<p>What would you say, parents, if something like this happens?</p>
<p>Your '12 student has been studying French for four years and AP is next. Now, she wants to take Calculus III from a nearby college instead of that AP. Grade or GPA is not an issue.</p>
<p>So funny you should ask this question! D has almost the same choice to make, and we have decided that she will forego AP Spanish. She has 4 years of Spanish on her transcript (including middle school) and her course load next year, even without AP SPanish, wlll demonstrate rigor.</p>
<p>Taking Calc III demonstrates rigor and trumps AP French, IMHO.</p>
<p>Adding: welcome, hellUVA! I know the Parents of HS '10 “adopted” a couple of students and shared the whole application and acceptance process with them, providing guidance and support along the way. I think we’d be happy to do the same ;)</p>
<p>Any chance of taking the AP exam this year? In this area, AP in a foreign language is the 4th year.</p>
<p>lake42as - that is exactly the choice my S12 has decided to make. He is taking 5+ APs next year (plus English and Gym) and decided AP German will not be in his schedule. He will have 4 years of German (counting German I in Middle school) and has no interest in continuing.</p>
<p>I think it is fine.</p>
<p>Thank you for the welcome! I hope to consider you guys my CC “parents”. I’d be happy to offer another student’s perspective if needed.</p>
<p>Welcome HellUVA! I’d love to have a student here that appreciates the collective knowledge of CC parents, unlike my own DS12, who thinks I have 3 eyes and no knowledge.</p>
<p>DS12 is dropping Spanish 201 as well. He has 4 years of Spanish, so fine with me. He is being insane though and taking 3 science classes (these each have two double period classes each week), and he wants to take AP Calc, without taking Pre-calc. He has talked to several people and thinks that Pre-calc is mostly review with some new info thrown in. He wants to self teach this summer and start AB calc in the fall. I think it is a disaster waiting to happen. I believe he could do it, but that he won’t really self study, and therefore is dooming himself. Keeping my mouth shut at home, which means the only place I have to vent is here on CC. Thanks for listening!</p>
<p>So, next year he is taking on:</p>
<p>AP English Lit
AP Chem
AP Environmental Science
Honors Physics
AP Art - with an emphasis in photography
AP Calc AB
Economics 1/2 year, but required by HS
History 1/2 year by required by HS</p>
<p>If it was me, I’d have him drop APES and just take Honors Pre-calc, but what do I know!</p>
<p>As far as not taking AP foreign language (a 5th year), I don’t see any problem with it, but my son isn’t applying to Ivy-level schools either, so that may be a whole different world. S has a credit from middle school he could keep, but it brings his GPA down so he will drop the credit. Our school doesn’t offer AP Spanish - level IV and V are both through the IB program. He’ll take level V next year, but if he didn’t want to, I wouldn’t really worry about it - the schools he’s applying to want to see at least 3 years of foreign language, so we’re taking them at their word about that.</p>
<p>geogirl - I’ve heard people say that Pre-Calc isn’t really all that necessary. I think his schedule looks good. AP Calc AB doesn’t take a super fast pace, so he’ll probably be fine skipping pre-Calc. of course, courses at different high school vary a lot - what does his math teacher say?</p>
<p>S has until early next week to figure out his schedule and we’re really having trouble. We’re trying to figure out if he’s going to do an independent research/study project, but nailing down the details on that are tough.</p>
<p>do any of you have experience with online AP Calc? our HS is small with only one section of AP Calc, and it conflicts with her off-campus program. I’ve looked at several local colleges and univerisities, but their schedules either have similar conflicts, or are too far away, especially given that she is already traveling 50 miles roundtrip to the off-campus program.</p>
<p>she is not a CC-level math genius, but she has always been a strong math student on our schools most rigorous track, has great SAT and PSAT math scores, but is struggling a bit this year with an integrated math and physics class. I can’t tell if her issues are with material or the teacher, but it’s the first time she’s ever had anything less than an A in math.</p>
<p>so I guess my question is, for an “average” smart kid, will she be successful doing AP Calc on her own?</p>
<p>geogirl1 - at our high school, pre-calc is harder than the AP calc classes! most of this has to do with the pre-calc teacher - very rigorous and a hard grader. But my kids, though they didn’t get stellar grades with her, were very prepared for AB or BC AP calc. But as said before, this probably varies widely from school to school.</p>
<p>PRJ - When my S1 had exhausted our schools Math/Calc offerings after Junior year another parent suggested an on-line course thru this program:
[EPGY</a> Mathematics Department](<a href=“http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/math/]EPGY”>http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/math/)</p>
<p>In the end he opted to just take AP Stats, but I thought the program looked interesting.
