp Gov, AP statistics, AP Lit, and AP Environmental Science.

His two hardest APs were AP World and AP Biology. He has gotten 5s on all exams and As with an A- in AP lang.

2nd is 10th is only doing AP pre-Calc BC after knowing AP world was hard for his brother.