<p>Apollo6, Thanks for the welcome! When I say ‘prep’ school I don’t mean boarding school–just a private high school with a college preparatory focus. However, if there were a boarding school nearby I’m sure she’d want to attend! She’s been in a fantastic public school district K-8 and only switched for high school. Three weeks before high school started she came to us asking to go to this ‘prep’ school. It was a mad rush to get recommendations, testing, etc etc and get enrolled! She was very fortunate to get in at such a late date/year! Have a great Mother’s Day with your daughter! I’m sure it will be as precious to her as to you!</p>
<p>Cayuga, I don’t know about the other EPGY courses, but when I was considering having my S’14 take EPGY physics, many parents on another list advised against it based on their children’s experiences.</p>
<p>snowbeltmom–Thanks for the info. My son is already signed up and he has already chosen courses for next year based on this online class. I think he will have to tough it out. Thanks for your response though.</p>
<p>S took his first subject test on Saturday and his first AP test today. I didn’t realize how long the AP exams are. He started the exam at 11:20 and didn’t get finished until 3:15. Now the wait for scores begins (I think the wait will be harder for for me than for him) :-)</p>
<p>@woodblocks… thanks you! I have been feeling as if I have been too focused on my D14’s future… but just this past week, I came across several neighbors who I haven’t seen all that much since last fall(d/t our horrible winter) </p>
<p>One has a grandaughter that she is raising.,. who is graduating next month, and she is very frustrated because the gradaughter has a poor GPA, no college level courses and no college would take her…her story is a sad one to say the least… and I don’t know what will become of her d/t the lack of structure in the home, a boyfriend who is a drug dealing gang member…</p>
<p>Another women, who has a daughter 2012, failing classes and as her mother puts it “loves chasing boys” … when I told both women what my D14 is doing… they were amazed and said they wished they had known better/wished they had made academic excellence a priority in their homes/didn’t realize the college process begins so early!.. Now both girls, who come from pretty dysfunctional backgrounds are probably destined to lives of mediocrity + struggle…</p>
<p>I say all this to say… I think these conversations were the universes way of telling me that I am not being overzealous… and to stay the course! </p>
<p>On another note,
If anyone has a child who is taking AP Government… I watched a program on CSPAN on Saturday… it was a test prep program for AP GOV… there were students calling in, emailing and twetting their questions for 2 AP GOV teachers… quite interesting and they also mentioned a website… to help those who will be taking the upcoming test… </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.citizenU.org%5DCitizenU%5B/url”>http://www.citizenU.org]CitizenU[/url</a>] I wish I had posted this sooner… I hope it is of some assistance if anyone is taking it!</p>
<p>snowbeltmom–How long is the wait? I will be crossing my fingers for your son.</p>
<p>Cayuga, Thanks for the well wishes. The subject test results will be posted a week from Thursday. For a fee, he can get his AP score on July 1st. If he doesn’t pay the fee, he will have to wait for the results to come in the mail (I think about mid-July). He won’t mind waiting until mid-July - I will be the one to find it difficult. </p>
<p>I have a problem with the College Board charging a fee simply to receive test scores. On principle, I am going to try to resist calling to get his score. The temptation is going to be difficult for me - I am the type that likes to know things as soon as possible. I am in awe of women who have an ultrasound at 20 weeks, but don’t find out the sex until delivery.</p>
<p>^ I am one of those who didn’t know the gender of either baby til the delivery.</p>
<p>As for the AP scores–since the kids aren’t applying anywhere yet…it really doesn’t matter whether that they only get the report in July.
The kids are “done” and ready for summer.
Come the end of June/July the wondering starts… :)</p>
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<p>I agree that the AP thing is kinda wonky. Frankly IF the work really is college level, then why are kids in 9th grade taking it, or self studying? kwim?
