What classes does your High Schooler have this year? Let's compare...

[luvflorida]

As a senior you can take the AP test and get college credit for a passing grade.

Okay, now I get it. A little slow here.

I've only thought of AP classes as Junior/Senior year classes and then the student takes the exam for college credit. I kept reading here of all these kids taking AP classes as a Freshman/Sophomore and thinking they would take an exam at the end of each one and get college credits. I couldn't imagine all these kids ending up with four years worth of college credits.

My daughter will be a Junior this year and I was thinking, OMG! She's going to be applying to colleges along with these kids who have many, many college credits!

 

[janette]

I think it's mostly just different terminology. The kids in the pre-AP classes are on track in those subjects to eventually take the AP classes when they will be offered the tests in higher classes. Our school doesn't offer Honors classes but I'd imagine those would be similiar. Our district has 3 levels of English for freshman - Regular, Pre-AP and LEAP (GT program). The Pre-AP and LEAP classes are weighted at a higher scale so an A in those classes will count for more than an A in the regular English class. I'm not sure when they start taking the AP exams, my DD is a freshman and won't take any this year. She is on track to take them later. In her HS about 50% of the students will eventually take AP exams.

 

[janette]

My daughter will be a Junior this year and I was thinking, OMG! She's going to be applying to colleges along with these kids who have many, many college credits!

I've heard that some kids come out of HS with about 20 to 30 college credits. A great head start and will save some $$, there are charges for the tests but they don't compare to tuition.

 

[luvflorida]

Hi Luvflorida,

I haven't heard of anyone taking the AP English exam in grade 9, which is not to say that it isn't done, but I would think it's quite rare. My high school set it up such that the bright freshman took the "easier" APs, the ones that only required one year of prep, in 9th/10th grade (think human geography, environmental science, statistics, European history, biology) and the "harder" APs, the ones where you need to spend significant time in preparation, in 11th/12th grade (think Calculus BC, Physics C, Chemistry, English Language, CS AB, Latin). I took the AP English exam in 11th grade, and Philosophy in 12th grade.

I could see a district placing a 9th grader in an AP English exam only under circumstances where they think the kid will graduate early. There's a major advantage to having the kid hold off ... if they're that bright, they should spend a couple of years preparing and get a higher score.

DC

I was just floored thinking all these kids were taking the higher level AP classes, the only kind of AP classes that I though existed!

When my oldest daughter graduated from HS, she was ranked 6 in a class of 180. She took AP classes her Senior year and ended up entering college as a second semester Freshman. She also received a four year Presidential Scholarship that cut her tuition in half. Nobody in the HS took any AP classes until Junior or Senior year.

This thread was making me nervous! Thanks for the explanation!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

The Pre-AP and LEAP classes are weighted at a higher scale so an A in those classes will count for more than an A in the regular English class. I'm not sure when they start taking the AP exams, my DD is a freshman and won't take any this year. She is on track to take them later. In her HS about 50% of the students will eventually take AP exams.

Yes, the classes are weighted differently. The multiplier is 1.0 for reg. classes, 1.1 for Pre-Ap, and 1.2 for Honors/AP.
So it is in dd's best interest to work a little harder to take pre-ap to try and boost her rank.

We have regular AP and HONORS AP at DD's HS. The honors freshman entering do take AP classes and take the AP exams.

 

[Caradana]

I've heard that some kids come out of HS with about 20 to 30 college credits. A great head start and will save some $$, there are charges for the tests but they don't compare to tuition.

Janette, this made me smile. I held on to that hope all through HS. I took 11 AP exams. And then I went to a college that didn't award credit for APs- all you could do with them was use them to skip a class and take the higher-level (translation = harder) version to fill your distribution requirement! Hee hee.

 

[janette]

Janette, this made me smile. I held on to that hope all through HS. I took 11 AP exams. And then I went to a college that didn't award credit for APs- all you could do with them was use them to skip a class and take the higher-level (translation = harder) version to fill your distribution requirement! Hee hee.

Yes, I've heard this also. There has been some talk in TX to at least make sure that the AP exams will count for credits in this state but it really is a risk you take. I think if nothing else they're another one of those looking good on the college admission forms. I don't even want to think about those yet

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Janette, this made me smile. I held on to that hope all through HS. I took 11 AP exams. And then I went to a college that didn't award credit for APs- all you could do with them was use them to skip a class and take the higher-level (translation = harder) version to fill your distribution requirement! Hee hee.

What about the SAT 2 or SAT Subject Tests as they are called now?? Colleges are requiring those tests instead/both of AP in some cases. Did you take those?

Right now my dd takes the Pre-AP and AP classes so she can boost her rank.
Her HS is unbalanced with a high number of honors students and there is NO WAY even if she got all A's to nail the Top 10%, so she is shooting for top 25%.
We will find out her rank in a couple of weeks.

