Many Easy AP's vs. very few hard AP's

Applying to College
1

At my high school, there are some Honors and AP classes considered notoriously difficult, while others are considered a joke. How would it be fair if someone who took all the easy weighted classes get A’s in all of them has a better transcript while the one who took a few notoriosuly difficult with occasional B’s gets a lower GPA?

I have real examples of two seniors at my high school like this.

Student A:
Freshmen Year:
-English 9
-Algebra 2
-World History
-Biology
-Art 1
-PE

Sophomore Year:
-English 10 Honors (considerably mediocre difficulty)
-Precalculus
-AP Human Geography (so easy!)
-Chemistry Honors (basically CP chem!)
-Art 2
-PE

Junior:
-AP English (medium difficulty)
-AP Calculus AB (easy-medium difficulty)
-Art Honors (are you serious? Art “Honors”)
-US history honors (basically regular us history)
-AP Computer Science (EVERYONE gets an A)
-Chinese 4 (its native language)

Senior:
-AP Lit (same as AP english)
-AP Statistics (a joke, so easy)
-Art honors (facepalm)
-AP chinese (easy because native language!)
-AP Gov (really easy!!!)
-AP environmental science (really easy)

Student B:
Freshmen Year:
-English 9
-Algebra 2 Honors (considerably very hard)
-World History
-French 1
-Biology
-PE

Sophomore Year:
-English 10
-PreCalculus Honors (very time consuming, hardest in difficulty, even harder than AP Calculus BC)
-AP Biology (extremely time consuming and hard, with afterschool labs and such)
-French 2
-Human Geography
-PE

Junior Year:
-English 11
-AP Calculus BC (a bit easier in comparison to precalc honorsm but still very hard)
-AP Chemistry (exponentially harder than Chemistry Honors)
-French 3
-AP US History (exponentially harder than US History Honors)
-PE

Senior Year:
-English 23
-AP Statistics (no math to take, easy!)
-AP Physics C (hardest hardest hardest shit of all)
-AP French Language (mediocre difficulty)
-AP Gov (easy!)
-PE

A few notes:
-honors classes are weighted, but are known for being extremely easy, almost like CP classes
-honors math classes are notoriously hard, even harder than the AP classes

You can see that:
-Student A took most of the easy honors and AP classes that are considered a joke, but student B was the one who actually had to work hard in those hard classes such as Precalculus honors and AP Physics C.
-Student B took the initiative to take a new language rather than take his native language, a easy way out although he could have done that
-Student B took the harder classes (AP physics as oppoesed to APES, yet getting the same weight)
-Student B took many years of hard honors classes that requireed many hours of extgra studying for yers, yet is only half a year ahead of student A (with Calc BC instead of Calc AB).

What is your opinion, overall, about this system of GPA weighing and trascripts. An “honors” tacked onto the end of a Chemistry “honors” and precalculus “honors” may look the same, but it takes a lot to get one than the other.

2

To me, it depends on their reasoning.If the reasoning for student As choices were simply that they were interested in those, they’ll look just as good as B. If it’s just for the easy A, it’ll probably be evident by other aspects of their application. In the essays, if the latter, student B will probably have a stronger essay, as they probably also challenge themselves out of school, and thus better extracurricular activities.
These two have excellent schedules and as long as they’re both in the A- high B range, I’d say they both have pretty competitive grades.

3

Don’t worry about other people; do your best work in the areas that interest you and live a good life. And please get over rudely calling certain classes “a joke,” because they may be meaningful, in ways you can’t consider, to those teaching and taking them. You seem to think that an avalanche of APs is superior to what you call “easy” classes, but there is a growing number of educators who are not that impressed or happy with this approach to education. Best wishes.

4

@snarlatron , I agree with you, and I also love your user name. My D has done 7 AP classes, and a self study in AP Psych, on which she got a 5. Apparently AP psych is regarded as easy, but she was able to show in her applications that she has a real interest in psychology. Not every kid wants to take physics and biology.

5

my son had his transcripts pre-read by Ivies and tip-top LACs.

They generally know the difference between easy APs like psych and stats, and real APs like Bio, Chem and APUSH.

6

My D has taken some of the harder APs (calc, physics, world history) - and now she’s taking some AP classes she loves. AP studio art, AP art History and AP music theory. She’s getting good scores in those classes not because they are easy, but because she has spent hours upon hours for 10+ years doing art and music on her own. I dont see these as easy As when I see the time and effort put into these classes.

7

Private schools generally know the difference in rigor between the APs. However, many public schools use GPA and SAT/ACT formulas, so a higher weighted GPA filled with easy APs/honors may very well trump a more rigorous schedule with lower grades.

