<p>Scores avaliable on March 31st per College Board. D thought the writing prompt was very odd, but when she talked about her essay, I felt she did a good job thinking it out. Who knows at this point! She was exhausted last night: long, odd week at school, SAT and then a Cookie Booth, followed by unloading/reloading my car. She did work on some homework last night, I don’t want to think about what it looks like!</p>
<p>Hope everyone gets good news on March 31st on SAT. I get the feeling CC will be very busy that day.</p>
<p>If my kid’s HS does not follow AP curricula, does it still help to take AP tests? They do have rigorous courses. She could take AP Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Chem, and Physc C. My D isn’t interested in getting credits. She will have a lot going on in May. I am inclined to tell her to skip. Would that hurt her chances in college admissions?</p>
<p>Iglooo:</p>
<p>DD is in a similar situation. Her school offers AP courses in math, science, and languages, but not in English or history. Most kids still take one of the AP English tests, but mine is going to take a pass this May at least. Does your school recommend anything, or has your kid asked the guidance counselor?</p>
<p>My opinion is that the self study necessary to make sure all the gaps are filled in makes it not worth it for my kid – this year is so busy. On the other hand, a bad AP result is more easily buried than a bad SAT score, so maybe it would be worth taking a shot?</p>
<p>There is no AP English at DDs prep school, but most of the junior class takes one of the AP English tests. DD is taking lit. GC says it correlates well to SAT CR scores.</p>
<p>D managed to spook me last week by failing to turn in the AP form, even though we had filled it out and written the check a month ago (it needs parental signature). I don’t really know what’s going on with her. I did catch it before the deadline, and she did find and turn in the original form. (I had emailed a second with credit card authorization, but they still needed her signature.) I don’t know where her energy is going, and perhaps I don’t really want to know!</p>
<p>In any event, she’s taking English Literature, Chemistry, Computer Science, Calc-BC, and French. </p>
<p>mathinokc: D thought hard about Language vs. Literature, and decided that since it’s completely unclear which will be the more helpful, she’d take the one that looked like more fun.</p>
<p>Angry Dad, when we were in New Haven last summer we stopped for a clam pie at Pepe’s. The server took one look at D’12 and me and brought <em>her</em> a refrigerator magnet with the check. When I put it in my purse, she chastised me. :-)</p>
<p>Iglooo: I don’t think it’s worth taking AP tests if the kid isn’t likely to score well. That being said, I think scoring well has much more to do with how the kid test than the content on the exam. So if you have a kid who generally does well on standardized exams, it’s worth doing.</p>
<p>D’s school also has no courses labeled “AP” but kids take a lot of the exams. Classwork should prepare her for Chem and CS. She’ll have to remember calculus. French and English she’ll need to review on her own.</p>
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<p>LOL JenPam - When S got home form taking the SAT yesterday we asked how it went. He said he “went all ostrich on it.” I’m interpreting that to mean he thinks it went well. I’m glad I have you all to obsess, I mean discuss, this stuff with too!</p>
<p>S’s AP English Lit teacher is encouraging him to take the AP English Lang as well this spring. She said that students who have done well in her class in the Lit section, also do well in the Language exam. I’m unsure what advantage it will give him. </p>
<p>He is definitely taking 3 AP exams, Eng Lit, Chemistry and Human Geography, he may also take one of the Physics exams. I worry that adding another exam on top of those, along with finals in 2 U classes over a two week period, could affect how well he does in other exams.</p>
<p>He needs to sign up soon, so I guess I’ll show S the schedule for that time period and see if he thinks he can handle it.</p>
<p>geo and PN, We never obssess!</p>
<p>Angry Dad - My D’s GC is mum on AP tests. Rumors are that they don’t support the tests. They can be a bit ideological. If they don’t believe in it, they don’t support whether it’s useful or not. Although classes are highly rigorous at my D’s HS, they don’t teach to test, except Latin. She could take Latin Virgil next year since this year they are doing Cattlus.</p>
<p>IJD - I used to think my D tests well before coming to CC. Now I think she tests average.</p>
<p>I am agog all this conversation about kids deciding to take AP exams for which they haven’t taken courses!</p>
<p>I remember from way back in the Jurassic period when I took some AP exams (I think it was AP Trudging-Around-in-the-Mud and AP Fern-Munching) that, unlike the SAT, the APs tested for highly specific subject-area knowledge. A student certainly would not have been able to just waltz in without comprehensive preparation and expect to do well. </p>
