I assume this had happened to other students and wonder how people managed it.
DD is rising junior, she planned to take AP Chem and AP Physics1 next year with the hope of taking Math II and Chem subject tests at end of Junior year.
She was told by the counselor that due to schedule conflict she would not be able to take 2 Science classes, hence she will only be allowed to take AP Physics 1 next year…I cannot think of another subject test that is easier for her to take by end of junior year, it seems that AP Physics 1 does not prepare them for Physics subject test. We already enrolled (and paid for) her for a summer course in Physics, hence taking AP Chem instead of AP Physics will be a waste of money and time for the summer…Self study for Chem will be too much for her…at this point, she already finished Chem and Biology, hence Physics seems to be a normal choice.
Is it normal for a school to tell a kid that she cannot take one of the AP Science classes? Why can’t she drop Spanish instead?
Is it common for a kid to only take one AP Science class?
How would you handle a situation like it?
thanks
She has had regular biology and chemistry, and will have regular physics this summer.
She can take AP chemistry in 11th grade.
She can take AP physics 1 in 12th grade if she wants.
I.e. she will have all three of biology, chemistry, and physics, plus chemistry (and physics if she wants) at the advanced (AP) level. What’s the problem?
Note that AP chemistry is more likely to be useful for subject credit in college than AP physics 1.
In terms of Spanish, what level will she be in for 11th grade?
I’m not sure about your school but at my kids’ high school scheduling conflicts happen all the time. There aren’t that many sections of the courses, especially APs, and there are only so many spaces in each class. If Physics and Chem are offered at the same time, there isn’t much you can do about it. Even if they aren’t at the same time, maybe there was no way to rearrange things so that other required courses fit. Or maybe they wanted to give someone else a spot in one of the classes since your kid was already taking another AP. There could be lots of reasons why they didn’t give you exactly what you wanted.
Depending on the size of your daughter’s high school, they might not offer multiple sections of every course available at every period, so swapping out Spanish may not be an option. Master schedules are generated by computers that load courses according to what the majority of the students request. Where does the conflict lie? Are AP Chem and AP Physics scheduled at the same time? If there were a significantly large number of students who requested both AP Chem and AP Physics 1, then most likely there would be not be a conflict between those two.
Is the conflict with another required course she needs to graduate? Counselors work very hard to make schedules work for all students, so if your counselor tells you it can’t be done after exploring all possible scheduling combinations, then it can’t be done. Does your school offer virtual courses online that might help the situation?
@bluebayou summer courses begin next week, we already paid $1650, if we drop there will not be a refund…She has been doing good in Chem this year, hence it makes sense to take AP Chem next year instead of senior year only if we knew it earlier that she is only allowed to take one. @ucbalumnus the problem is that we already paid for the summer Physics course. If I knew it is how the counselor decided, then we probably would do some other stuff. Because of this Summer Physics course, we also have to adjusted other schedule…
She will be in Spanish 4 for 11th grade, does she have to take it? I thought many colleges ask for 3 years of foreign languages. She has only Spanish 2 and Spanish 3.
therefore, the situation seems that we either have to lose the $1650 (i.e take AP Chem) or not taking AP Chem and try to figure out a different SAT subject test…
Assuming there is schedule conflict, shouldn’t they ask us which course to drop or change? Can we drop US History 2 and take US history 2 in 12th grade or even Summer next year?
Many colleges have foreign language graduation requirements. Completing level 4 or 5 in high school can help with completing them in fewer college courses.
Re: physics
Why not take it in the summer since it is paid for? Use the space in the schedule for other courses of interest.
I would try to call the registrar at the college where you paid for the summer class. If you explain the situation you may be able to flip your D from the Physics class into the Chemistry class. Colleges typically have a drop/add period and if there is space in the Chemistry class it may not be a problem to do that.
If she takes physics this summer and AP Physics 1 during the year, I’d think she’d be exposed to everything on the exam. The SAT subject tests are supposed to test a high school level of the course not a college level. My older son had regular physics (not honors or what was then AP Physics B) as a freshman and then took AP Physics C as a junior. It didn’t cover a lot of the topics in the test, so he had to do some reviewing on his own. He got an 800 on the exam.
Alternatively she could do AP Chem this year and take the physics class this summer anyway.
@ucbalumnus it will still be “wasting” a course. In our public HS, DD can take either regular Physics or AP Physics 1, AP Physics 1 does not require Physics and there is no honor physics. There is no reason (and none of the kid does that) to take regular Physics. @happy1 the course is offered at a private HS, there is no refund…there is no point to take Summer Chemistry as she already took the course last summer and got an easy A from her public HS as she already learned the material. The private HS does not offer AP level summer course, however, they teach in a high lever that prepares the kids well. My DD specifically asked to enroll this summer.
First of all, your original plan wasn’t good. AP physics 1 is designed and intended to be a first physics course. You aren’t meant to take any physics prior to it. Have you looked on the college board website about it? This is clearly stated. So why is it now a “waste” to take physics over the summer because she cannot take AP physics1 during the year? The waste would be to take AP physics 1 which is redundant with the summer physics.
What exactly is the problem with taking AP chem and the Chem SAT2 test, just as you planned? I don’t see any issues. Why can she not still do this, even if not taking AP physics1? She will have taken the summer physics, which is advisable to have prior to AP chem. Not a waste to do the summer course as, at our school anyhow, you are expected to have physics prior to AP chem.