8

^^^ great news! The real purpose of APs is to let students do advanced work in subjects that interest them, that they are good at. For many they have turned into grim trophy building, robbing them of curiosity and the love of learning.

9

When top publics like UC Berkeley and UCLA have 4.3-4.4 average weighted GPAs (and even higher for Engineering), that pretty much means taking mostly honors/AP classes just to get your foot in the door.

10

I got a B in AP Computer Science, it was harder than AP Physics for me because it was so foreign and new. However, this teacher sees that I put in time and effort and will be writing my recommendations for summer programs and for college.

11

The UC’s cap the number of weighted classes for the UC GPA calculation.

I think AP Computer Sci is known to be difficult.

12

Sorry but you sound really arrogant calling some classes a “joke” and it sounds like you’re looking down on anyone who doesn’t take AP classes as unintelligent.
I’m a senior and was ecstatic to find out I got A-'s in AP Calc AB and AP Gov, apparently easy classes, so does that make me a joke who has no hope of getting into a good college?

I don’t think someone who has always been interested in Psychology with almost perfect grades/EC’s/test scores will get rejected from Harvard JUST because they took AP Psych, a “joke” when they could have taken AP Chem.

13

Certainly, admissions officers are aware that, say, AP Calculus BC is a very demanding AP class by and large. And, surely they know that AP Human Geography is on the lighter side. That being said, take what you enjoy. If you’re really interested in geography––and can communicate that effectively––I don’t see the harm.

14

lol i agree

15

thanks guys for your opinions!

And btw, I don’t mean to be rude or arrogant when I call certain classes a joke.

Its just that, for example, at my school, some honors classes are basically the same level as the CP equivalent (maybe with 10 minutes extra hw each night) , yet you receive an extra grade point on your GPA.

Some teachers who teach AP classes such as AP Comp Sci, AP Calc AB, and AP Human Geo practically give out A’s because certain teachers inflate grades (i.e.: 90% of AP Comp Sci students have an A simply for putting in effort, most AP Calc AB teachers allow students to retake tests to replace bad scores as many times as possible, defeating the purpose of set test dates, etc)

16

Certain AP classes might be “a joke” at your high school because of the particular teachers, but colleges will judge your APs based on their overall reputations. For example, Calc BC > Calc AB > Stats, even if your high school has easy Calc teachers and a tough Stats teacher. Same thing with AP CS over AP Human Geo, even if both teachers happen to be easy graders.

17

You’re missing the point. Yes, there may be “easier” AP than others but schools are also looking at that you took the more rigorous version of a particular subject. They aren’t necessarily comparing AP courses with other AP courses. Student B gets away with taking on-level English over AP Lang or AP Lit. Why? Truth be told, it really looks like Student A and Student B have different interests so their AP coursework may be different.

Further, don’t put down classes just because you’ve judged them “easy”. My daughter took AP ES, not because it was easy but because she was interested in environmental science which was she further showed by her environmental summer camps and activities. Again, high school students should be pursuing what interests them, not following a “formula”.of what they think is “hard” versus “easy”.

18

Exactly! ^ If a kid claims they want to study medicine, and takes AP Stats, AP Psych, and AP Human Geo, that would raise flags maybe. And fwiw, my daughter, an excellent student, is taking AP env sci, and it is certainly not easy. She’s a little disappointed, as she thought she would coast through and has instead discovered much work and studying is involved. Poor dear, haha!

19

One practical issue I haven’t seen mentioned: at my D’s large public high school, many AP’s are only offered for one period each semester. The most “in demand” ones such as AP Calc AB or BC, APUSH, AP Gov, AP Econ may be offered twice. But others like AP World History, AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Stats, AP Psych, are only offered one period a day. So students have to prioritize when selecting classes. My D took AP Psych as a senior basically because after she scheduled her other classes (Calc III, AP Lit, AP Bio, Physics Honors (no AP Physics offered), and AP Gov/Econ) AP Psych was the only honors or AP class that fit in the available time slot in her schedule.

I’m sure AdComs are aware of these constraints. So when comparing the two scenarios described by the OP, keep in mind that the AdCom can’t be sure how much was a conscious choice to take easier AP’s and how much was dictated by schedule constraints.

Also read the recent Frank Bruni column about rethinking college admissions. Part of the report he discusses urges schools to send a clear message that admissions committees won’t be impressed by more than a few AP’s. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/opinion/rethinking-college-admissions.html?_r=0

20

At many colleges, APs have been losing their shine over the last decade. Students often take them for the wrong reasons, teachers teach to a test, and the students memorize and forget. Few profs consider high school AP work to be equivalent to actual college work. I don’t teach History, but I once asked a room full of students, most of whom were APUSH veterans, a basic question about American History and only one kid could answer. I said, what did you learn in APUSH? “Oh, we don’t remember any of that.”