<p>At the schools I have known, the AP course are indeed the top level honors courses. Few are offered freshman and sophomore years. But come Junior year, those in honors courses are pretty much tracked for AP in English, History, Science (if that’s your thing). Senior year is the same, with Calc and Foreigh Languages added to the array. THose kids who are even more accelerated will have taken those as Junior</p>
<p>I have a very good student right now who is not so interested in the maths and sciences, though he does well in them. He won’t take an AP Science though he 'll take the honors courses in the Holy Trilogy. The big quesiton would be whether to push it and have him take the math and foreign language over the summer so that he can take AP Calc AB as a junior and AP FL as well. The stats show that the school gets excellent results on the AP exams. Taking them early with the APUSH and the AP English Grammer would give him 4 AP tests on record as well as courses on the transcript when he starts his college process. From what I have seen, it does make a difference in highly selective college admissions for all their touting that it shouldn’t. He could then take a college course senior year first term along with the second AP ENglish and some AP history if he so pleases or an AP lite or whatever he danged well pleases.</p>