<p>I'm hoping someone can give me some guidance. D2 is finishing her junior year in high school. To give you a little info about her, she is ranked #5 out of 219,has a 4.3 weighted gpa, took 1 AP class this year & got a 31 on the ACT she took recently. We are waiting for the results of her SAT test and she is scheduled to retake the ACT and 2 SAT subject tests. For her senior year of high school she is enrolled in 5 AP classes.<br>
Last week her school started holding meetings for the next year AP students. Apparently, the have decided that they are paying for kids to take the AP tests and they are not doing as well as they would like. I believe during D1's graduating class (2012) someone just wrote on the test about the prom and didn't even try. So it seems that they are changing the curriculum to teach to the test. They told the students that they may not do well in the class but the goal is to get a 5 on the AP test. D2 came out of the meeting very upset and with the impression that instead of A's & B's they will be getting C's and D's as grades. They will be administering old AP tests and using the results for marking period grades. I called the school and spoke to the vice-principal and she said that yes they will be using the AP tests as grades but that it will start out as a small percentage and increase as the year goes on until it is their main grade.
My biggest concern is not that the class will be more challenging but that they are purposely setting these kids up to fail. I've been reading this site since D1 started the college search. She didn't want much input from us but, instead listened to her guidance counselor who told her that schools would be throwing money at her. Fortunately, she did get a great scholarship but not from a school they recommended. So for D2 I decided to take the advice from everyone here and I've been running net price calculators and researching schools with guaranteed merit aid. Her guidance counselor told her she is "all over the place" with schools, I call it casting a wide net.<br>
Am I over reacting? I feel that a drop in grades and rank could prevent her from not only getting a merit scholarship but getting accepted to colleges. I don't know what she should do. If she drops the classes it will look like she slacked off during senior year, but keeping them could hurt her in the long run. I value the advice of everyone on here and would appreciate suggestions.</p>
<p>It is unfortunate, but there’s nothing you can do. Take the classes. Have it motivate her to work harder because of the new system. You can’t succeed if you are too afraid to fail. <(cliche)
Seriously though, don’t drop the classes.</p>
<p>I recently completed an AP class (STEM subject) that was reputed to be the most difficult at the school. The teacher took all chapter test questions directly from past exams; half the class failed the first exam. It was the best class I ever took. Not only am I very confident about my performance on the AP exam, but I gained an amazing educational experience and an empowering sense of perseverance-- if I could stick out that class, I can stick out anything.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would be very happy with the decision to raise class standards. You say the school will be “purposely setting these kids up to fail”-- but isn’t that what they’re already doing? Giving them easy As and Bs and letting them fail the AP exam? Advanced Placement classes are supposed to be college-level. The new and improved standards will be purposely setting your D up to succeed, not fail.</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions to take the classes. I agree it is probably the only solution.</p>
<p>I don’t believe the classes have been “easy” in the past. D1 took the classes and the AP test and did well. She was able to use most of her scores at her college.</p>
<p>I think part of the problem is that I don’t understand what the benefit is to the school. Other than the fact that they are paying for the test, why are they so concerned if everyone gets a 5? Isn’t it more important to get the students accepted into college rather than worry about them getting college credit for these classes? This isn’t a high school that sends tons of kids to ivy league schools. In fact, many go to the local cc which for many is great way to save money, for others it’s the only college option. D2 would like to have what she calls the “whole college experience” like her sister. </p>
<p>I guess if I was convinced that they were going to actually go over all of the information that is needed to pass the “practice” test each marking period I would feel better. Instead, they are already telling them that they won’t do well. </p>
<p>Thanks again! I do appreciate the input.</p>
<p>Cerj.</p>
<p>I’m actually a junior myself and I had the same situation with one of my AP courses this year.