<p>Either the APs have really changed, or I’m misunderstanding the prep your kids have done, or else some of your kids might be in for a rude shock.</p>
<p>DD’s school’s philosophy is very similar to the one discussed in [High</a> School Drops Its A.P. Courses, And Colleges Don’t Seem to Mind](<a href=“http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E1DE173DF932A35751C0A9649C8B63][b]High”>http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E1DE173DF932A35751C0A9649C8B63). The school believes that any combination of English electives prepares a student to take either English AP, and scores tend to be high. I don’t think I’d want to send DD in to take the AP US History exam, however. There are just too many areas of departure to be able to make that up through a reasonable amount of self study.</p>
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<p>I don’t know if the AP’s have changed, but I imagine some kids do an ungodly amount of prep and do fine, and some kids don’t and get creamed. It’s not how I’d want to spend my spring.</p>
<p>mihcal1 –</p>
<p>My daughter’s school is a science and math residential high school for juniors and seniors and offers mostly college-level courses. The school doesn’t go through the AP Audit, so no courses are designated AP. However, the school has gotten several awards for how well the students do on the AP Physics C exams. Scores on the other exams aren’t too shabby, either.</p>
<p>The only course my daughter will be fully self-studying is statistics; my husband teaches the college equivalent (elementary stats) on a regular basis so it’s not a complete self-study. </p>
<p>Before this year (at her prior school) my daughter has already taken 8 AP courses and the corresponding exams, so she definitely knows what to expect.</p>
<p>AD and MOKC, what you’re describing are pretty special cases – exclusive HS programs with small numbers of cherry-picked students. Their privileged clientele often benefit from carefully nurtured relationships with the elite colleges that they feed into. Such programs are not scalable to the 1.8 million kids who take AP exams each year. Indeed, the NY Times article AD pointed to admits that </p>
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<p>It would be unfortunate if run-of-the-mill HS students, even really bright ones, got the impression that they could walk-on to AP exams and expect to do well. I am doubtful that the students who completed the (truly awesome-sounding) course on Native American History earn a passing score on APUSH without more comprehensive study.</p>
<p>Basically, an AP exam purports to be the equivalent of a college course final exam. One wouldn’t expect to be able to walk-on to one of those unprepared, either.</p>
<p>I don’t know of any kids who walk into AP exams without preparing and do well. 
You have to learn the content somehow. It just doesn’t have to be an in class that has “AP” in its title (it doesn’t even have to be in a class).</p>
<p>By the way, the only “relationships” my daughter’s school has are to the two large in-state universities and the largest in-state private. The school isn’t a “feeder school” to anywhere, although some kids go off to prestigious schools every year. </p>
<p>I figure that in competition for admission at the top schools nationwide, her school just helps even the odds between our area and areas with a lot more opportunity.</p>
<p>My 2012 D attends a state public residential school as well. Her school offers all the math and science APs as well as Eng lang and Spanish but that’s it. All the rest of the classes are promoted as “college level” but the teachers do not want to be restricted to the AP syllabi. Honestly, it can be a little frustrating at times. I met my daughter’s world lit teacher and asked him whether his students would be prepared for the AP lit exam and he didn’t even know what works they would need to read in order to be prepared. His love is drama so that is what he emphasizes. I don’t think there is enough encouragement to take the AP exams, either. My daughter will take 4 - Spanish, Bio, statistics and macroecon to add to the ones she’s already taken in hopes of making AP National Scholar this year - but she will be a rarity. She doesn’t have time to self- study Eng lit so she isn’t going to risk it this year.</p>
<p>I agree that preparation is necessary for the AP exams, which is why I’m questioning whether S should take the additional AP tests. He took Honors Physics last year, but his school doesn’t offer AP Physics. I think he is backing away from the idea of taking the AP Physics and will probably do four AP exams this year. </p>
<p>I’m really wondering what the advantage is in taking additional AP exams vs taking actual college courses at the local U. I think he’ll be eligible for AP scholar if he does well in this year’s exams. I expect that most of the schools he’ll apply to won’t give him credit for the AP tests and will more likely give him better placement in classes.</p>
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<p>ROFL! That’s a phrase worth keeping. :D</p>
<p>I used to think my kids were smart until I saw the kids on here. 
