Thanks for the update, @RockyPA. I am glad to hear that your daughter is handling her 6 APs so well! My main concern for my kid is not the coursework but being able to handle the exams in such a short period of time. Last year they had 3 and the exams were on two consecutive days, with, of course, two back to back. That truly was their limit.
Here’s a post I’ve been meaning to comment on:
This post scared me because I think there’s a lot of truth in it (and my kid chose not to take APUSH in order to take Physics C). How do others feel? Has APUSH become essentially a prerequisite for the T20?
Interesting that a poster’s HS uses double periods for some AP sciences. Hopefully that makes an otherwise year course a semester one. SCIENCE IS NO MORE DIFFICULT THAN HUMANITIES/SOCIAL SCIENCE! I am so tired of people missing this point. Think about it- that kid who whizzes through math based work may have more difficulty writing than some of their classmates (or may be adept at both).
I would expect top tier students to be able to handle most AP classes in most subjects instead of the regular HS versions. A STEM student should be thinking of an overall best/most rigorous HS education. In my son’s ordinary (but Wisconsin, therefore good) HS some students took APUSH instead of the spohomore regular version (others ended up taking both). Likewise with AP Physics (but regular chemistry skills needed before AP- know this as an undergrad chem major).
My STEM kid took the AP history and english courses as well as the STEM APs. Her experience is that there is a heavy emphasis on solid written and oral communication skills for everyone in college.
I had to persuade my older son to take APUSH in high school. I pointed out that if he did well on the exam, there was a good chance he’d get out of a history course in college. It was a fair amount of work, but he got a 5 on the test and did indeed get credit for it. OTOH I did let him not take AP English classes and he was accepted by Harvard and Carnegie Mellon. (But not by Caltech, Stanford or MIT.) I think APUSH is one of the better APs out there - it’s pretty clear to me that the average American has very little knowledge of American history.
I don’t think the AP science courses are more difficult, but they usually require more class time because of the labs. That often means it’s hard to schedule more than one a year, depending on how your high school is organized.
My daughter did not want to take APUSH and instead took an online history class over the summer. She will take an AP social studies class her senior year. Hoping the selective colleges she is looking at won’t see this as a problem. The AP science classes so far have been quite easy for her, and she has aced every single test so far. Luckily, she has minimal homework for Calc BC (teacher doesn’t check, it is up to student to decide to do or not), so she can devote her time elsewhere. She is a ballerina and spends a lot of time after school and weekends at the studio!
“There isn’t necessarily much more work doing the advanced classes as there would be doing the regular ones.”
That’s pretty hard to believe, if so, then the teachers are doing a serious disservice to the students. HS here in the bay are starting to give out time expectations for AP and honors classes when students and parents are figuring out what courses to take. Each AP class take about 1-2 hrs a night, honors 30 minutes to a hour, college-prep about 30 minutes max. You can’t take individual anecdotes and generalize that APs aren’t time sinks, because they are, again to most people.
“I think APUSH is one of the better APs out there - it’s pretty clear to me that the average American has very little knowledge of American history.”
Ok again, APUSH is going to take a lot of time (even if your kid has a Madison-esque understanding of the Constitution), you can get a good idea of American history by taking the regular version, or whatever it’s called in the high school.
"Hoping the selective colleges she is looking at won’t see this as a problem. "
That would depend on the college and rigor that the other applicants showed, or if the adcoms think someone is ducking a hard class and not challenging themselves when they could have.
About skipping APUSH to take Phys C: my kid is at a better than solid (rank between 20 and 30 engineering school). He took Phys C and he never took AP Lang or AP Comp. Everyone makes choices. It is unusual to skip APUSH because most schools offer it early, but a STEM kid should have one of the serious science APs at least.
"Hoping the selective colleges she is looking at won’t see this as a problem. "
That would depend on the college and rigor that the other applicants showed, or if the adcoms think someone is ducking a hard class and not challenging themselves when they could have.
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She is clearly not trying to duck hard classes… just concentrating on ones that interest her more. Since she wanted to be able to take Physics E&M senior year she had to take Mechanics junior year, since it is a prerequisite. she was advised to take AP Chem right after honors Chem. She opted to take the AP Computer Principles course since she felt she has no background at all in computers. She has taken honors history classes her freshman and sophomore years and already done really well in those classes. Why does everyone need to take a History class to show rigor???
I think this can be very school dependent. At my D’s HS there would have been no way to get the most rigorous designation from the guidance counselor without AP history and AP english on the transcript because of the way AP courses were offered and sequencing requirements.
If she has 4 social sciences including 2 history and 2 others (including another history, government, economics, psychology, sociology…) with some preferably at the honors level, she’s ok.
In the same vein, if she stopped foreign language junior year, she’s okay as a STEM major.
(It wouldn’t be true if she wanted to major in Humanities/Social Sciences).
Well she is taking AP French this year, so done with Foreign language (although she may do an independent study next year with her French teacher as she absolutely loves It and does not want to forget what she has learned). She has taken 2 Honors history classes so far and one online class, and will definitely take a social studies AP (or two) as a Senior.
Another update to this thread… my daughter has managed the workload fine so far and has finished the first semester with straight A’s. She is happy and has time for her rigorous ballet schedule and even has a social life. Hopefully the rest of the year will continue as such.
Depends on the kid and the APs taken. I have seen kids struggle with 1-2 AP classes and others who did fine with a schedule literally full of them. Common mantra here is if you take a lot of APs, you won’t have any time to do anything but study. May be true for some kids but not for all. And they get 5s on the exams as well. Sounds like your daughter has done well. Congrats to her.
My d21 just finished up junior year and the 6 AP workload turned out very doable for her. All A’s and a couple A plus grades. She found doing Physics and Chemistry together not to be a problem.
You started this thread asking for success stories, so I guess that now we can refer to your D21 as a success story when other parents in a similar situation come looking for advice
Oh, and good luck to her on her upcoming colleges applications this fall!
Yes that is why I posted the update! She really didn’t find the doubling up on science a problem at all. Probably not the norm, but still shows that certain students can handle it.
