When is it advisable to drop down to honors course from AP class?

[Yankeedoodles]

Daughter, senior, is taking AP Calc B/C and AP Physics this year and performing poorly in both. During back-to-school night couple of months ago, I asked both teachers if she should drop their class (math teacher actually brought this up himself during his group presentation addressing parents that his class is tough and that some students should consider dropping out) and both said that dropping the class, for her, is not warranted at this time as it is too early in the school year to do that and that they will advise students in due course when and if it is necessary.

She is getting a C in both subjects. Although it is a high C in both (78.8% and 77.7% respectively), C, apparently, is not considered low enough a grade for teachers to recommend dropping class.

Now, she is trying her best to bring the grade up to at least a B in both, and hopefully she will, but I am concerned that if she is not able to do that by the semester end next month, it will be a huge blow to her GPA. She currently has 3.7 (cumulative 9th through 11th). Two Cs and a B will bring her GPA down to 3.5, hence seriously affecting her chances of getting in to some selective schools she has her sight set.

What should she do at this point? Opt out ... and drop to a less rigorous class? (she will still be left with 2 APs, English Lit and AP Psych)? or hang in and risk drop in GPA? She tells me that when a student moves to a Honors class from an AP class of the same subject, student's current grade moves with her. I am not sure if that is true though. It can't be. Why would anyone move if the grade moves too.

[SteveMA]

In our school the only allow transfers between marking periods so yes, the grade would go with them. There are a lot of factors to consider here, one being, has she applied to colleges already? What does she want to major in? Personally I would keep the B/C class as that AP test carries a lot of credit potential in college, drop the physics to honors. What are her test scores (ACT/SAT)?

[Yankeedoodles]

Thank you for your response SteveMA. ACT results just came in today. She scored 31. She is taking it again next month. SAT IIs: Biology 760, Math II 700. She wants to major in Biology/Economics/Business.

[SteveMA]

Has she applied to colleges yet? I would certainly keep the math if she is thinking Econ.

[Yankeedoodles]

And yes, she has applied. She has applied ED to Williams and EA to Medical Scholar Program at both Boston University and RPI. All 3, as you know, are extremely selective, hence she is not really expecting to get in, leaving her with RD to bunch of other schools, who will have access to her senior year 1st semester grades.

[SteveMA]

I would get the RD applications out before semester grades come in. The other thing she needs to consider is the classes she has now will be very similar to what she will experience freshman year and later in college. With the medical scholar program, I'm assuming medical school is a possibility. GPA is everything for med school applications and going to competitive programs like those isn't always in her best interest, especially if her GPA suffers.

[LBowie]

I am not really sure about this -- you should check with her school: even though the colleges will ask her to submit first semester grades, I think her GPA and rank are a done deal and won't be recalculated for the purpose of admission, until the end of senior year. But I could be wrong about that.

[cromette]

I wouldn't move her out. I'd work on the grade. Tutors, study period, etc. If she has challenging schools and a potentially challenging major waiting in the wings, maybe this trial will serve her well. Besides, does your school do a weighted ranking? If so, it may not help to drop her down.

[surfcity]

Can you drop from AP Physics to something else? In our school, you had to take Honors Physics first in order to then take AP Physics. So if you dropped AP Physics you'd have to take a totally different science like Forensics or Anatomy, etc.

Same thing with Calc BC. What classes exactly would she be dropping to?

[Yankeedoodles]

In Physics, she'd be dropping down to Honors from AP. In Calc B/C, I am not so sure ... I think it'd be Calc A/B (she did Pre Calc/ Calc A last year)

[dirkslam41]

if you make an 82 or lower, drop the AP

[oldfort]

I would get the RD applications out before semester grades come in.

I am pretty certain that the first semester senior grades are required by all RD applications. Some may even ask for the second semester interim grades.

My kids were informed by their GCs that if they dropped a class or moved from a higher level to lower level they would need to notify schools where they have sent the transcript to. I think at this point, it would be best for your D to bring up her grades. Get her a tutor.

[SteveMA]

oldfort--of the 19 schools our kids applied to, not ONE asked for first semester grades. They have 18 of 19 acceptances in the door, the last being an April notification. All of the rest are RD.

[oldfort]

That's interesting because all of my kids' schools asked for them. GCs then also sent them unofficial transcript later on. Senior year performance is very important to many selective schools. If OP's kid is a borderline for Williams, adcom may ask for her interim first semester grades.

StevMa - do you know when your kid's GC sent out the official transcript? It may include the first semester without your kid's knowledge. I reviewed my kid's transcript before they sent it out.

[SteveMA]

Our first semester marking period hasn't even finished yet so they wouldn't have gotten them anyway. Most schools do ask for an end of the year transcript to prove they graduated and completed all the required courses. One school did have a mid-year report request but that was waived, assuming because DD's GPA and test scores were above average for that school.