 

[MorganLeFey]

our high school is on the Newsweek list of top schools for the number of students takingAP exams. we have a lot of kids who take AP.

an AP class gets weighted slightly higher than an honors class, so a 95 in an AP class counts for more than a 95 in honors or regular classes.

but our school has done away with class ranks. the guidance department told me that too many kids have very high averages and relatively low ranks, so ranking doesn't really represent how a student is performing.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

but our school has done away with class ranks. the guidance department told me that too many kids have very high averages and relatively low ranks, so ranking doesn't really represent how a student is performing.

Really? Our class rank is based on Core classes. Please explain.

 

[Coloradomom]

My 11th grade DD:

AP Stats
CP Chemistry (College Prep)
World Religions
AP English
AP Music Theory
Elite Girls Choir

She has been diagnosed with persistent migraines so has gotten a PE waiver for this year because the PE classes left that she has not taken all have elements that aggravate her migraines or her asthma.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Hey... I am a junior in high school. Here is my tenative schdule:

- AP American History
- AP English Language and Composition
- Algebra II/ Triganometry
- Spanish III
- Chemistry
And I will be taking zero period so I will get out at 12:05pm everyday!

 

[MorganLeFey]

Really? Our class rank is based on Core classes. Please explain.

both core and non core classes count in a student's average. non core classes, such as band or art or an elective, do not get weighted. core classes get weighted according to their difficulty, i.e., "regular". "honors", "AP". so a kid who gets a 95 in an AP class has a higher weighted average than a kid who has a 95 in an honors class.

both the wieghted and raw averages appear n the student transcript.

our school was finding that with weighted averages, and the size of our graduating classes, the difference between #15 and #50 might be as small as .0001 points.

 

[georgina]

DD, 11th grade,

AP Chem
AP English 11
AP US History
Honors French 4
Honors Trig
Anatomy
Russian I

I know what you mean about class rank. DD had 5 honors classes and 2 non-honors classes last year, got all A's, and dropped in class rank. Some of her friends would rather take a study hall than a non-honors class that will lower their grade point average. they are very competitive.
We visited several colleges this summer who said they look at the profile of the school to see what kind of grades all the kids in the school are getting, what percentage takes higher level courses, etc, to see how the student fits into the whole class.

 

[luvflorida]

At my daughter's HS, all classes count equally toward determining class rank. AP and Honors classes are weighted, but only on the HS transcripts.

My oldest daughter was #6 out of 180 students, but she was really disappointed because if grades had been weighted for ranking, she would have been #5 or #4. There were students, some were best friends of hers, who decided to switch from AP or Honors classes as a Senior, to CP classes. By doing so, they knew they could put in less effort but were assured of getting that "A". Since grades weren't weighted, they ended up with a better class ranking.

Many of these kids couldn't see beyond graduation. Sure, their ranking was better and they got the recognition they were looking for in the HS newsletters and the local newspapers, but they were really shortchanging themselves.

To parents, a small difference in class ranking probably doesn't matter much, but to many of these kids, it IS a big deal.

 

[golfgal]

Okay, now I get it. A little slow here.

I've only thought of AP classes as Junior/Senior year classes and then the student takes the exam for college credit. I kept reading here of all these kids taking AP classes as a Freshman/Sophomore and thinking they would take an exam at the end of each one and get college credits. I couldn't imagine all these kids ending up with four years worth of college credits.

My daughter will be a Junior this year and I was thinking, OMG! She's going to be applying to colleges along with these kids who have many, many college credits!

In Minnesota high school kids can take college level courses (beyond AP classes) and earn high school and college credits. They can start this in their junior year so some kids go to college full time junior year and by the time they graduate high school start college as a junior. These classes are free to high school students (you have to buy the books) so a lot of people save a LOT of money doing this, but then you also miss out of being in high school so there are pro's and con's to this.

 

[punkin]

My DD13 is going into 9th grade:

French 2
Honors Geometry
English
Theater
History
Matter&Energy (I haave no idea what this is)
PE

 

[disneyjunkie]

My son is transfering to a Catholic High School. He'll be in the 10th grade

My son is transferring to a Catholic High School. He'll be in the 10th grade

Religion
French II
English
Global History
Chem
Geometry
Art
Health/PE

His school only offers two AP classes(English and American History). You can only take these classes in 11th or 12th grade. If you don't take the AP exam, they remove the AP marking from your transcript.

 

[Nanoer]

I'm gonna be a freshman this year!

I'm taking

Honors Alegebra
Honors English
Honors World History
Honors Science(forget what it was.. but I'm pretty sure it's not bio I hate bio)
P.E.(need two years of it to graduate)
French(for my college and stuff)

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Pretty impressive group of kids here! Thanks for all your input.