^yes in these circumstances it’s different and the number of AP’s expected will be lower. You’re supposed to do the best you can with the hand you’ve been dealt so if your school offers 7 APs total including Calc AB OR BC and two foreign language AP (of which you obviously could only take one), then if you have 4-5 you’re absolutely in the “most rigorous” category. AP Lit is NEVER considered “necessary for elite colleges”. AP Lit and AP Language are often seen as “either/or” by colleges, witness the fact colleges rarely give credit for both. AP Lit is seen as necessary-if-offered for students who want to major in the Humanities (such as English, COmparative Lit, Foreign language, History, Philosophy) in the same way Calculus should be taken by future engineers if at all possible. However for others it is not a “must have”, especially if they had AP lang. If your GC won’t budge, offer perhaps an alternative, such as a community college dual enrollment freshman class in English. Surely that’d be enough?
Thank you.
The alternative is a regular class that can be taken for dual enrollment with the community college but is taken on the high school campus. In the case of one my Ks, is interested in doing something with writing but for reasons not worth going into refuses to take the AP Lit teacher (it is not the class, it is the teacher, if it was taught by someone else would take it wllingly). Older sibling refused AP Lit and did fine.
I think the reason the GC thinks it is so important is because there are so few APs available and AP Lit is considered very tough as opposed to something like APUSH or AP Stats.
That is an excellent point that it is either or for credit. We visited a Top 30 school recently and that was what the tour guide said. I will make that point.
At our HS, APUSH is definitely NOT considered one of the easy AP classes. Likely the toughest class in the school.
^ You could be correct, maybe I am thinking of another social science AP, the point being that AP Lit and Calc and AP Chem are considered much more difficult than some of the others offered and without AP Lit you only have 2 REALLY tough APs senior year.
The “AP lites” are: AP Human Geography, AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science, AP Statistics.
All others are considered “tough” for college admission purpose.
In terms of content, all AP history classes are seen as showing particular academic achievement in a subject, as well as Calc BC, Foreign Language, Bio, Chem, Physics C. AP Language is seen as a staple, and AP lit as a good complement like AP Art History or AP CS or AP Econ. AP Lit is definitely strongly recommended for future Humanities majors but isn’t considered differently from other AP classes.
The way your school considers them may not be “typical” or reflect how colleges see them - at some school, AP World History is a sophomore AP, whereas at others, it’s a Senior AP. At some schools AP Gov is a main senior class whereas at other schools it’s an elective that can be taken at any point from 10th till 12th.
Colleges don’t have the time to know which AP is considers which way at your particular school, so outside of he 4 “AP Lites”, all AP classes are considered equivalent. Dual Enrollment can bring a little upside (since the student has to handle the content of an AP class, but compressed into one semester), AICE and IB are also considered most rigorous.
Will your Guidance Counselor consider that 2 AP’s + 2 dual enrolled classes would be “most rigorous”? (Is that even an option or does the local CC only offer remedial, vocational, and first-semester level classes?)
Some of the non-“lite” ones may be considered “tougher” than others. E.g. calculus BC (over one year, not two years) versus calculus AB.
^ Thank you. Not sure if I am using dual enrollment in the same sense. Basically there are a few classes that kids take anyway that also meet the syllabus of a local community college. So once enrolled in the class, kids have the option of also getting college credit for the class by paying a small sum to be registered for the class at the CC. After the class is over they get a transcript from the CC and whatever grade they got is on the transcript. Students never leave the high school when taking this class. The replacement for AP Lit through this program is a two semester English class which kids can dual enroll for either or both at the CC but all work is done at the High School. Would that generally be considered an adequate replacement for AP Lit?
Unrelated question, if a kid is only taking AP AB Calc as a senior is that bad for a potential science major (the choice would be to go directly to AP BC from PreCalc or take AP AB, there is no option to take AP AB as a junior and AP BC as a senior. Aiming for non HYP Top 20 schools. You mention only BC as showing mastery.
Colleges typically don’t differentiate between AB and BC for admission purpose, but BC in a year (vs. the AB+BC over two years) is definitely harder. It will NOT modify rigor appreciation from the college but, if the high school offers both and the student professes to wish to major in physics, math, or engineering, the college may wonder why the student didn’t take BC. If the student is undecided or is not going into those fields, taking calculus of any kind is a plus (Honors Calc, AB, or BC) at Top 20 schools.
All AP’s show “mastery”. AB is one level of calculus, BC is either the second level of calculus or two levels combined, and is thus harder. It is NOT necessary to take BC unless one intends to major in STEM and even then, taking AB is absolutely fine. Precalc Honors -> AB would be fine if he’s thinking of business or economics, bu Precalc Honors with an A ->BC would be better if he’s aiming for a Top 20 physics, math, or engineering program specifically.
I would assume that AB+BC in one year would be a struggle. Currently, in my school PreCalc and Calc AB can be taken together in one class and advance the student to BC. I was too lazy to take the class last year during my sophomore year because I was scared that it was too hard but looking back, I learned almost nothing in Precalc-It was basically a review of Algebra 2.
If your kid has been doing fine in math, then the advanced course would be the better choice. AP Calc AB is not too hard and all the curriculum comes together and builds up on one another.
Imo, it may look better if your kid goes from PreCalc to Calc BC because it will show that your kid skipped Calc AB
^ Actually, there are two types of calculus sequences:
Those where AB and BC are two levels of Calculus, parrelling Calc 1+ Calc 2 in college, each lasting one year.Students who take Precalculus as juniors take AB as seniors, students who take precalculus as sophomores take AB as juniors and BC as seniors (if they wish, as they can also take another math after AB).
And
Those where AB and BC are two “intensities” of Calculus, where AB covers Calc 1 in one year, and BC covers both Calc 1 and Calc2 in one year (ie., college-paced vs. AP paced). Regardless of what year students took precalculus, they have to choose either AB OR BC.