My kids want to take AP US History in 8th grade online. Is it a good idea for them to take it before high school? Will it be too hard?
Oh and also, what are the benefits if they do?
What school would allow this? Our district requires US History for high school graduation. And it must be taken in high school.
It’s online, and they said that if they won’t allow them to do that now, they want to see if they can take it online in the summer.
Their school gives them the option to take extra courses online.
I think there’s something very wrong with a system in which a non-Sheldon Cooper type of kid can get college credit in middle school.
NO! APUSH history is killer. I watched my oldest with a perfect GPA struggle through that class in 11th grade there is no way I would have an 8th grader take it. My younger boys took in US History online DE through our local CC and to was much more managable. My middle son, DS18, will graduate with 15 AP exams completed (so far all 5’s with one 4) and 5 DE classes. All of my kids take a lot of AP exams and I think it is crazy maybe even cruel to have an 8th grader take APUSH!
Why not take easy AP’s like AP Comp Sci or AP world history first to get used to taking AP classes/ exams?
Thank you for telling me! I had no idea! I am definitely telling them no then.
Oh sorry, my kids just told me that they did not say APUSH, apparently, I heard wrong.
I’ll bite. Why is there a need for your kids to take ANY AP courses outside of the regular academic years in high school?
My oldest took AP European History as a Junior in high school. It was the most hard earned A- that I have ever witnessed in my life. She claims that premed organic chemistry in university was harder, but that is faint praise for the ease of AP history classes. I doubt that APUSH is any easier than AP Euro. No way I would let a kid do this in grade 8.
Maybe AP Human Geo. But why AP at all at this age?
No. The intellectual sophistication required to write good essays (check out the DBQ’s), as well as the accumulated background knowledge that is required would be exceedingly, exceedingly rare among 8th graders, even the very gifted.
On the College Board web site, you can look up previous AP exams and sample student responses with graders’ comments, to give an idea of what is required for each course. (At least they offered this a few years ago, and I imagine it’s still available.)
Do your kids write like the better high-school essay writers? I’d be a bit surprised. The AP US History exam examples used to include an essay on Jeffersonian agrarian policy that I doubt I could write! (Just being honest)
Some students and parents think taking many APs would put students in a better situation for college acceptance, it takes a lot more than APs for admission competitive colleges. Starting AP too early when a student is not ready could backfire. 8th is too early (except for a few extremely bright kids). In many schools including my daughter’s, students are not allowed to take AP until their junior year.
Like others mentioned above, to take AP, kids need to be more experienced and mature. Otherwise, the chance of them doing well is slim. His time for AP will be in high school. No need to rush.
Why would any 7th grader even know what APUSH is? Hmmmm.
@Zhoumingyi ,
I re-read your answers to other posters. You said your kid’school gave students option to take extra courses on line. It scares the heck out of me. Your kid’s school encourages extreme competitiveness since a middle school level.
It is unhealthy. I hope you don’t let your kid get so stressed so early.
This is another of OP’s threads.
Why such a push in middle school? Why?
There’s a fairly big writing component in APUSH with the DBQs. I would think an 8th grader wouldn’t have the writing skills to be super effective at that.
My D took last year as junior and it required at least 10 hours of work a week. Let your kid be a kid. It is probably one of the most time consuming challenging APs due to the vast majority of material covered.
Hi everyone,
Thank you for all of the comments, but I was just asking if it is a good idea for me to let my kids preview the content on online during the summer on their school’s online summer school website. THEY asked me if they can look through the content during the summer of 8th grade right before high school while they still have a lot of free time and have not a lot of things to do, since they heard that it wasn’t easy and they didn’t want to fail it when they take it in high school.They just wanted a head start, they are not actually taking the test in 8th grade.