My D is a 2019 Senior taking AP Biology, having already completed Honors Bio and Honors Chem. She dropped out of Physics in her Junior year at the end of the first semester, not realizing at her school, it was a prereq for AP Bio. Now her counselor and principal are saying she has to drop AP Bio or take Physics congruently second semester (after not having it now for a year). It seems very uncommon to have Physics as a prereq for AP Bio.
My concern is, first the uncommon prereq, and second, if she drops AP Bio, the colleges she already was accepted to may frown on this decision. I am just looking to see how common it is for HS to require Physics and if anyone has opinions or advice on the situation.
DD’s school required honors bio, chem, and physics before moving on to the AP sciences. Very common for juniors and seniors to double up on science as a result in her school.
FWIW, physics will help her in college if she’s intending to be any kind of STEM major.
Does seem odd though that no one brought this up at the beginning of the school year.
With DS18 we always paid attention to the prerequisites recommended by the College Board. According to the College Board, students should have completed high school courses in biology and chemistry. No mention of physics. I don’t think it is needed to do well in the course.
DS did do AP Physics 1 before AP Bio, but only because it didn’t have any recommended prerequisites other than being at Algebra 2 level.
at my kids HS, there were NO AP sciences allowed until the kid had completed bio, chem and physics. Kids who did want to take all three had an option of taking various other non AP sciences senior year- earth science, astronomy, etc. but no AP science allowed unless the core three were done. Why? I have no idea. Just the way they operated.
Physics is not a pre-req for AP Bio in our district. The GC really dropped the ball here. I would definitely fight this,especially since the college board only mentions bio and chem
Did she need permission to enroll in this class im the beginning? This should have been caught at that time. Is she doing well in AP Bio to this point?
I would also check your district course book to make sure this is a requirement and have your dd talk to the bio teacher. If physics helps with AP Bio, it may be that whatever is taught first semester is what matters.
I don’t usually opt for conflict, but this seems ridiculous. She had already dropped physics when she was allowed to take AP Bio. If an entire year of physics was a requirement, she shouldn’t have been allowed to enroll but since she was (assuming her file showed and the GC knew she had dropped physics), she should be allowed to finish the class. Good luck.
She is finishing her first semester this week. The options are to drop AP Bio, take Physics B congruently, or test out of Physics with a 78%. She is doing well in the class and really enjoys biology and looking forward to the second semester of content. I have been fighting this, as we did not find out about the requirement until April of her Junior year, after she dropped in January.
So it’s not so much that her counselor is saying it “now,” as that they told you back in April it was going to be a problem, and what the acceptable solutions were, and that your daughter has been going along assuming some other solution would magically appear?
Sounds like she needs to take Physics this semester, test out of Physics with a 78%, or drop Bio, just like they told her 8 months ago.
She can’t drop AP bio. At this point, suck it up. Enroll in the required physics, get her a tutor, and don’t sweat it because it is Spring Senior Year.
You didn’t listen and the school wants to make sure that you don’t get away with that because then other parents will demand the same.
Your post #9 negates my previous comment. Sounds like your dd must have agreed to those conditions when she started the AP bio course. What was her plan to meet the requirement once she found out about this in April? Did she plan to study physics on her own and take the test? I don’t think you have much of a case at this point. As others have said, she can study perhaps with a tutor for the next few weeks and take the test, or take Physics B and make it work.
While physics is generally not required before AP Bio, it is in her school and she knew that before she started AP Bio.
At D’s school, physics isn’t a requirement for AP Bio per se, but physical science is required for graduation along with bio and chemistry and most kids take physics (or the somewhat easier physical science) their freshman year. However, in your child’s case, it is required, you and she knew it was required, and she dropped the class with your knowledge after course selection for the following year. She’s had a semester of physics, so it sounds like she needs to finish the requirement or test out of it.
For starters, they can hold her diploma until she completes her requirements.
So you found out about it 9 months ago, but you/she just decided to ignore it and pretend that it will go away? Well, it did not go away and now has come back to bite you.
Then those are your options. Period. End of story. Bottom line - their school, their rules. But to answer the header question, physics is not generally a prereq for AP Bio (nor is it needed to perform well in AP Bio). But a school/district can set its own prereqs and will generally not be amenable to the argument “Well, no other school requires it.” anymore than my mom, back in the day, bought into the argument “But nobody else’s mother makes them go to bed at 8:30.”
I am not asking the school to make an exception. While there was a great deal of miscommunication and we werent given these 3 options until a few weeks ago, we fully understand her options at this point. There is a lot of backstory I didn’t delve into here, but I truly appreciate everyone’s productive feedback. Thank you!
I would be disappointed too with the outcome for your D, but agree with others that now you have limited options. Is dropping AP Bio and taking the second semester of physics an option also? This at least might be less cumbersome than doubling up on science.
Not sure how the school she matriculates to will view this, but my hunch would be it wouldn’t matter (of course verify).
Can she take a dual enrollment class in physics this semester and keep her school schedule the same? Where I live college classes haven’t started yet at most colleges.
Our high school had the same requirement. My youngest was denied AP bio because she couldn’t take physics due to a disability. She was good enough to compete for the school in state bio competitions (the coach was the AP physics teacher who stated that there was no connection between physics and bio) and was one of the top ones in the state but was still denied. She took advanced bio instead with her honor bio teacher.
What were the options back in April or when she was allowed to take the class? I understand it is impossible to provide all the information in a message board post, but it is hard toadvise on whether you have a basis for fighting this or not without more of the story. If she was told in April that she needed to fulfill the physics requirement in order to take AP Bio, not much of a case to be made. If she was told they would work out something to let her take the class, then you may have a basis to argue she is doing fine in the course and there is no reason to require physics.
Good luck to her and let us know what the outcome is.
What is she planning to study in college? You could call and ask her admitted schools and ask if it would affect her admission to drop AP Bio in favor of another advanced topic in biology (if your school offers it). I would be reluctant to have a second semester senior have to add Physics now, particularly if you aren’t confident she would excel. On the flip side, any stem major would benefit from Physics and it could be a good warm up for college.