Changes in AP Test Scoring

[ucbalumnus]

@AustenNut

Because they had a hard time grasping a concept in 6th or 7th grade meaning they didn’t get started on the +1 track in middle school, why does that mean they can’t double up on geometry & algebra II to get into a calculus class in high school or switch from a regular class to an honors class?

Problem with doubling up math is that some other course gets squeezed out of the schedule. This can be especially a problem at 6-period high schools, where getting the basic “4 years of each of English, math, social studies, science, foreign language plus a year of art” along with other high school requirements like PE and health is already a tight fit. This might be a reason why parents push for math acceleration in middle school.

Of course, overacceleration happens also, as evidenced by threads about students in the +2 math track struggling when they get to precalculus or calculus.

[ucbalumnus]

@fretfulmother

Even here in Cambridge, where some public high school students “dual enroll” for a couple of specific Harvard classes (not in the extension school) - those are known to be not exactly at the “Harvard” level.

Do the high school students attend those courses at Harvard alongside Harvard students? Or are these “college in the high school” courses using a syllabus provided by Harvard?

[fretfulmother]

They attend at Harvard, but there are only a few courses that qualify for doing this.