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It certainly should. If it doesn’t, there is a problem with the teaching. You can find out at your school how well the students do in AP tests at each subject, and if there’s more then one teacher teaching the same subject, find their track record.</p>
<p>S was named a presidential scholar at a state flagship university. Then was offered additional scholarships on top of that. He will pay zero to go to college (and it is a good school).</p>
<p>He will have taken only 2 AP classes by the time he is done with high school, compared to many students at his school and students at the other high schools in the state where the norm is typically 8-10 AP classes if not more. He took the 2 he took because of the teacher or because the subject interested him.</p>
<p>Inside I laugh. While everyone else was in hyper-competitive mode, loading their schedules with APs, leadership, extracurriculars, etc., he was learning about himself, exploring his talents, following his heart and doing his best to satisfy himself. The university chose him as one of 25 out of an incoming class of 4000-5000 students for presidential scholarships.</p>
<p>I admire him for being true to himself; clearly so does the university.</p>
<p>By the time she finishes HS I think my D1 will have 5. I think that’s about average for the kids who take AP at her school. There are a couple dozen or so of the top students who take a lot more, and a good number of students who take fewer. The high school offers 22 AP courses and 28 AP exams. No APs are offered to freshman and sophomores can only take one, so most APs are taken junior and senior years. This is a suburban public high school that sends 97% of its graduates to college. From looking at the school’s profile for last year’s graduating class (435 graduates), I can tell you that 37% of the students took at least one AP exam. The school requires for all but one or two AP classes that you take the exam, so the number of kids who took exams is pretty indicative of how many took AP courses. There were 12 National AP scholars (requires at least 8 exams), 56 AP Scholars with Distinction (requires at leasts 5 exams), 25 AP Scholars with Honor (requires at least 4 exams) and 55 AP Scholars (requires at least 3 exams). AP Scholar awards don’t tell you how many exams a kid took, but they do indicate how many they took and got passing or higher grades on (probably the only relevant measure anyway).</p>
<p>at my high school we were allowed one sophomore year and then could take 2 junior and senior year. We could take more than that, but you needed to get special permission. Most of the top students at my school did 1 sophomore, 2 junior, 3 senior, sometimes 3 junior or 4 senior. but no one i know took more than 8 total and our school does well with getting people into college</p>
<p>I also hate the idea that APs should be taken in areas that don’t interest the student, just to load up. What if the kid just loves English, history, art and languages but not math or science? I’d rather such a kid be able to fully engage in the areas he or she loves, than dilute his/her learning by having to spend hours struggling through an AP science class and trying to keep up with the future biochemiists of the world. </p>
<p>If a kid genuinely likes all areas then that’s great.</p>
<p>Haverford restricts the number of granted AP credits to four. I’m not sure how the other “elite” LACs do this.</p>
<p>(I’ve taken seven ap tests).</p>
<p>At schools which offer students very few APs a student can get away with only taking one, but at schools where the norm is higher you have to take the norm. It’s the norm for your school that is important, not some national norm unfortunately.</p>
<p>My son - who took ten I think - loved getting out of nearly all his distribution credits and being able to start with a more advanced physics class.</p>
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<p>They don’t have to be, even in the AP-crazy world of Montgomery County, Maryland. </p>
<p>My son took fewer APs than he could have so that he could take some electives that were not AP or even honors level, including sociology and digital art. My daughter took fewer APs than she could have because she wanted to stay in the school band for all four years, which took up one period per day (and also isn’t even honors level). Both got into colleges that were entirely appropriate for their overall qualifications, and I doubt that taking one or two more APs – and sacrificing what they really wanted to do – would have made the slightest difference for either of them.</p>
<p>The only time a student might feel forced into taking an AP is when the AP is offered as an alternative to a regular course (as is often the case for English and history), and so many of the good students take the AP course that the regular course ends up being appallingly dumbed down.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’ve never even heard of the National AP Scholar award. All throughout high school, I have taken seven AP courses. That seems like more than enough to me.</p>
<p>Son started college with 52 credits thanks to AP.I have no idea how many he took. Had to take AP to have most vigorous schedule. Allowed him to double major and had all the benefits of an upper classman</p>
<p>Marian – you are right about some students opting to take an AP class because the alternative might be awful. S1 regretted not taking AP Lit at his HS because the Honors version was execrable. Would have had a better grade in AP, too. He had a stinkin’ ART project in senior honors English.</p>
<p>S2 took AP Enviro – was the only soph in his class. My sense is that folks think Enviro isn’t as tough because it’s not just science. It is highly interdisciplinary – and that is why S liked it so much. Also ties nicely into some college requirements at some of the IR programs he’s considering, believe it or not.</p>
<p>Neither of my kids have spent two hours a night on HW for an AP class – ever. The only class that has come close to that level of regular work is S2’s IB English, both pre-IB and the two-year HL.</p>
<p>DadII, S1’s HS offered a number of classes that used AP as the minimum level for the curriculum – so while the transcript lists semester-long courses in Genetics and Cell Physiology, the students take the AP Bio exam and almost everyone gets 5s. There is a physics course officially labeled “AP Physics C” which is in fact the same sequence physics majors take at the top-ten rated physics dept. sequence at the flagship. Pre-requisite: MV/Diff Eq. Over half the class got to the late stages of USAPhO just by taking the class and doing no extra prep. Analysis I is the BC Calc curriculum done in one semester and then they keep on going from there. The school does make these distinctions clear in the school report.</p>
