Parents of the HS Class of 2020 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
2261

For those who have exams after the holidays, that was the way we did it at my school many, many years ago. I liked it in a way because it let me study a little each day, or skip some days. I think I retained more info. It seems my kids are now so rushed during December trying to cram everything in that they don’t have time to switch gears.

Speaking of holidays and finals, is anyone else’s school having a wonky break? Ours goes from a Wednesday to a Wednesday. It’s making it tricky trying to shuffle between divorced parent households.

2262

Our district changed to the mid August start after my daughters freshman year. Just my opinion it sounds like a good idea to study over Christmas break. The reality is I don’t think it happens for most. It’s kind like AP Language when there is a couple books to annotate. Does it happen in June or July or is it done the first two weeks of August? Maybe a little in June or July but the majority is done the first two weeks in August at least in my house.

2263

I grew up with finals after break and never ever studied. My kids are much better students than I ever was so maybe they will surprise me. S20 and S19 are great at staying on top of school so December finals never felt stressed to them. Historically, Christmas break was their only true break. No ongoing projects or upcoming exams and no “optional but not really optional” sports practices. This year all of their breaks will be somewhat taken up by school and/or sports. We will all survive but as a parent I like them to have a true break to regroup. In the scheme of life, this is obviously small potatoes so we will treat it as such.

2264

We have done exams both ways and I MUCH prefer before break. Way too hard to travel, have any family time, truly rest, etc when exams are after break. Teachers also seem to pile on too many papers, projects, etc if the semester ends after break. There is nothing worse than kids trying to coordinate a group project over break.

2265

Daughter got her schedule.

2266

Wondering if junior year class schedule is rigorous enough. DS is asking me and I think it’s fine but I’m unsure. Could add 1 more class because right now he has a free period. Should he add and if so which class: micro/physio, AP Psych (although he took intro to Psych at a college this summer), AP CompSci A, something else?
Calc3/DiffEq
AP Bio
AP Lang
H Physics
Band
Spanish3
H World Hist

2267

@SoccaMomma don’t take AP Psych if he’s already taken it ! Go for AP CompSci A if he wants to fill his free period.

2268

@SoccaMomma schedule looks fine to me. Plenty of rigor and that free period will help him do well in all.

2269

@SoccaMomma, it looks good to me, too. But you may want to check with the guidance counselor at school whether this schedule would qualify for the “most rigorous coursework” checkbox on the transcript. And I agree, AP CS looks better than AP Psych

2270

@soccamomma - are you on a block schedule with 4 classes per day? Your son’s schedule looks tough; does he do sports after school? Our S20 has block schedule and we are making him take a study hall as he has 5 AP classes. (calc, CS, physics, world & language). Jr Yr is a tough one and we want his grades to remain strong.

2271

Mine has 5 AP classes and a sport and that’s it. 6 periods a day. These 7 or 8 class schedules look crazy to me.

2272

Thanks so much for the feedback. CC parents are awesome!

@bgbg4us no his school is not on a block schedule. They have 7 periods plus an added zero period for a couple of classes. He was in sports but gave them up to concentrate on academics. (Solely his choice). He’s in a city youth orchestra but that’s pretty much his only EC now.

@Cheeringsection I’m in agreement with you that the free period would be beneficial. Don’t want him to burn out and Junior year is so critical for college applications.

@VickiSoCal wow 5 APs! That sounds tough! Is that schedule typical at your HS? I guess that’s what it comes down to - what’s considered rigorous for your school. Seems that’s what adcoms look at.

@typiCAmom Quite frankly not sure we’d get much guidance nor counseling from GC. Not really a knock against them but Geesh they’ve got 200-300 students and there’s only so much one person can do. Hard to even get a timely response let alone an appointment.

@3scoutsmom I’d agree that if any add-on AP CompSci would be better for his academic development but don’t want him overloaded. Also thinking about how this will impact ranking since it’s based on weighted and he doesn’t have enough APs to bump it up. Anyway it’s a minor concern as his wants, desires do come first.

2273

@VickiSoCal our school has 8 periods, one is lunch many kids opt out of lunch for an extra class but I won’t allow my kids to do this. Their’s is a very competitive school and many kids do what ever they can to increase their rank. The AP race at our school is so intense that they now require all students to take four unweighted class, three of which must be prior to senior year, as a graduation requirement. DS20 will be taking 6 AP weighted classes, one pre AP weighted class and one DE class on-line that is not factored into GPA.

