Chance daughter's friend for FSU

Proudparent2
Wed, 20 Mar 2013 06:52:20 +0000

I don’t think they intend to get a C, Rhandiebrew. They do well in one class, and then, they think they can take a bunch of them. Or they do well in, say, Honors Chemistry, but then, that AP Chem is a killer (My daughter knows two people who FLUNKED AP chem after getting an A in 10th grade honors). I do know one girl who took 11 APs with all A’s, but she is a special girl (and she only got into UF).

But I do agree with you, and I encouraged my own daughter not to bite off more than she could chew. 4 AP classes at a time is a lot. Moreover, the way Bright Futures is calculated, one is way better off getting an A in an honors or even regular class than a B in an AP. BF adds half a point for either honors or AP. Therefore, if a kid gets an A in honors, he gets a 4.5, whereas if a kid gets a B in AP, he gets a 3.5. Even an A in regular would result in a 4.0. My daughter is only getting the full Bright Futures because she took honors American History instead of AP. She has gotten a B in every AP class she took, but the honors AH was easy. AND she took the AP exam and passed! We had to pay for it, because she wasn’t in the AP class, but it was worth it.

Also, what my daughter found out this year (senior year) is that if one takes the AP Government/AP Economics combo (Govt/Econ is required of every 12th grader in Florida) one is almost guaranteed to fail the AP exams because there is too much material to cover two AP classes in a single period in a single year. She took the AP Government/Honors Econ class, which enables the teacher to spend extra time on Government so students will pass the exam.

So that’s my 2 cents. When we did the UF tour last month, however, they stated that students who only took 4 APs probably wouldn’t get in. Still, 5 APs could be spread out over 4 years, say none in 9th grade, one in 10th and 2 each in 11th and 12th (which is exactly what my daughter has taken, and she did get into UF).