I graduated in 2007, and I believe took 1 AP class my sophomore year, 3 my junior year, and 8 my senior year (plus one AP exam that I studied for myself because the class wasn't offered). They're not all year-long classes. Our government, economics and comparative politics AP classes were just 1 semester. I never really felt stressed out in high school, but I definitely did way more work in high school than in college or grad school. I ended up starting college with more than 60 hours of credit (some of that was non-AP, like testing out of intro Spanish). GREAT way to avoid paying so much $$$ for college.

The annoying thing with AP classes is there's still a lot of busy work and silly assignments, but at least you're actually learning a lot of interesting content. I wish that they would structure AP coursework more like an actual college class-- midterm, maybe a paper or two, and a final, or a weekly lab, midterm, and a final. It's all the dumb busy work that's "stressful."

This whole post is confusing because some people are talking about AP's per year and some people are talking about AP's over the course of four years.

FCPS parent here ~ high school total was 3 AP's for one, 0 for another. Both went to "highly selective" public Us though not in Va - in part due to the AP rate race. We decided early in their HS career to look elsewhere for better results, and a more sane family life.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]6/year or 6/HS (4 yrs)?[/quote]

The blog post pasted by the OP was from a FCPD senior who said his guidance counselor told him to take 6 APs his senior year.

I think 6 in high school is low to average now. [/quote]

No it isn't. Look at the stats.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And, there is a lot of grade inflation. And, much competition in the DC area.

AP tests and SAT2 counteract grade inflation bc they are standardized and not graded by local teachers.

But they're graded at high speed by a stable of people who aren't all college professors and who need the money more than they need to decompress at the end of the school year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm. You can still take 2 AP's a year in public school. You don't need to go to private. In fact, if you did that every year, you'd graduate with 8 AP classes total which to me is more than high enough to show you are ready for college.

Yes, but your GPA relative to other kids in the school who take 6 would be much lower because of the weighting. Also, colleges will compare kids from the same school and look at the rigor of the schedule. A private that limits kids to 2 APs per year could still have a stellar reputation, and OP's kid would be compared to kids who also only took 2 APs.

So why doesn't the kid go to a less competitive college?

Anonymous wrote:I took seven in the mid-90s, and nobody batted an eye.

What's the big deal?

+1. It was stressful, but I dealt with it, and dealing with it was what made my life easier forever afterward. I learned to manage my time, how to study efficiently, and how to deal with stress. This kid just wants to blame others.

Anonymous wrote:Umm. You can still take 2 AP's a year in public school. You don't need to go to private. In fact, if you did that every year, you'd graduate with 8 AP classes total which to me is more than high enough to show you are ready for college.

Yes, but your GPA relative to other kids in the school who take 6 would be much lower because of the weighting. Also, colleges will compare kids from the same school and look at the rigor of the schedule. A private that limits kids to 2 APs per year could still have a stellar reputation, and OP's kid would be compared to kids who also only took 2 APs.

Anonymous wrote:A long time ago. I graduated from FCPS and every course I took junior and senior year was AP. Law school was easier than HS for me. One of the many reasons why I send my child to a private school that limits students to 2 APs per year.

Yup.

my sophomore will have 5 IB classes and 1 AP class junior year. All of his friends are doing pretty much the same - some more AP than IB, depending on their program.

I only had 6 periods a day in high school, but took 5 APs junior and senior year (6th period was mandatory sports team) and took 2 college courses every summer. I graduated from college in 5 semesters and saved $60k. Worth it. (This was early 2000s at a public school).

Anonymous wrote:I took seven in the mid-90s, and nobody batted an eye.

What's the big deal?

Me too. Graduated from NCS in 96. This was pretty normal.

Umm. You can still take 2 AP's a year in public school. You don't need to go to private. In fact, if you did that every year, you'd graduate with 8 AP classes total which to me is more than high enough to show you are ready for college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A long time ago. I graduated from FCPS and every course I took junior and senior year was AP. Law school was easier than HS for me. One of the many reasons why I send my child to a private school that limits students to 2 APs per year.

Why would you pay to have your kids limited in the rigor of their coursework?

So they can lead a normal life?

Good example of an intelligent parent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A long time ago. I graduated from FCPS and every course I took junior and senior year was AP. Law school was easier than HS for me. One of the many reasons why I send my child to a private school that limits students to 2 APs per year.

Why would you pay to have your kids limited in the rigor of their coursework?

So they can lead a normal life?