<p>OO, it is because of sarcasm like yours that some folks don’t bother much with posting on CC and lurk instead. In case YOU had not heard, most rigorous colleges don’t have their classes meet as often as HS AP courses do. And perhaps you’ve forgotten that most rigorous colleges (whatever the heck that means) cover material more quickly than AP courses do, such that they might cover the content of AP USH in one semester instead of an entire year. But frankly, I don’t care what your school district does, nor how accoladed your teachers are. I was curious to know why they had the policy they did. Now you’ve told me. Let’s move on.</p>
<p>It’s certainly fine to ask informational follow-up questions in a thread. There is no need to impute personal motives to a person who is asking a question. Anyone is welcome to ask questions to clarify what is said in this thread (which I opened), and I appreciate the replies that have raised questions and have answered those. This thread does illustrate that one can only get an approximate impression of how AP courses in high school appear to colleges by mass statistics such as those linked to in the first post.</p>
<p>Rodney, D’s h.s., too, only offers AP after honors designation course in that subject is completed. They are very strict about who can take AP, and while the workload is very heavy, it’s not at all tedious busywork. Only jr & sr girls can take them; no more than 3 per year. No summer courses are counted on the transcript, either, although girls do take college courses in the summers or on their own during the school year if desired. Every girl must sit for the AP exam and the AP scores are reported on the h.s. transcript.</p>
<p>One thing I like about the rigid curriculum in AP courses is that this ensures that a good, broad foundation in these intro college courses is offered. I know that in one American lit survey course in college I was taught by a Faulkner fanatic. He was obsessed with the man, and the course should have been titled “Faulkner & a Few Inferior Authors I’m Forced to Teach.” The same could be said for a nursing instructor who was obsessed with pharmacology & negleted important nursing content. Also faced this in intro psychology & sociology courses, where a professor would focus on his or her pet interests.</p>
<p>^ Even so, approaches can vary significantly. Ss were taught AP-USH by different teachers using different textbooks, emphasizing different types of history. One focused on political history, the other was more interested in social history. One gave quizzes constantly, the other liked to engage in an “explication de texte” approach to analyzing documents. </p>
<p>Regarding AP vs. college courses and homework:</p>
<p>College courses typically meet for 3 hours, and each hour would required 3 hours of homework. So for a four course load, a student would expect to spend something like 36 hours per week of homework.</p>
<p>AP courses in the sciences meet for a double period at our high school, four days a week. The school year, moreover, is significantly longer than the college academic year. so more can be done in class; therefore, homework per week for each AP should not be the same as for college classes in the same subject.</p>
<p>Our high school has no rules about how many APs you can take, but many have prerequisites and many also require extra testing and/or teacher recommendation. Mathson took one as a freshman, one as a sophomore, three as a junior (though Physics C and Math BC counted as two), and three as a senior. He could easily have taken a couple more if scheduling conflicts hadn’t prevented it. He was not inundated with homework. (And he ddin’t overload on ECs either.) Some of our APs require a lot of work (Biology, US History) - others not so much (Macroeconomics, Physics C, Computer Programming.) My son got 5’s on all of them, and I’m told most kids in most classes get 4s and 5s - so I think the courses cover the material adequately despite the lack of rules about how many one can take at a time. While there are usually a couple dozen of AP Scholars of Distinction and National Scholars, I do think that most kids only take a few APs. And it’s really a small portion of the school that are taking a lot. (Top 1 or 2 % of the class.)</p>
<p>The problem I see with the schools that impose hard limits on the number of AP classes one may take as well as limiting AP classes to jr/sr level only is that they don’t allow for those students who can handle more of a load or who are ready to start earlier to move at their own pace and instead artificially limit their progress. I’m glad my Ds’ HS didn’t have these artificial limitations (well, they tried once with my D taking an AP as a soph but they backed down quickly after we said she could easily handle it - she did well in it). One size does not fit all.</p>
<p>I have really mixed feelings over whether high schools should set limits on number of APs that can be taken. My D has taken quite a few and held her own with several other maniacs in her graduating class without wrecking her gpa and I guess this will help her differentiate a bit in terms of her applications. But what misery it has been. So many, many nights without sleep. </p>
<p>Also - the poster who seems to think her high school is unusual in its rigorous interpretation of AP classes - what you describe sounds pretty routine to me and also what my friends describe who have kids taking AP classes in our public high school. It is possible for kids to handle large numbers of these classes, keep up their gpa, and participate in ECS. It’s just really ugly to watch. But some of them will jump pretty much as high as you set the bar. Not sure if that’s a good thing. But it’s the truth.</p>