<p>I know that 3yrs is recommended but 2yrs is required. I took spanish 1in 9th, latin 1in 10th, latin 3 thru last year online summer course and thats it. (students who had an A in latin1 can skip latin2) i wanna know how bad this is gonna affect admission to uncch. Should i give up my free period next yr to take latin 4? Pleasee help!</p>
<p>Why on earth did you skip Latin II? Latin III doesn’t teach grammar, it assumes you already know the vast majority of it and has you learn any new content via poetry and prose. Latin II is supposed to be harder than Latin III because of this, even though the content of Latin III is more advanced.</p>
<p>I am assuming that you are going to take Latin IV via NCVPS or something similar (the same guy runs the Latin IV programme for NC, IL, TX, and FL.) Like ALL online Latin classes, it is a joke and an easy grade. You are graded almost solely on discussion, with about 1 or 2 translation tests a quarter (the can be turned in any time.) You have a syllabus you are supposed to follow, and if you follow it strictly you will learn a fair amount, but it is nothing compared to the classroom experience. </p>
<p>I took AP Virgil via VPS this last year, so I know the programme, and even though AP is changing around the syllabus, it isn’t going to change the way the course is taught. If you want an easy 6.0, take it, but don’t expect to learn that much.</p>
<p>Also, this is coming from a Classics major. So don’t think I am bashing the programme because I don’t like Latin. If I were you, and your school offers Latin II on site, I would see if you could take it. It would give you a solid grammatical background, which will be more useful for college Latin than online Latin IV will be, and it would give you 3 years of a language.</p>
<p>I’m with Tony… Skipping Latin II is totally weird because Latin II is probably the hardest class (and the most important) out of all the Latin classes because you learn the rest of your grammar. Not sure what kind of school you go to but that looks sketchy to me.</p>
<p>If you go to a NC public, they should allow you to take any class you placed out of, even if you have taken higher levels of the language. That is how you have seniors who have taken Calculus taking Algebra I to fulfill graduation credit (only 3 maths Alg II, Pre Cal, Calc, and they need one to graduate.) and AP French students taking French I, because they placed out of it freshman year, and took AP French as juniors.</p>
<p>Like I said, if you have any intent of taking Latin in college, take Latin II at your school.</p>
<p>Yes, definitely take as many Latin classes as you can in high school if you want to take Latin at UNC.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t have a free period your senior year. UNC wants students that are passionate about learning as much as they can, so they look at the rigor of the courseload as part of your application. I don’t think they would frown upon only taking 2 language courses (although you have taken 3, haven’t you?), but they wouldn’t like the free period.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and I took Latin I through NCVPS and got a D. I didn’t understand conjugations. When I had a real teacher for Spanish, I did very well. Just a fun story.</p>
<p>If your school thinks it’s fine to skip Latin II, it must be. I’m betting that your Latin I includes some Latin II, and the A students have an okay grasp on the concepts of Latin II. don’t listen to these guys too much.</p>
<p>^I know the NC standard Latin curriculum like the back of my hand, because I helped my Latin teacher tutor Latin I-III junior and senior year for about four hours a week, and took 7 semesters worth of Latin, up to and including Honors Latin IV and AP Virgil. </p>
<p>Unless Latin I covered subjunctive and sequence of tenses, covered all of the indicative and passive verb forms, and the majority of the uses of the ablative case (between 18 and 27 depending on who you talk to…) the student should not skip Latin II even if they have an “A”.</p>
<p>As for the rigor of NCVPS Latin, the course that I took (AP Virgil) was discussion based, and all assignments, even tests were graded on completion. The same guy in Texas writes the curriculum and quizzes for Latin I-III on VPS, and from what I have seen in tutoring and through the Virgil teacher’s (Texas guy) emails to his lower level Latin students, the quizzes often contain data input errors from people in Raleigh who take the paper quizzes he sends and make them electronic. To correct this you simply email the teacher and they bump your grade up. Except in Latin III, most NCVPS teachers subscribe to the mastery testing theory, and will let you retake any graded assignment until you get a 100 if you email them. </p>