The APs demonstrate rigor,
yet I have to question the educational system that claims college-level work …
and the money generated is just obcene. </p>
<p>In the case of our kiddo 2011 grad, the chosen U doesn’t do much with the APs…had kiddo chosen a lower tier, then the APs would have amounted for something. The rigor diferential between regular, and honors was HUGE and the difference between Honors and AP was HUGE. </p>
<p>I am not as convinced that the APs are college level as I am convinced that regular classes are horribly deficient.</p>
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<p>My thoughts exactly!</p>
<p>Posted by fogfog: “I am not as convinced that the APs are college level as I am convinced that regular classes are horribly deficient.”</p>
<p>I completely agree. My S does not plan to use his APs to test out of any college class. </p>
<p>He also plans on taking only 2 more AP classes his entire high school career. Hopefully, that choice won’t hurt him too much come admissions time.</p>
<p>Also, how do you quote using the “box”?</p>
<p>By harkening back to the days of the html tag. Before item to be quoted, [ quote]. But don’t put a space between the [ and the quote. To credit the original author, [ quote=poster], again with no space. When you’re done,
[/quote]
. TaDa! You get the box.</p>
<p>My oldest son says that, in some cases, he worked harder in his AP classes in high school than in some of his college classes. His AP classes taught him time management and the ability to hone his writing skills, which become increasingly important in the college ranks.</p>
<p>I think the trend of schools taking only 5’s for AP credit is refreshing. I know the level my 2011 son was writing at when he got a 3 in AP English Comp… he was a Jr in hs, NOT college material by far. I’m glad to know his college didn’t think it was good enough to pass him out of a class either. Fast forward a year, he’s had an amazing AP Lit teacher that has been very tough on his writing all year and he has improved immensely. Now he’s ready for college writing. He’s my son and he has a lot of gifts, but he’d be the first to tell you that writing is not one of them. Why then did he take APs in English? Because Engineers have to communicate too. 
and with a lot of work he was able to do it…thanks in no small part to a great teacher.</p>
<p>I also think there is an inherent issue of classes not being uniform. We all know the APs at our own school that are easy, those that are difficult with bad teachers, those that are difficult with great teachers (these are prob the AP gems). We also know by comparison here that schools have different pre-reqs for APs that can allow students to be more ready for the material. Our kids are not all on a level playing field in these classes, nor are they going into these exams.</p>
<p>Having said this, I agree with fogfog, they are still better than the regular classes for my kids in most instances.</p>
<p>NewHavenCTmom, the best test prep for AP Gov is to have your kid watch all seven seasons of “The West Wing.” 
No kidding! If your kid hasn’t taken Gov yet, have them start watching TWW now. It’s such a great series, anyway.</p>
<p>^ I hadn’t thought of it SlitheyTove, but I have to say we loved The West Wing. The cast was great and we were sad to see it end. What a great idea! Btw, you can get it on Netflix for anyone who’s interested. Sounds like a great summer marathon to me!</p>
<p>Fogfog – you nailed it (about regular classes being deficient). D is taking her final APs now, and she said she doesn’t want to place out of Econ, because it was so poorly taught in her HS and she wants to take it in college. Unfortunately, I think APs are here to stay. Part of the whole crazy college “machine”.</p>
<p>I’ll admit that I’ve gotten suckered into paying to hear AP scores at least twice so far. My kids have been taking AP exams for 4 years now. My oldest daughter set a goal for herself to make AP National Scholar by the end of her junior year. That takes 8 exams of 4 or higher and an average score of 4. She’s scored 5, 4, 4, 3, 4 so she needs four 4s this year. 2014 son took many high school prerequisites in middle school so he’s taking two APs this year and is scheduled to take 5 AP courses with 6 AP exams next year. So he may hit AP National Scholar by the end of his sophomore year. Then he’ll go overseas to be an exchange student. I know some of you will think this is crazy but if you have a gifted child who attends a mediocre public school and you can not afford an alternative, sometimes the AP courses (and even self-studying some APs as my daughter did) are the only escape from boredom and disruptive classrooms. The only thing that has aggravated me is that the math and science teachers at our local school are not very good. My oldest son was very confident going into his AP computer science course because he had made an A+ all year and was one of only three student in programming club but none of them passed the exam. I was really irritated to learn that the teacher was new to the profession and more of a business/computer applications teacher than a math/computer science teacher.</p>
<p>DS’14 took the AP Bio this week. He was very nervous going in, but thrilled going out. He came home and gave his little sister (Class of '18) his AP BIO study guide (which he got from his big sister) and said, “I am done with this, it is all yours now.”</p>
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<p>Never say never. They can be useful to knock off some of those gen ed courses not in your area of interest…for example, why wouldn’t a Bio major take the credit in Art History to knock off a humanities requirement? It could also save the student either an overload or save you a semester’s tuition. Lots of schools require 124-130 hours for a degree. As we all know, 15 hours a semester x 8 semesters = 120. Thoughtful use of AP credits can allow a student to still graduate in 4 years w/o summer school.</p>
<p>Missypie is right about not rejecting all AP credit. My oldest son used his AP credit to fulfill his general education requirements. That allowed him to take classes in other areas that held his interests. Also, those additional credits could be useful if a student is interested in taking a semester to study abroad or do an internship.</p>