Also, why can’t she simply take AP physics1 as a senior? She wasn’t going to take the Physics SAT2 test anyhow so it really doesn’t matter which year she takes it. Personally, I would suggest AP bio instead because I think the AP physics1 class is poorly conceived–it’s a high school version of only half of the watered-down algebra based premed physics and the credit is unlikely to be accepted by any STEM department. I’d only do the physics if she is really specifically interested in physics and also if there is no better option available (eg. a calculus based college class).
If she has her heart set on AP physics1, it’s probably worth sitting down with the counselor to see whether there is a way to rearrange her schedule for it. But as I said, it’s rather redundant with the summer physics class, and I’m not convinced it’s worth taking both courses. I certainly wouldn’t drop Spanish for a physics course she’s already covered much of the material for.
@mathyone the summer course is meant to make it easier for her during the school year. Say she took Chemistry last Summer which she did not use it for any credit, then she took it again in the 2015-2016 school year, it became easy for her during the school year as she told me the teacher taught poorly and a lot of the kids got Cs and she may be the “only” person who understood the course.(I assumed there were other students who understood the material)…given she planned to take AP Physics 1 next year, hence she wanted to take the summer course so as to prepare her for AP Physics 1. I agreed as we thought she would be taking AP Chem and honor pre-cal and AP Language Arts… (I can assume it is very helpful for her, as she asked to take the Summer course :-(, I asked her again and again to make sure that what she wanted to do)
If I knew it was the only course she is allowed to take, I won’t pay the $1650 for the summer course…and we will do something different… BTW, in our SD, the Science sequence is Bio -> Chem -> Physics
The problem is if we use the Summer course for credit, the school may not allow it, if they do, they will definitely not use the grade for GPA calculation…and if she were to use the course for credit, she will lose the opportunity to get an A in Physics 1 to raise her GPA.
It’s common at our school for kids to only take 1 AP science class, and for the competitive kids that take 2 or more they normally take them separate years. At our school AP phys 1/ phys 2 / chem are often taught the same periods because normally nobody is taking two of them.
Start by contacting the GC and determining the exact conflict. You don’t even know for sure that dropping Spanish for the 2nd science isn’t possible.
Maybe this is a little harsh, but I think a kid who needs to pre-take high school science classes to do well isn’t cut out to be a college STEM major. And therefore it doesn’t really matter whether she gets the AP physics or merely the physics.
I am not familiar with the practice of taking a summer course to prepare a student for a course they are taking the following Fall. That doesn’t seem to me to be a good allocation of time or economic resources.
What I have seen is a student taking a SAT II review course or getting private tutoring over the summer to prep for the tests given in October. For instance, a student having only 1 year of basic Chemistry may have some gaps in the material needed to succeed on the Chemistry subject test. So the summer review fills in those gaps and they take the subject test in October.
But since you have already paid for the Physics course, could the private high school offering the course apply those funds to another course or prep work that might prepare her for one of the subject tests this October? Perhaps she could get the Math II out of the way? For a strong math student that test is not particularly difficult and it does not cover anything beyond pre-calc.
Or you could simply request a refund which they very well may honor once you have explained your predicament.
I don’t even see anywhere what her possible major is. Nor where you think she’s going to aim for college. Or if this is the same kid struggling in hs.
Nothing inherently wrong with preparing for AP. But I hope this is about learning, not just enhancing the GPA, in order to aim for a more prestigious college. Or forcing in the two sciences to look better (have both AP scores) by app time. Or to paint her as a premed.
Technically, you show all courses on the app. If you can only get one sci approved, rather than see summer chem, chem, and AP chem in sequence, why not take the summer physics, then AP physics? Worry about AP chem in 12th.
@mathyone you may as well be right and as @flatKansas mentioned their high school allows the kids to take only one AP course, but who is to say that a kid cannot take a course in the summer so that she can take two in the regular school year…By the same token, are you going to say that a kid who requires tutoring for AP is not cut out to be STEM major? and what about kids who take SAT prep course for SAT?
@HarvestMoon1 must of the kids in that summer private school are doing just that…taking the course to prepare for the regular school year…there are many benefits for that, say a higher GPA (they pre-learned the material instead of getting a tutor), take a heavier load in the regular school year, or more times for extra-curricular activities…I do not expect her needing help in MATH SAT II…
I thought I am done with the summer course and the only reason I enrolled her was because she planned to take AP Physics 1 and she specifically asked for the course…
BTW, is it okay to stop Spanish for one year or US History 2 for one year and take them in senior year?
@lookingforward she is great at Math, there is no reason she can’t take Physics, there is nothing wrong to take a course she can manage to also enhance the GPA…if she just want to enhance the GPA, probably she should take AP Statistic …as I said eariler, the reason for the AP Chem is so that she can take Chem subject test as we plan for her to take Chem and Math II in the junior year… Given she just finished her Chem this year…it is just natural to do AP Chem next year before she forgets the material…
@HarvestMoon1 you meant it is possible to take Chem subject test with private tutoring in the summer? I initially did not plan to rush it as she will take SAT and PSAT in October…I don’t want her to take extra course load outside of what she enrolls in…