<p>There is no super-definitive answer here, but I can offer some educated advice…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It definitely does matter what level your courses are. Now, taking all “most advanced” classes and one course one level down is not a big deal, but a higher level of course (provided grades are decent!) is better. </p></li>
<li><p>I believe that it is better to get a B in the honors/most advanced course than an A in a regular course. First of all, colleges want to see that the student is challenging themself and still doing reasonably well (A “B” is reasonably well). Secondly, it seems like your D is a decent English student, and it is always possible that she could get a B+ or better in the Honors English course. Colleges look at GPA AND at course selection, so it does not benefit your D to take the lower course for the A unless she is relatively sure that she would struggle to even recieve a B (i.e., she might get a C in the honors course). </p></li>
<li><p>MUST your D take AP English at some point…no, but it is definitely considered a “bread and butter” AP course. Like AP Calc and AP US, AP English is a course that, if offered, is a very good idea to take. It might be a stretch, but if your D wants to have a competitive courseload among applicants to highly selective colleges, AP English is a course that she should strongly strongly consider taking. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I would not recommend the Honors English course if it didn’t sound like your D could handle it. But being able to get a B means that she can handle it. It is important to show colleges that you are stretching/challenging yourself with your courseload…that doesn’t mean that your D has to take 25 AP’s across every subject. But it does mean that if she can do decently well in a high level of a subject, she should take it and show that she is willing to challenge herself to acheive and learn at the highest level.</p>