@ucbalumnus, do you think the credit for IB Math AA will be the same as the current Math HL? This is the last testing year for Math HL and next year the test will be the new math classes.
I love the idea of DE and we have a 5-year high school plan that ends up with kids graduating with 50+ credits. But until that 5th year, all the college classes are either taught at the high school or online. That part doesn’t interest my kid so much. The 5th year are at a community college. I don’t know if they can just do 1 or 2 classes DE if they are not in the official program. I imagine they’d either be one of the online classes or he’d have to get to a community college.
Thank you for the help here, everyone. I am not impressed with his counselor as far as guidance for college goes. There isn’t a lot of time given to parents or kids on options, really. We send a few kids each year to Michigan, more to MSU, Michigan Tech, Western Michigan, etc. I don’t think anyone goes to anywhere more elite than Michigan. Our PSAT in Oct is optional and a Saturday morning. I remember one NMSF 2 years ago, but that’s it. So, just an average school, which is totally fine, but going in a different direction doesn’t get a lot of support. And, I think that maybe if more kids put more effort into picking key classes, they might have a higher chance of getting in to Michigan.
Disagree with this. Our HS goes through the AB recap portion of BC in 6 weeks.
Our HS has the same for some classes. I never understood why my D was one of only 3 students who took the two extra exams to get a grade in Pitt’s Physics for Engineering course. As most of the schools she looked at gave transfer credit for a C in a college course but only a 5 on the AP Physics C test, it was odd. (Maybe many of them didn’t take the AP test.)
Then again, I recommend students take Physics 1. Even following a college\AP curriculum, HS Physics just isn’t as rigorous, IMHO. Even with an A- from Pitt, she was challenged with Purdue Physics 1.
If this isn’t already in a sticky somewhere, it should be.
@RichInPitt, speed and scope are different. At your son’s school, they probably blew through it because they’ve already seen it in AB. Every school is different, but that’s an atypical approach. I got my info from my son who has taken AB/BC and took math through Tensor Calculus and my sister who was a math major and taught AB/BC. They both said BC is 25-30% new material. According to College Board, BC has 10 units. All but the last two are in AB.
First, there isn’t much more “elite” than Michigan.
Second, and more important, don’t get caught in this game. Elite means one thing…popular. It doesn’t mean better. There is no “best” school, for any student. They all have strengths and weaknesses. There are though groups of schools that will clump together based on the criteria each student decides are important to them. These may include, but aren’t limited to school size, class size, the use of or lack of TAs, how early one is admitted to their major, how much practical experience they get, and net price. It may also include criteria that many eschew, but are very relevant if they will better a student’s experience. This might include weather, the ability to travel abroad, big time sports, or access to support for their hobbies. Skiing, hiking and surfing come to mind. What matters is what matters to the student.
My son’s boss is a well known authority on what he does. He’s worked for some very powerful companies in his area of expertise. He went to Michigan Tech.
Engineering is very egalitarian. Those who can do, rise. Those who struggle, don’t. There isn’t a ton of correlation between the can dos and the school they went to. It’s more about curiosity, horsepower, drive and work ethic. Those qualities rise everywhere.
Don’t agonize (although at that stage, I’m sure I did). If he gets good grades and makes the best of his opportunities, he’ll be fine anywhere.
There’s an easy solution to this conundrum that I learned from @ucbalumnus. Get the old tests and the syllabus from the school in question and take them. Completely foreign…repeat. Rusty…brush up on Kahn and move on. Piece of cake…have a fun summer and move on.
My son did just that at a school, like Purdue, notorious for grade deflation. He started in Physics 2 and an honors section of Calc 3 and did very well in both.
The moral of the story…not all AP courses are created equally.
You mean precalculus, physics, and chemistry. Most engineering major degree programs start math at calculus 1, so the must have in high school is precalculus. Calculus in high school is a bonus (and highly recommended if available to the student), and may give the student advanced placement in math in college.