<p>There is a big difference between honors & AP/IB from what I can tell at D’s school (there is also a regular level.) It’s not so pronounced during freshman year (no AP’s allowed) and even sophomore year (generally only 1 AP “allowed”) But junior & senior year there is a big difference in terms of what can be covered in a classroom, generally because of the motivation of the students. The kids in AP/IB expect to have a load of work and be challenged. The kids in honors may or may not have that attitude and if you’re in a class that has a majority of kids that aren’t engaged then things move slower.</p>
<p>For sciences, you can’t take the AP version of Chem or Bio unless you’ve already taken the Honors version of it, so it’s not one or the other. It’s one or both. In English the reading lists between the Honors & AP classes are different along with the writing assignments. </p>
<p>3 levels seems to work for our school, but it’s always so interesting to read these types of threads and see what a variety of options (and administrivia) there is across the country.</p>