<p>Also, you really need the face to face interaction for any language course. All NCVPS language courses are notorious for being jokes, talk to the department chairs at your high schools, and they will tell you that they want to ban students from taking them unless the class is not offered at the school (mainly APs and higher level Latin and French).</p>
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<p>camico, ditto on the free period. That does not look good. </p>
<p>I think Tony and I are just a little perturbed about the Latin II thing because anybody who has taken Latin knows that you learn SO much grammar in Latin II… Unless everything is absolutely crammed into Latin I, there’s no way you could even take Latin III without II first. Btw, I had a teacher for all my Latin classes in high school so I can’t speak for NCVPS.</p>
<p>Eh, I had a free period senior year (officially library assistant), and I know others who have got in with either a assistant job or a free period. </p>
<p>At some high schools (even mine which was in the top 5 NC publics) taking that 8th class could actually bring your GPA down (4.1+ student forced to take Foods I because no weighted class fits).</p>
<p>EDIT: Also, many AP students go this route over Foods I or another easy “A”, because it gives them the one break from APs, upper-level foreign languages, and grad project without dropping GPA, and will provide school time to work on the rest of their suicide-load schedule.</p>
<p>I also know people who got in and didn’t take every AP possible, and didn’t have a 4.0, and had less than a 2400, but that doesn’t mean a free period is not frowned upon. rigor of senior year classes is one of the things UNC looks at. It’s on their website.</p>
<p>As for the NCVPS Latin, Im sure it was possible for me to get an A, but since every paragraph in Latin looked like a paragraph full of nouns to me, it was not an “easy A.” Toni, I’m sure you’re the Latin Master of NC public schools, but some schools do things differently, and I’m guessing that they aren’t being completely unreasonable. Someone chose to do it like that for a reason. Just wondering, how do you call yourself a classics major if you’re not even in college yet?</p>
<p>If I had had to take Latin through some online system, I’m sure I would have bombed it too… I can’t even imagine! I never even knew you could take AP Latin in high school until I got to college and met some people who had placed out of all the beginning Latin classes. I went to public school, but I don’t think my Latin teacher followed any kind of curriculum, ha ha! That’s why he was my favorite teacher. ; )</p>
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<p>Didn’t mean to come off arrogant, but Latin is very important to me, and I am pretty familiar with the way the Latin is taught in NC. Whether you use Oxford, Cambridge, of Wheelock, Latin II is traditionally the hardest and most grammar intensive course, and Latin III and IV are traditionally readings from either adapted pieces by Roman authors, or from the original, and assume a level of understanding that would not ordinarily be possible from Latin I. </p>
<p>My advice to take Latin II and not go on to Latin IV is based off the fact that online Latin IV, is different than the other VPS course in Latin. Those have objective standards and are marked right or wrong. AP Latin IV (different than Honors Latin IV which many high schools offer) online is graded by completion. You could have literally never taken a Latin course before in your life, and get a 100 in the course. Even translations are graded on completion. Since there is NO objective feedback at all, in my opinion, it would be much more beneficial for the OP to take Latin II and get a solid explanation of grammar. Could the OPs Latin programme be different than the ones I have seen in the past, definitely, but if the instructor followed what is in the NC Standard Course of Study, or a programme similar (most don’t vary that much), skipping Latin II would be a bad idea, even if it is allowed by the school.</p>
<p>If you talk to most people who have taken Latin or are familiar with it, they will tell you that the second level is normally the hardest, just like the third level is normally the hardest in Spanish.</p>
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<p>I can understand why someone might not do well taking Latin I online, because people have different learning styles. I did not mean to insult you in any way. I was simply conveying what I have experienced, and what I have been told by the World Languages Chair at my HS, my Latin teacher, my DLA, and various other people from my high school and others who have either taken Latin or another language via NCVPS. The programmes are weak because they do not have face to face instruction, rely on students working in groups, which never happens in actuality, and the difference between someone who takes Latin I or II online and makes an “A”, and then transfers to the class and is making a “C” is very noticeable.</p>
