<p>Next year, my son is considering for his 7 classes: AP Calculus AB, AP Chemistry or Bio, AP Spanish lang. OR AP Psych and honors English 3, honors us history (he is getting B’s in AP world this year so not sure he should go into APUSH), honors marine science and maybe honors International relations.
Plan is to push AP physics to senior year (when he will also be taking ap calculus BC…the highest math at our school and he already took/is in ap stats). Senior year he will also take ap gov/eco, AP Bio or Chem (whichever he hadn’t already taken) and one of the “easy APs” like human geography or environmental science. My son is a math/science kid and not into English/social studies so…he will be very heavy in the sciences when he graduates in 2012.
If he takes 3 AP’s junior year and 4 or 5 senior year, he will graduate HS with 9 or 10 APs. This still may not be enough for OUR GC to check the took the most rigorous courseload box!!!</p>
<p>As to rigor of coursework, you must defer to school, and plan accordingly. BUT, doesn’t BC calc repeat some of AB calc, and would it make sense to do both? I was under impression that BC is a full year course (first year college level) and AB is just first semester of college. If he is a good math student and ready for calc, why not go right to BC calc? As to the number of AP’s it starts to look like a game to me, so if you need to play it, then you must. Personally, I love US history, and looking over sample AP tests it didn’t seem that hard. (Of course I got my degrees in Government and American Studies umpteen years ago for full disclosure.)</p>
<p>I am still very nervous about the practice driving…</p>
<p>D said she’d like to take an PSAT/SAT prep class - thank goodness!!!
Now, what do I look for when checking them out?</p>
<p>My son will take AP Calculus AB as a junior and AP Calculus BC as a senior, this way he always has a math class (he is taking AP stats this year). If he were to go right to Calc BC…he would be short a class senior year and we do not have access to any college classes. The kids who I know who went right into Calc BC (usually as seniors) crashed and burned (as the teacher is known to be just awful). As for the AP game, I am hoping that we do not need to really play it and he can just take three or four AP’s that really interest him (like calc, chem, psych and spanish). I am hoping that he will still be competitive to OOS schools. Most kids in our area stay in the state of Florida. The best and brightest go to UF and FSU. My son would definitely think about UF but he really would prefer a private school out of state.</p>
<p>seiclan –</p>
<p>I agree that taking math every year is important.</p>
<p>I have a list of places I’ve found that offer math beyond AP Calc BC online. So, if access to a local college is your issue, then I can help get around that. My daughter is taking online math this year.</p>
<p>No one at my daughter’s school takes AB then BC (I do know that this varies across different schools). There are usually 2-3 sections of BC and only one section of AB.</p>
<p>Our school is very different in that there are no honors classes other than pre-AP/AP. So, if you want a good educational experience you HAVE to take AP classes.</p>
<p>Mathinokc-At our school, there are about 3 Calculus AB classes and 1 BC…everyone takes AB and only a select few go on the next year to BC. I am comfortable with this. He really dosen’t need to be going online for extra classes. He just isn’t that kind of kid (he is not that motivated). Our school has a plethora of honors classes that must be taken before you can do AP (so I guess that they are like pre AP). Son is in honors chemistry this year so next year he will take ap chem. For physics though, he will probably skip the honors level and go right to ap since honors is not a prerequ. in that class. </p>
<p>So, my question is, if he finishes hs with about 9 AP classes and the other smart kids have 11…is he at a big disadvantage in college admissions???</p>
<p>S is taking AP Spanish and APUSH this year. He’ll probably take AP Chem and AP English next year. I don’t know that there are many other AP classes offered by his high school, that it would make sense for him to take. With easy access, to a good U he will probably take additional classes there instead over the next two years. </p>
<p>He’s already taking his math through the U, however his sister took AP Calc AB and BC her junior and senior year. She is quite good at math and found that there was a lot of repetition between the two. Many of her classmates found the 2 AP Calc classes to be plenty challenging and were happy to take it over the 2 years. I think it really depends on the quality of the teacher and your kid’s math abilities and interests when making a decision on which choices to make.</p>
<p>seiclan –</p>
<p>I think that if he takes 9 and others take 11 and that keeps the counselor from marking that he’s taken the most challenging coursework, then, yes, he’s at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>It might also depend on who from his class is applying to the same colleges he does.</p>