He’s taking:
Pre AP Chinese 3
AP CAL BC
AP English 3
AP Stats
AP Comp Sci principles
Comp Sci Independent Study 1
AP Physics C
DE Am History 2 semesters on line at local CC

This is normal at his school, he’s not even considering elite colleges, this just so he can stay in the top 10% required for state schools auto admits and be competitive for state school merit scholarships that consider rank.

2274

Our school does not rank. We have 2 magnet programs IB and a tech track. My older kid did IB which required one year of zero period plus a few summer classes to get state/district easy requirements done, but in general it is designed to take fewer, but harder classes to fit in a sixth period schedule.

D20 is not taking either magnet track because her focus is more science based. She is ADHD and dysgraphic and a very committed 2 sport athlete. So we are trying to keep her focused and not over load her. Her plan is as follows

Summers, one online one semester class each summer (Health, US Gov, Career and College planning)

Period 1 slot- Language Arts 4 years, after tenth grade there is no honors option only regular and AP:

Lang Arts 1H, 2H, AP Lang, AP Lit

Period 2 slot- Social Science 4 years, no honors classes are available, only AP or regular

9th- APHUG, 10th- AP Euro, 11th- APUSH, 12th AP Econ Micro/Macro + one summer of regular US Gov (state required)

Period 3 slot- Math/CS 4 years

9- Pre-calc, 10-AP CS A, 11- AP Calc AB, 12- AP Calc BC (maybe, not sure yet)

Period 4 slot- Science:

Bio H, Chem H, AP Physics, APES

Period 5 slot - Languages and extras

Japanese 2, Japanese 3, AP Chem, AP Art History

Period 6 slot- PE:

Cross Country in the Fall and Swim in the spring

I have NO IDEA if this is considered most rigorous however I do not think we care for the schools she is applying to.

2275

Our school also has 8 periods which includes lunch and PE. The average kids takes 5 classes, the smarter kids take 6, the overachievers take 7 classes and PE and apparently don’t eat lunch. My 100 pound daughter has to have lunch. At our school AP chemistry is a period and a half and the prerequisite is physics.

2276

@Nicki20 a half period must be tricky to work with, are there other half or one and a half period classes?

2277

AP Biology. AP Physics if you do the 1 and 2. Most kids do the one period one . If you have a six classes which most of those kids do you can have a half a period lunch which I think is 25 minutes. I don’t think though there is a half a period extra every day. Lunch periods are 4-7 so I believe the class starts 5th period. Typically Band, which my daughter is in, practice a half period every other week during their lunch. Kids in 1and 2, which are a few, don’t have to practice.

2278

like 3scoutsmom we also have 8 periods on a block schedule. 1st and 5th are every day and 2nd, 3rd, 4th alternate for longer time periods. Top 10% take 4-5 APs junior and senior year typically. Most can only take WHAP as Sophomores. DD18 had 11 total and that was just enough to make it into top 10 overall. DD20 is “only” going to have 7-8 AP and will be top 5% but not even close to top 10 overall. The district is changing the whole ranking system for Class of 2021 just to eliminate gaming of the DE classes not counting into GPA and only AP being weighted. Most have 6 academic classes (4x4 core: science, math Soc Studies and English) plus one or two CTE (career classes) and sports, study or arts. It seems like a lot but that is just the normal. Top 10%, or 6% for UT Austin, is critical for instate publics.

2279

@ShrimpBurrito, Can I ask why your daughter decided on McG over UBC? I ask because I’m in the middle of making the same decision (I just moved off the McGill waitlist) Thank you!

2280

@SoccaMomma Your DS’ schedule looks good! My D17 took 5 AP classes ( AP Lang, APUSH, Calc BC, AP Physics 1, and AP Chem) and Spanish 4 Junior year, and she had a study hall ( free period) which she said was very helpful. If your DS really want to fill the free period, comp sci might be a good choice as it is said to be fairly easy and useful at the sametime.

My S20 is at a STEM magnet thus no AP for humanity classes before senior year except Spanish as a possibility.
His HS is on a A/B day block schedule. He will be taking
MultiVal Calc
American Literature 2
US History 2
AP Physics C (M)
AP Bio
Spanish 4
2 vocational engineering class, something about manufacturing and programming
Fitness/Health