<p>Our public high school curriculum is being revised and I am very interested in having AP Statistics added. We currently have AP Calc AB and AP Calc BC, but I think statistics would be a good addition for students of the natural sciences and social sciences alike. Can anyone help me to come up with some persuasive arguments for the addition? Thanks!</p>
<p>I have taught AP Stats for 7 years and am a reader for the Exam. It is by far one of the most valuable high school courses a student can choose (my other choice is World Religion). It reaches more students than AP Calc AB/BC, and has more real-life implications for them, both as they take the class and as they attend college and get out into the world. Some sort of statistic course is required for approximately 80% of college majors (info from ASA - American Statistical Association). Whether students get credit for such a course or not, they are in for a treat when the college course confuses everyone in class but them. Over the past 7 years, I've received countless emails from former students relating how valuable a course this was for them, several have communicated with me after college graduation. Google the ASA site, they have lots of career and education info there. Also, our district strongly (to the point of twisting arms) encourages all students to take 4 years of math (grad requirement = 3 yrs). So AP Stats provides an opportunity to meet that expectation, even though it is more of an applied math course than those in the traditional track. 2nd year Algebra background is sufficient and strong reasoning skills are a necessity. I really like students who take both Honors Pre-Calc and AP Stats in the same year. They do quite well.</p>
<p>Maize- I have a different slant on this. My son felt the course was worthless, as did my niece (separate schools). Both had terrible teachers. I heard back from many, many kids on this site after I asked about the course, and I would say that the vast majority thought the course was terrible. Maybe it is a matter of not having good teachers to teach it.</p>
<p>Totally agree. Most teachers are not prepared to teach this class, and one week of summer AP training isn't enough. A traditional Algebra-Geometry-Algebra-Pre-Calc teacher rarely has a good background in hands-on activities that are the backbone of this course and generally concentrates on formulas rather than reasoning and interpretation. A teacher who lectures the entire year would bore me to tears and if your son and other had such a teacher, I can see why they had no enthusiasm for the class. You would be amazed at the professional quality and enthusiasm of the teachers (high school and college, across several continents) that I am priviledged to interact with both in person and on professional listserves.</p>
<p>We must have a good teacher at our school. D2 is taking it this year and enjoys it. As Maize said Statistics has many uses (and is required for many different majors that don't necessarily call for Calc, such as finance/business).</p>
<p>My daughter, a prospective economics major, considered taking AP Statistics, but it would have been pointless.</p>
<p>For economics majors -- as for students in most other majors where statistics is actually used -- the statistics course they take in college is one that uses calculus. AP Statistics is statistics without calculus. It's the wrong course.</p>
<p>At DS1's school, AP Stat is taught as a one-semester course. Virtually everyone in his program takes it -- most of the kids do a culminating research project, and the course ties in nicely with their work. (They typically take it junior year concurrent with/following AP Calc or MV.) The teacher is fabulous, he goes well beyond the AP curriculum, and folks do extremely well.</p>
<p>DS2 is at a different school, and is more inclined to the humanities -- he will take it senior year after Calc AB. He readily admits that Stat will be useful to him in college or whatever he chooses to do, and is happy he has an alternative to Calc BC.</p>
<p>As with most courses, the teacher can make or break the experience. There are some AP courses at DS1's school that are always packed because the teachers are so terrific. And, to the contrary, there are a couple APs that one might think would be heavily enrolled but aren't because folks have not had a good experience.</p>
<p>My AP Stats students who matriculate to MIT do not get credit for their Exam result as MIT requires a calculus based statistic sequence. However, they all report back that their understanding of concepts was valuable to their positive experience in applying calculus to the methods that they already understood. I don't agree that it is pointless to avoid Stats only because one does not get credit as a non-calculus based course. My students attest otherwise and do not regret having the experience. It's unfortunate when the primary motivator for high schoolers in choosing an <em>adult-life</em> applicable course such as stats is just for college credit.</p>
<p>BTW, most majors that require stats do not require a calculus based course. Only engineering, math (and even some colleges do not require a stats course for the math major!), and some hard sciences. My D's chem major requires a non-calculus based stats course(s), but does require 3 semesters of calculus.</p>
<p>I had an excellent AP Stats teacher (his advanced degrees are in statistics, and it's what he really loves), and I thought the class was pretty useful. It's a good alternative to calc for students who haven't had success in math courses. Yes, if you're going to be studying more math in college, you will obviously need calculus, but many students who take AP Stats won't be taking more in depth stats classes in college. Nevertheless, it serves as a very good intro course. Again, it really does depend on the teacher.</p>
<p>I took AP stats my junior year of high school, and had a very good teacher- she taught us the material, and many people who got Bs in the class still got 5s on the AP. But much of the material is very forumlaic, and it seemed like a large portion of the class was writing the same justifications for applying some statistical test, because "that's what it would be like on the AP." I think that it shouldn't be a two-semester course- there just isn't enough material in the class to justify it.</p>
<p>At my university, a 4 or 5 (I think) on the statistics AP is enough for humanities majors to get out of the stat requirement, but engineering/science/computer science students have to take a different course.</p>
<p>Our school offered statistics for the first time last year. S. ended up taking it because a scheduling conflict prevented him from continuing on to pre-calc.
It was not scheduled as an AP class, but he and some of the others decided to study for the exam anyway, and all but one received 5's. I don't think he found it easier or harder than any of his other math classes. They are offering it again this year.</p>
<p>DS1 is intending to major in math/CS, so he knows that he'll be taking at least a couple of serious stat classes down the road. However, he would take AP Stat in HS whether or not it got him college credit. I will have to ask him if the teacher threw any calc in there, though. The school doesn't let them take AP Stat until junior year, but I don't know that it's because they have some calc applications in the course. It may just be the program wants the kids to take it in close proximity to their research projects.</p>
<p>S took AP Stats his senior year. He had taken Calc. AB junior year and didn't want to do BC. S enjoyed the class but did not think it was really easy like some on CC say ( but then again I never saw him crack a book). He passed the exam (4) and got credit for it at his college. It is a requirement for his major so getting it out of the way in h.s. was a plus for him.</p>
<p>I love AP Stats. It's fun, and I'm not a math person at all. It must be because I have a really good teacher. After almost getting a D in Adv. Trig last year, this is a very refreshing math course. Journalism may be in my future and a good background in statistics is important for that field.</p>
<p>It is interesting that Harvard is creating a core class that incorporates Logic, Math and Statistics</p>
<p>what a concept!!!!!</p>
<p>My D toook Calc as a Jr, then AP stats and Econ as a Sr...she wants to do law and PolySci....for her they were the right classes</p>