UCs and CSUs specify minimum admission requirements that are considerably less than 4 years in each of 5 cores + 1 year of art. They are something like 4 English, math to geometry and algebra 2, 2 science, 2 history / social studies, level 2 foreign language (level 3 recommended for UC), 1 art. That can easily fit in 4 years of 6 periods with space to spare.
But students who take more than the minimum aiming for more selective colleges (including the more selective UCs and CPSLO) may find it a more difficult fit.
We have a 2 year PE requirement and 1 year HAS to be done at school. The other year can be done over two summers (one semester each summer) through a local charter school. Our high school doesnât offer any summer classes for acceleration only for making up credits. A few years ago a group of parents lobbied for varsity sports to count for PE, but got nowhere with that.
The 9th-grade health/geography requirement can also be taken during the summer through the same charter school. That frees up a period for the fine arts/VAPA requirement and/or foreign language. Our school does not offer any social studies course for 9th grade other than the health/geography course. My kids all took the summer school class before beginning 9th grade in order to start their foreign language requirement.
S24âs HS is on a rotating drop schedule with trimesters, but they still usually do just 6 at a time at most, sometimes 5. Critically, our âPEâ requirement is actually an athletics requirement, so is filled after the normal school period (you can also do things like the Musical, Broadcast, or certain non-school sports, but all still after school). They then had to do 2 trimesters of Health, 2 CS, 3 visual/performing Arts (I think this might have been tweaked for later classes).
So in addition to the core five (plus a bonus year-long-equivalent science class in the summer), I think S24âs sixth classes have been:
9th: Music (Studio), CS (Intro), Health
10th: Music (Theory), Art (3D), Health
11th: CS (Game Design)
12th: 3xCS (AP)
He didnât need to do the year of AP CS to graduate, but wanted to.
Here is a question for you six period folks. Our lab science classes met five days a week, and had labs an additional period two days a week. The other three days a week alternating with science labs was for PE which didnât meet every day. If a student wasnât taking a lab science, they had two days a week of study hall.
How are science labs done at your schools?
Our school was seven periods. 5 core classes, 1 lab/PE and one elective (arts of some kind usually). Most kids only took one elective during the school day.
None of our classes meet every day. Only Mondays have every class period (50 mins per class period). Then there are Wednesday - Friday classes and Tuesday-Thursday classes. Looks like this:
Again, the 7th period is an optional class for those who want to take band or additional art or dance or other elective. The standard schedule is 6 classes.
So we use an 8-day drop schedule, and a normal class meets 6 times during the 8 days, 5 for 50 minutes and 1 for 70 minutes. Then a lab class meets those 6 times plus 2 additional 50-minute periods to make time for labs (although I am not sure there is a hard rule about which periods can be lab periods).
Private school on block schedule - 8 total classes per semester. We also have business, computer, art, music, PE, health, ACT prep, student success, theology (all 4 years) as additional requirements.
Interestingly, with a graduation class of 300 boys, no one is taking a foreign language as a senior. Most take Spanish/French or German 1 and 2 and then are done.
We have seven periods plus lunch, so not the same as six periods, but my kids have done the following to preserve an off period or avoid sacrificing a desired elective:
⢠Started foreign language in middle school, which meant reaching the AP level in junior year and not taking an FL senior year.
⢠Took all required PE and Health classes online in the summer (three semesters total; each kid was/will be able to take advantage of a 1-semester exemption in PE offered by our district due to high course load and/or participation in Marching Band â two seasons count for a one-semester exemption for PE, which is the most anyone can take).
⢠D23 took Science Research, which is an independent study and therefore did not require a dedicated period in the school day. This was an elective class taken in addition to science core requirements, but still was workable as an elective because it didnât take up a class period (S26 wonât do this b/c itâs not his thing, but also b/c he already has a packed 7 periods per day and likely will until his last semester of HS).
Labs are just during the regular 55-minute class period. No extra blocks or time for extended labs. Iâm guessing the teachers plan longer labs to run over multiple days.
You have to take stuff over the summer to get to the recommended level. In my case I took 3 AP classes online each summer to get my rigor up so I would be competitive. It really sucks, but it has to be done.
Labs are in zero period (before school) or 7th period (after school). For kids that have an extra class already in zero or 7th (such as a period of orchestra, band, or senior PE make up class), they do try to schedule the lab in the opposite period but itâs not guaranteed and sometimes kids have to split the period between two things (skipping some days of each).
There has been a lot of talk about switching to a block schedule with 8 classes. The idea is controversial.
Band folks take Zero period, and athletic types take PE âafterâ school (Period 8) on sports teams. In either case, they end up with 7 periods. Health is a snooze as everyone must pass, so it becomes a study hall for the top kids.
But the obvious answer is the typical 6 period day becomes a 7 period day for kids aiming at highly selective schools.
Iâm unsure what is controversial about it, so many schools do it. You have 4 Blue classes on Monday and 4 White classes on Tuesday. Then back to Blue Classes on Wednesday. All classes are 75 minutes. Plus we have time for built in study halls 3x week plus some other things. Lots of private schools around here do block, even private middle schools. I feel sorry for kids who only take 5 or 6 classes a year, they miss out on all the electives.
My D has been able to try so many things out with her electives. I think it helps break up the tough classes and helps them figure out what they might be interested in for a career.
I went to a high school where you could only take 6 classes freshman and sophomore year (5 freshman fall), and 5 junior and senior year. My schedule was as following:
Freshman year:
English (year-long)
Algebra II (year-long)
Science (year-long)
History (year-long)
Language level 2 (year-long)
Arts (2 out of 3 terms)
Sophomore year:
English (year-long)
Precalculus (year-long)
Science (year-long)
History (year-long)
Language level 3 (year-long)
Arts (1 term)
Religion and philosophy (2 terms)
Junior year:
English (year-long)
AP-level Calculus BC (year-long)
AP-level Science (year-long)
AP-level History (year-long)
AP-level Language (year-long)
Senior year:
AP-level English (0 classes fall term, 2 classes winter term, 1 class spring term)
Post-AP Math (year-long)
AP-level Economics (year-long)
AP-level Science (2 terms)
AP-level History (1 term)
Post-AP Language (2 terms)
Arts (1 term)
This fulfilled my graduation requirements, and I now attend a school with a <10% acceptance rate. We did not have PE, but rather were required to participate in some form of school-sponsored athletics (either varsity interscholastic or intramural) for at least 2 hours after class 3 days a week. Other extracurriculars (band, newspaper, theater, etc.) were held in the evenings after âsports time.â
Oh, I just meant that itâs controversial at our school, since many people donât like change. I know that lots of schools do it, including lots of schools in our area.
