<p>It is not the AP’s are not challenging more than the AP’s don’t prepare the kids to skip a semester of physics - it is taught on a different level than hs - even if it is AP.</p>
<p>kgb1337 said " I go to a public high school in New England with 27 AP courses offered as of my writing this. Well over 80% of the scores on those APs are 5s, almost all the rest are 4s." </p>
<p>Yes D’s school fits into this category – only most students take 9+ AP’s and top students take 12,13,14, sometimes more and score 5’s on all and do sports //music et al at high levels etc…that is what is expected and leads to stress…not saying D is not well educated or well rounded – just saying it is a stressful experience. One that was communicated by the larger society was necessary to achieve certain college goals. Most of the top students from our hs find freshman year a breeze in comparison. its just a matter of gaining admittance.</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with taking an AP course. However, a number of campuses including my own no longer allow accepts AP credit to bypass intro courses. Credits can be used towards graduation.</p>
<p>I think one of the positive aspects of the AP program is that it helps provide a more “standardized” curriculum. Many countries have a national curriculum; the US does not. Thirty years ago, I attended a small public high school in a southern state. I did quite well in high school (Val) …and was not nearly as well prepared for college as I should have been. I was stunned to find out how inferior my high school classes had been compared to those in good prep schools and large suburban school districts. On the other hand, my kids learned so much in high school and had great experiences in most of the AP classes they took (S took 10 and D took 14). Both were well-rounded and got enough sleep.</p>
<p>Of course the irony of the AP program is that teachers are teaching to the test. In elementary school when it was suggested that teachers were teaching to the standardized tests, parents fumed. Do we really want the College Board defining what a good curriculum is? At the local high school, AP curricula have replaced honors classes, which is a shame. Plus the cost of the tests is outrageous when your student is taking three or four AP tests in May. It’s a dilemma for sure.</p>
<p>As stated by some of the other posters, my D takes AP courses, not to skip classes in college, but to have a challenging schedule. She has not taken any AP tests and is not planning to take any. The cost is just too prohibitve for us, but that has not stopped her from being accepted into two large universities and named a National Scholars finalist at Clemson. She does stay up until 1-2 am some nights but not all the time. It really depends on what is due. She is very active in extracurricular activites. She would be bored stiff in honors or regular level classes, so the AP classes are a good fit for her.</p>
<p>Also, I just don’t think it’s the best idea to skip intro level courses at the college/university that you attend. Regardless of what the AP people want you to believe, an actual course at a college is usually not the same as an AP class in high school, with some rare exceptions. Also, many times the profs who teach the intro courses teach the higher level courses and will assume that you understand the previous material taught -the way he/she taught it. Adapting to the way a certain prof teaches can make or break you in a course.</p>
<p>Also, as appdad posted, many schools no longer accept AP credit to replace courses.</p>
<p>Threads like this can be toxic to kids and parents. I read some of these posts and am tempted to think my kids must be dummies with poor time management skills! But judging by college achievement and job placement, that does not seem to be the case. So I think that even though the AP curriculum is supposed to be standardized, it still seems to vary from school to school and teacher to teacher. My kids are smart and achieved Ivy acceptances, but I’m here to say they worked their butts off in their AP classes and had lots and lots of homework. They didn’t sleep as much as they should have either. You can teach so your students get a 5 and have the class be manageable, or you can teach so your students get a 5 and have the class be a killer. One of S’s AP science teachers told them his class would be the hardest class they would ever have, and that his former students who went off to MIT for engineering come back to tell him that this AP still was their hardest class ever. So when my kids hear students from other schools talk about what a cake walk their AP’s are, they get pretty irritated.</p>
<p>And yes, they felt a lot of stress at times!</p>
<p>Also, D met with an academic advisor at one of the HYPS schools recently, and decided it makes no sense to take any of the AP tests for her senior year AP courses. None of them will be accepted for credit at that school or even for placement! We’ll save $430! The handful of AP’s they do accept for placement either D didn’t take, or only got a 4 and a 5 was required. I was surprised how little benefit AP’s provide. The adviser said that in their eyes AP’s are only valuable to get in their school.</p>
<p>I agree. Even getting a 5 on an AP test does not mean the student has mastered the material on a college level. My S scored 5’s on both sections of the AP Calc BC test and was woefully unprepared for the calculus requirements of his INTRO. college econ class. He felt deceived. Therefore, our D will take Calculus in college so she properly learns it.</p>
<p>^So different teachers teach differently. And this is news? The curriculum is standarddized. So far, human beings have not been.</p>
<p>Right now I’m a sophomore, and because of my school rules, can only take 1 AP. Sure, this class is difficult. There’s a lot of work. But it’s also the most interesting class I take. The material itself is above what is taught in any other class, and the discussions, primary sources, etc . . .are fascinating. I look forward to the IB-heavy classes I’m taking next year not because of the workload, which I know will be ridiculous, but because the classes themselves will be challenging and interesting.</p>
<p>Many very good and thoughtful comments that I agree with on this thread. Imo, the only time it’s beneficial to take the AP exam is if you have the possibility of getting college credit for it (which would allow you to double major or pursue other subject areas) AND it’s in a subject area that you’re not likely to have to build on.</p>
<p>I learned the hard way eons ago in the dark ages that placing out of a class does not mean that you completely understand the material taught in the college equivalent. I paid for my mistake in the upper level college course.</p>
<p>This is just speculation but I do think that some schools push kids to take more AP classes than the kid might really want to take if left on their own because the school wants to be able to claim they have X number of AP Scholars. This is true in our area as some schools will even run an ad in the local newspaper congratulating their AP Scholars with names/pictures of the kids so as to imply see what a great job we do here.</p>
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<p>Indeed. Many independent schools don’t offer a ton of APclasses - as their regualr classes provide plenty of rigor. I know at our independent school, we have students take the AP tests and do very well (mainly 5’s and 4’s) without taking a specific AP class.</p>
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[quoteImo, the only time it’s beneficial to take the AP exam is if you have the possibility of getting college credit for it (which would allow you to double major or pursue other subject areas) AND it’s in a subject area that you’re not likely to have to build on.
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<p>Not in my opinion (There should be a shorthand for this). A student might want to take a more advanced class in the same subject or get into a class where an AP score of 4 or 5 is required (eg. BC Calculus for more advanced versions of college physics) . That is totaly separate from getting credit for APs. Neither my Ss used his APs to get credit. S1 because it was at a LAC that allowed only two APs to be used and only if students got at least a B in a more advanced class in the same subject. S2 because he wanted to spend 4 years in college, but was able to get into more advanced classes. It would never ever have occured to him to repeat materials covered in his AP classes. The reason he took them in the first place was because the pace of non-AP classes was too slow.</p>