Son is a Soph at private school in NE. Strong student (no B’s), hopeful business major, and possible baseball recruit. Need to make a quick decision.
Regarding Junior Year Schedule, he is seriously considering - BC Calc, AP Macro, AP Latin, and Honors Physics and Regular English.
Last class in consideration is whether he takes AP Stats, too (likely a strength for him), which would leave him with ONLY Linear Algebra Senior Year - very difficult class they claim that is reserved for top math students (no athletes take it which does not matter maybe). He is likely one of those, but on the low end of top at his school. I do not want his schedule to eliminate him from consideration at top colleges. My guess is, without baseball, he would be a top 50, but maybe not a top 10 type.
What should he do? Take AP Stats now and worry about senior year later? Take an elective? Take an Honors or AP in something else other than the 2nd math? Goal is to show academic excellence through grades and schedule.
Far less worried about Stats junior year than the senior year schedule/math situation. Also, someone said that very few of the top athletes (which may or may not be him) would have his schedule.
A potential business major would have zero need for linear algebra, so there is no need to double up math as a junior. He should fill the open slot with a course that interests him.
If he wants to show additional strength in schedule, he can step up from regular English.
And as a follow-on… selfishly thinking of my son. How important do you feel it is for him to take an AP test if it is offered? How important do you feel the score might be?
In full disclosure, not concerned about college credit, so please consider that. His school has gotten colder on AP and testing - can’t decide if I agree.
Assuming taking the exam isn’t a requirement if the HS, and excluding senior year, since the answer would be different, I can see no valid reason to not take the AP test if taking the course, assuming the test fee isn’t an issue. If you’re not happy with the score, you don’t report it.
Now, since somebody will invariably come up with the minority exceptions to the above, yes, some schools “suggest” you report all AP scores.
For admissions, in general (note the qualifier), AP scores carry little to no weight in the decisions process.
If that means the school no longer teaches AP courses, but offer equivalent courses not labeled as AP (which is the case for many top schools), then my above answer may differ
I don’t know why it won’t be offered. Our school requires the test, you need to pay the fees by the second week of school, otherwise you can’t take the class. Taking the test is a requirement, passing isn’t (they also have final exams). Some of my kids did very well on all, one did not (put zero effort into them). He did not submit his scores.
Wow. I’ve never heard of that before. What if a family doesn’t have enough money to afford the test? I hope there’s financial assistance for poorer kids. I don’t think this type of requirement is common. Tests are purely optional at our school.
Our HS also requires all AP class students to take the tests. This is known up front. The school does have financial assistance if requested. Registration for the AP tests is done within the first couple of weeks of school.
If he has a good shot as a recruited athlete, all he has to do academically is pass a preread. Beyond that, they will take the stronger athlete. If he is not going the recruited athlete path, then yes, more rigor will matter. But for business, BC calc is enough. So I agree, stats sr yr eitherway.
I did not mean that it would not be offered. I am not sure of that right now. I do know that some courses are AP equivalent and not AP - just need to get more info overall on this.
There is zero expectation from any US college that a student take an AP exam when the course isn’t offered
Whether the student should take an AP exam for an AP-equivalent course is a big “it depends” for credit purposes, but a big “no” for admissions purposes, generally
Keep AP Stats for senior year.
With 4 solid APs + Honors physics his schedule will be considered rigorous enough.
He can take any class that looks interesting to him on the schedule- doesn’t have to be an AP (or could be AP Human Geo or AP Psych, which are easier).
That’s crazy, I am in an almost identical situation, however, I am a junior at a top private school in the country. My classes next year: Honors Calc B/C, Advanced Calc-based physics, Latin 5, Econ, Random English Elective I get assigned. My school does not worry about APs and the classes are considered harder and college-level. I am debating whether to add Stats my senior year or not bc I have college apps. I know this doesn’t answer your question, but I can give advice as a Junior in a private school. This year (my junior year), I took 6 classes: Honors Precalc, Honors Chem, Latin 4, American Studies English (honors), American Studies History (honors), and an elective each semester. I am also a highly competitive athlete at the international level, so I missed a decent amount of school for events. But this year has been the hardest of my life, but very doable. It is important to have the core 5 classes every year, and I would recommend 6 classes junior year, so adding an elective, probably humanities, that he find interesting. The two electives I chose, I genuinely was interested and opened the doors to what I wanted to study and learn more about. Also, electives tend to be on the easier side so it is not as much of a burden as some of the other classes. I would push Stats to senior year, he is very lucky to be able to do that and it looks great for business. And then take 4 other core classes senior year. That way he is able to have time for college apps and if he really wants he can add an elective senior spring (would definitely not recommend). APs look great, especially coming from public schools, however, at private schools classes may be harder and have different focuses. My school is focused on mastering concepts and ideas and really going deep, but APs are all about memorization. I do go to one of the best private schools and that really shows in the learning, and I have 0 APs but still a strong application. The only reason is to test out of classes in some colleges. Hope this helps!
Linear algebra is typically a sophomore level math course in college, but does not typically have a particularly fearsome reputation compared to other college math courses. However, it is different from calculus, so students who are used to calculus and related math may find it something they are not used to. It is not normally needed by business majors, except perhaps those aiming for quantitative finance or PhD study in business. Economics majors may need it if attending a college with a high math economics major, or if they want to go on to PhD study in economics.
It may be better to have the AP scores for possible subject credit, rather than waste time and tuition repeating material already learned.
Based on your writing, I think you are attending a same private school as my child in CT.
Quick question, How is American studies structured? My child is looking to take honors US History (Am studies) but just regular English as she didn’t want to do blocks and keep the two subjects separate.
In hindsight do you recommend taking both honors history and honors English like yourself ? She will be a junior and take Honors Chem, Honor Calc AB, Honors USH, Regular English and Spanish 3.
Wondering if she should push herself to take Honors English or if the workload will be too much. Also she will take Calc AB instead of BC but wondering if she should get a tutor to study a part of AB during summer and go straight to BC despite not taking honors Pre calc which is a pre req fur BC at this school.