Good luck!</p>
<p>thanks kttmom. can you describe the experience a little? </p>
<p>I’m trying to get a sense of how an online class works and if they vary by school or program. her GC recommended Indiana University because our HS automatically approves those classes. but she described it as reading and working on your own, without a human teacher at the other end, or any online community with other students. this would be our first online experience and I’m just trying to visualize how they work.</p>
<p>D is not one who has exhauted the math curriculum or needs extra challenge - she’s just an average smart kid who has a scheduling issue ;)</p>
<p>There are lots of options for online AP Calculus. My daughter took AP Calculus at school, but took multivariable calculus online.</p>
<p>For each online class, you need to know whether it’s self-paced or scheduled, whether there’s a synchronous classroom or not, what kind of teacher/tutor is available, if there’s a printed book that is used or if it’s all web-based or CD based, whether homework counts for a grade and how many homework sets there are, and whether tests require proctors.</p>
<p>My daughter’s multivariable calculus class used MathEverywhere (a CD or download) as the textbook. It was self-paced. There was a tutor assigned to her from the college, plus a helpdesk she could also contact. Homework was sent to the tutor, I think. There were only 2 tests and they did require a proctor that was a non-relative. </p>
<p>Since it was self-paced, once she got sick that fall she fell “behind” in her online class since she spent her effort catching up on her in-person classes. That’s the biggest risk of a self-paced class – it’s good because you can go through as fast as you’re able, but it can be bad if you need external milestones to stay on track.</p>
<p>Students have to be better about reaching out for help when they take an online class. It’s a balancing act – you want to struggle enough with new ideas and problems to figure it out if you can, but still not struggle so long that you’re frustrated and don’t get the assignments done.</p>
<p>mathinokc - that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. now I know what to search for. thank you so much!</p>
<p>Two questions: Personal Finance/Economics (1 semester) is a graduation requirement at my school. If I take Dual Personal Finance/Economics for a year, I would benefit from a gpa boost as the class is weighted. Is the GPA boost worth it? Or should I take it for half a year then take Astronomy the other half. I am not a science person but I wanted to demonstrate that I’m not afraid of taking science courses (will also be taking AP Chem next year).</p>
<p>Second question, do your children stress over being denied from college? I have an overwhelming fear that I will be rejected almost everywhere I apply. Nothing people say in attempts to calm these fears work and I wonder if I’m alone in this fear.</p>
<p>PRJ - My S1 didn’t end up taking the on-line class. He opted to just take AP Stats at his HS senior year.</p>
<p>If you go to the website I posted it gives the details you are lookiing for - self-pased, etc. </p>
<p>HellUVA - I would go for GPA boost if I were you. Astronomy will not impress AdComs - especially if you are taking AP Chem (that will impress them!).</p>
<p>As far as being afraid of getting rejected, my theory is you should have at least one rejection in the end or you didn’t set the bar high enough! My kids knew they were playing the lottery at Ivy schools and therefore should expect rejections / hope for acceptances. If you have selected a good mix of safety/match/reach schools there should be few surprises - or at least only the good kind of surprise! and you will still have plenty of good choices in the end.</p>
<p>kttmom-that is an interesting theory about not aimng high enough. I will try this tactic with DS when we discuss colleges again. He dropped most of his reaches after his 2nd ACT test, so that he stays in the top of the composite rankings. Seems he wants colleges that really want him as well. It is a sound plan for financial aid, but I would like to see him stretch himself. Of course, by knocking these schools off the list, he no longer needs to take SAT II tests. He seems to be determined to fin his dream school with the least amout of work possible, while I seem determined to overwhelm him with more and more “small LACS”.</p>
<p>kttmom -we kind of had that feeling when S was accepted to all of his schools, but we thought we had reaches on there, and he’s completely happy where he is, so I guess it worked out OK. I think 2012S is going to put a real reach or two on his list. I hate rejection, but he doesn’t seem as sensitive to it as I am. </p>
<p>On the other hand - I’m having a frustrating week trying to get some questions answered by S’s high school. grrrr.</p>
<p>I would like to do a little bit of bragging…</p>
<p>I just received an email from D2´s counselor at her new school. She told me that D2 got the highest PSAT score at her school (did not make the NMS cut off), and she is nominating D2 for the school´s English award.</p>
<p>We were very concerned about D2 moving to a new school junior year (with both academic and social adjustment), and wondering if she is going to be able to get to know teachers well enough to get good recommendation letters.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D, Oldfort!</p>
<p>oldfort, that’s great news! congrats to you and your D!</p>