My kids don’t do any special preparation before AP exams, because the classes teach to the specific test, right? Should I be concerned?</p>
<p>Bryan is scheduled for three SAT II tests in May (Math 2, Physics & Chemistry), and he’s going to take the SAT II test in Latin ASAP. I figured I’d buy him a few books from the College Board. Is that sufficient preparation? </p>
<p>Both kids are scheduled for the June SAT, so we are trying not to panic too much. I’m sure I’m more obsessed–er, I mean, concerned–about the test results than they are.</p>
<p>Tick. Tick. Tick. Thud.</p>
<p>Here are the kids’ senior year schedules:</p>
<p>Emily’s Schedule</p>
<p>Social Justice sem. 1/World Religions sem. 2 (Catholic school requirement <em>sigh</em>)
AP Literature
AP Psychology
Honors Government
Honors Pre-Calculus
Honors Anatomy and Physiology
Honors Spanish 4</p>
<p>How does that look? She is not a math/science person, but I told her she needed to sign up for both math & science classes to be more appealing to colleges. </p>
<p>Having said that, I have a question. She got a C in an Honors Trig class in 10th grade, and it’s on her transcript. I was/am so proud of her for pushing herself, but clearly she could have performed better with a less rigorous course. How much will colleges care that she tried for the harder class, even though it meant a grade of C? Personally, I encourage her to take that route, but I don’t want to be undermining her.</p>
<p>Bryan’s Schedule</p>
<p>Calculus 3/Differential Equations through Catholic University (zero period)
AP Language
Some Tech class requirement he had to fulfill in HS
Symphonic Band
AP Computer Science
AP Physics C
Research Practicum class (required for seniors)
PM internship in Univ. of Md. Computer Science department Tue.-Thu.</p>
<p>This year, he’s taking AP Calculus BC, AP World History, AP Physics B, AP Chemistry, AP Latin, Honors English and Band.</p>
<p>Does that look okay? He’s actually adding two extra classes so he can take band again during his senior year…zero period before school starts (only time the college course is offered), and then skipping lunch (which I think is crazy, but he’s very self-motivated and wants to try to do everything).</p>
<p>His science/tech HS requirements are so stiff that he’s given very little leeway. He would have wanted more Latin this year, but he’s finished with all the levels the school offers.</p>
<p>Originally I thought his schedule looked kickass, but honestly, compared to what I’ve read here, I’ve lost confidence. :D</p>
<p>JenPam - sorry, you need to go find something else to worry about - your kids schedules look awesome to me! In fact, I’m wondering - if your D doesn’t like math/science, is there a non-honors version of Pre Calc or Anat/Phys she can take? And your S - skipping lunch? My kids would last about a week with that. Too bad it’s so hard to fit band into his schedule.</p>
<p>Don’t fret the C in trig. It’s on there, it’s not going away, and it’s not going to stop her from getting into college. </p>
<p>As far as studying for AP’s goes, I’m not sure what most kids do. My older son didn’t. My 2012 S won’t. I would think there’d be some benefit to a review of the AP study guide, just because you don’t know if what is being taught in class matches up perfectly, although it should I guess. I don’t know - our general approach is not to get too caught up in the treadmill. Around here, grades are the stressor. My kids test well, so I don’t add pressure by encouraging them to test “great” instead of “good”. If I had a kid with great grades who didn’t test well naturally, I would probably encourage focused studying so that the test scores weren’t too much of a limiting factor.</p>