<p>Just because a course is labeled AP doesn’t mean the teacher is doing a good job with presenting the AP curriculum, and just because a course isn’t labeled AP on the transcript doesn’t mean the kids aren’t learning a heck of a lot.</p>
<p>I have not taken any AP’s and I am a junior. My high school is very tough and the honors classes are like AP’s. Our high school has about 15 AP classes, but there is only one AP class that sophomores can take. There are very few kids who take all AP’s junior and/or senior year. Out of the kids that take them, most take 1 junior year and 1-2 senior year. You see the occasional A+++ student take all AP’s but that is about it. I think only about 1/3 of our class takes them - not all kids take them at all. I worry that I haven’t taken any, but I have taken a good amount of Honors classes. I was afraid I would not do well in an AP class, so I didn’t choose to take one. Our school doesn’t rank, but I’m told I’m in the top 1/3.</p>
<p>D has taken/is taking a total of 6 AP classes, which is typical for the very top students in her school. The only AP available to sophomores is AP World History which was the first one she took. We were told to expect 2 hours of homework for each class period per AP ,she has never spent that much time on them and has always done well. School is rated in the top 200 per the Jay Mathews “Challenge Index” which is based on AP data.</p>
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<p>I think we have the same kid, only for mine it’s sociology and theater. </p>
<p>I will freely admit that my attutide towards his class scheduling meeting every year goes towards casting my mind elsewhere because between regular classes, AP, duel credit, what Texas requires and what colleges are looking I feel the overwhelming urge to take a nap. Right there in the counselors office. </p>
<p>My hat is off to our guidance counselor, who somehow keeps it all straight and in balance.</p>
<p>Couple of observaions wrt APs at DD school.
<p>Parent of Ivy Hopeful- at our kids school you need special permission to take more than 3 AP’s as a senior (probably one kid a year does so) and no AP’s are offered to Juniors although a few elect to take the AP exam in History and Bio after taking the pretty rigorous regular courses (and most score 4’s or 5’s).</p>
<p>So the “norm” for the high performing seniors is 3 AP tests by the time they finish HS. A handful will have taken 4 or 5. Nobody will have taken more than 6 or 7 (it’s just impossible to fit them in) and many of the kids who take 2-3 do great in college admissions.</p>
<p>I cannot imagine taking 7-9. Even if a kid does an online course to get around the fact that you cannot physically be in two places at once during the school day, the work load would mean no time for anything else.</p>
<p>So it varies- and in our part of the world, 2-3 AP’s is quite respectable.</p>
<p>My D has enrolled in 6 courses this year. She’ll have a total of 13 when she graduates; 3 her sophomore year, 4 her junior and the 6 this year. She has not found the workload to be unbearable and has had time to be involved in activities. I think it just depends on the student- if you have a genuine interest in the subject matter I don’t see any reason you shouldn’t enroll. Our school doesn’t limit enrollment. I think my D is the exception at her school in the amount of courses she’s taken- 3-4 is probably more the normal maximum.</p>
<p>The number of APs that a student can handle may depend on both the student and the school. There are kids who have great academic ability/work habits/intellectual interest who can take on a heavy workload with no problem, while other kids may only be able to handle 1 or 2 APs at a time. Of course, many high school students can’t handle any APs at all. Not everyone is going to be ready for college-level work in high school. A year or two can make a big difference in readiness. There are some college students who take grad school courses during their undergrad years, but most don’t because they’re not ready. No one seems concerned about undergrads who take only undergrad classes.</p>
<p>But the teacher is the other big factor. Some can be far, far, far more demanding than others. One of D1’s AP classes has a really wonderful teacher who has monstrously large expectations for the kids. Between the caliber of the students at the school, and the workload for this one class, I think that there is simply no way that students could take on multiple APs if all the classes were taught at this level. I’m sure we all know of disconnects between course grading and AP grading, where students are getting A’s in the class but get 1’s or 2’s on the AP. The mismatch can go the other way, with students getting B’s or C’s in class yet getting 5’s on the AP. </p>
<p>Does anyone know if the increase in AP coursework over the past couple of decades has led to greater “success” in college? For example, I’m wondering if students who got low AP scores still did “better” in college because they’d had early exposure to a college learning environment.</p>
<p>“Does anyone know if the increase in AP coursework over the past couple of decades has led to greater “success” in college? For example, I’m wondering if students who got low AP scores still did “better” in college because they’d had early exposure to a college learning environment.”</p>
<p>Good question. I know that at my daughter’s school her professors in Gen Chem and Gen Biology noted that she was far better prepared for work in the labs than the kids who had received waivers because they had scored 4s or 5s on AP Bio and AP Chem. Daughter’s school did not offer APs, but did offer science electives for which you could receive SUNY credits. She said that the profs would like the school to stop the practice of granting waivers or credits for AP courses but admissions had been successful so far in blocking any attempt to change current policies.</p>
<p>Oh my goodness, what if a student doesn’t get into the “top” schools, defined as the top 20? I mean, wouldn’t that be awful? What would the people in the old country think? The dishonor! The shame! The student couldn’t possibly get a good education or be intellectually challenged anywhere else, and he or she will be lucky to find a job flipping burgers!</p>
<p>Gag. And these people think they have the corner on “prestige.”. LOL. Tjere is nothing prestigious about the slavish chasing of brand names just for the sake of the brand name.</p>