My advice to D1 would be to just take the classes and do as best she can, if her grades suffer a bit colleges will see that her course load was rigorous and she’ll get some credit for that. Also a great resource for her (if she’s taking any AP science) is to look at the NMSI (National Math and Science Initiative) website, they’ve got the entire AP curriculum for most courses and teach it much better than most teachers</p>
<p>Whoops! I meant advice to D2 I read that wrong</p>
<p>I think that is how the tests work at this high school. For APUSH last year the teacher graded the essays on a curve and the curve got harder each quarter. It kept the kids from getting super frustrated 1st quarter.</p>
<p>OriginalNerd,
Thanks for the NMSI website. That’s a great suggestion and wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had to use books, etc to augment the teaching.</p>
<p>Going from one to five AP classes in one year when the school says they are moving to a harder grading scale seems like a big jump to me. Does she need to take five? What if she only took 3? It is a little late in the game, but a book I often suggest is:</p>
<p>“How to Be a High School Superstar: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Into College By Standing Out (Without Burning Out)”</p>
<p>Good admissions and merit results are not necessarily about taking the most APs or having the highest GPA. </p>
<p>Also… regarding “casting a wide net”, it is a lot of effort to do tons of applications, both for your D and for you if you are applying for financial aid at a ton of schools. Not sure what you mean by that, but 10 is plenty (my Ds applied to 7 & 8 respectively, and that was plenty). If you are thoughful about targeting the right schools, you don’t need to apply to more than that.</p>
<p>In the various AP classes my daughter took I have seen this work and I have seen this not work. I will note that she got 5’s on all of the tests and 92 or better in all of these classes.</p>
<p>In European History the teacher only used former AP multiple choice questions on all of the tests throughout the year and then because the grades were so horrible (she did not curve them) gave lots of other assignments to bring the grades up. </p>
<p>In both Statistics and Environmental Science the teacher used former AP FRQs and DBQs on every test throughout the year (even the first test which was only a week into the class when they hardly knew anything) and the kids adjusted well, got good test grades, and did great on the actual AP test.</p>
<p>In US History the teacher declared he would not teach to the test, never gave a single multiple choice or FRQ/DBQ to the class - never even discussed the format of the actual AP test and caused my daughter huge frustration because she felt very unprepared.</p>
<p>In both AP English classes the teachers gave actual AP multiple choice and essays to the class for a significant portion of the class grades which they did not curve. One of these teachers also graded the essays so harshly that my daughter felt for sure she was going to fail.</p>
<p>In Calc AB the teacher did not use any AP material on tests until he finished covering all the class material. They did do former AP questions in class and for homework. Then they spent a month doing nothing but prior AP questions (both multiple choice and FRQ/DBQ) and giving the kids actual complete AP tests which he counted towards their grades (uncurved). This teacher has had years where his entire class scored 5 on their tests (although not the year my daughter was in the class.)</p>
<p>SO, I think it varies by subject and by teacher and can sometimes work and sometimes not!</p>
<p>intparent,
Before this happened she really thought the 5 classes would be no problem. Now, I agree that 3 might be a good compromise. It’s something to think about.
As far as “casting a wide net”, I mean probably about 10 schools. D1 applied to 11 (the last one was a school that came in the mail and I made her add it, she wasn’t pleased). However, guidance thinks that 10 schools is way too many and they are encouraging her to make a smaller list. If your Ds applied to 7 or 8 maybe I’m not that far off after all. I just want to target the ones I think will be a good fit for her and will probably give her some merit aid. We did apply for financial aid when D1 did her applications but most of the awards were for merit. I’ve noticed that the guidance counselors seem to forget about cost when suggesting colleges to the students. Maybe they think that most will get financial aid but, they never seem to think about schools that may give good merit aid. Except for the one that told D1 they would just throw money at her. (Ha!)
Thank you for the book suggestion. I will definitely pick that up.</p>
<p>An advantage of having the classes be so heavily based on the official AP curriculum is that you can prep a lot at home. My AP Gov teacher had some stuff on the tests related to recent elections that, while testing our comprehension, would never have shown up on the real thing.</p>
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<p>That would be a short sighted view. The long view is that the high school should be concerned about whether students do well in post-secondary education and/or whatever their future plans are.</p>
<p>It is completely appropriate for a high school AP course to give test questions modeled on actual AP test questions, or (even better) actual college course test questions. AP courses and tests were originally to allow advanced high achieving high school seniors to do college frosh level work (with the tests being a standardized way of showing such achievement to colleges). Although the proliferation of “AP lite” courses and tests has watered down the original purpose, it is important to remember that, with AP courses being advertised as “college level work”, a student should expect standards to be higher than in regular high school courses.</p>
<p>If you making this decision going into junior year and your student was a NMSF/NMF candidate then I would be careful of any AP course if a “C” letter grade was likely.</p>
<p>Going from 1 to 5 AP classes may not be so bad if the AP classes take the place of “advanced” or “honors” classes she would have taken otherwise.</p>
<p>Going into senior year I would not be as concerned about GPA.</p>