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<p>I called myself a Classics major not to show any expertise in college Latin at UNC, but to show that I am not insulting the programme as weak because I think that studying it is useless, as I have seen others do in the past. I know a bunch of people who refer to themselves a biology, chemistry, computer sci, journalism, etc. majors who are rising freshman. If you know the course of study that you plan to embark, I don’t see the problem with it. Like I said, it was to show that I don’t disparage the programme out of not liking the language, if you would rather my say “I plan to major in Classics” that would work too.</p>
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<p>I agree, rigor is VERY important, but many people can’t take another rigorous class because it doesn’t fit their schedules. If given a choice between Foods I and an office assistant/free period, I don’t think it makes much of a difference, and if the person is deferred or waitlisted, taking a course like Foods over a free period would hurt a competitive applicant, by lowering GPA and class rank, even with a 100. </p>
<p>Taking a free period is not a bad thing if you already have a very rigorous schedule. If you are taking English IV, Algebra I or AFM, and all elective, then yes, a free period would hurt, but for a competitive applicant with a significant number of APs, plus any required classes that the county imposes (mine imposed Honors English IV in addition to AP English Lit.) it will not harm chances significantly.</p>
<p>thank you for the replies but about latin 2, it is taught by a TA and everyone takes latin3 after latin 1 unless they failed latin1. my latin teacher have told me that latin 2 is just review of latin1. so i assume our school is different from other schools.
Also im not going to major in latin. i want to study science related major.
I am taking 5APs next year AP stat, lit, world, and physics C. is it okay to have free period in this schedule?</p>
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<p>I had a free period my senior year. Jeesh.</p>
<p>OP, with 4 or 5 APs, I’d say you were fine to have a free period or library assistant, or whatever creditless option you want to go with. 5 APs is a lot, and I am assuming that at least one of yours is a yearlong/doubleblock.</p>
<p>Unless you really have a huge desire to dump up your GPA for valedictorian/saluditorian, I wouldn’t worry about taking online Latin IV. From what you are saying your Latin III works like most Latin IIs, and online Latin IV is, in most places, a fast-paced study of Virgil, which I wouldn’t recommend for someone who has not had some experience translating Latin poetry from the original. </p>
<p>If it is run by the same guy that taught my Virgil course (which I suspect it is, because he runs the online Latin programme in a bunch of States, and teaches Virgil combined) you would be able to make an “A”, but it would be tough to follow the lines of the syllabus, and you probably wouldn’t get much out of it.</p>
<p>Also, if it is a choice between a free period and an unweighted class, when you have a GPA above 4.0, go with the free period.</p>
<p>not gonna lie, i’m a little surprised that your schools let you have free periods at all? my school didn’t let anyone have free periods, so i was stuck with a few filler classes, like digital media & printing graphics in my schedule last year, as a result of budget cuts to some of my senior year classes, that brought my GPA down.</p>
<p>i would go with the free period for your schedule though. i think you’re fine, considering the rest of your schedule.</p>
<p>I don’t think my school did free periods either - the only “free period” thing we had was where you could spend a period being a teacher’s assistant, but that was technically a class. I did know people who only needed so-and-so classes to graduate senior year so they would have half days of class. Those people were definitely not UNC (or college) material, which is why I’m cringing at the free period thing.</p>
<p>^To fulfill the graduation requirements in NC you only need 1 English, 1 Math, and 1 Elective senior year. A bunch of counties have the option to “flex” the schedule for seniors to allow them to leave early if the have a job or to come in late so that they can take a community college course in the morning. </p>
<p>These are the official reasons. No one I know who flexed did either of those things.</p>
<p>My “free period” was library assitant, where I spent 5 minutes shelving, 30 minutes doing homework for Spanish, and 55 minutes listening to the librarian complain about how much she hated a certain assistant principal. It was my favourite class of my senior year :)</p>