AP USH vs Curicullum1 for HS Junior

Parent Cafe
1

<p>My Daughter will be a Junior at HS next year.</p>

<p>US History is a requirement for Junior year. But the only choices given are either AP USH or Curicullum1. Notably, there is no Honors level offered (currently she takes Honors World History in Sophomore class).</p>

<p>We are debating as to what course she should take.
She is going to take AP Calc BC, AP Bio, AP Latin, AP French.
And she is not sure if taking AP History would be too much a load.</p>

<p>My questions:</p>

<p>1) Is taking Cur1 level course really bad idea?
2) Will it be important to take AP History at some point?</p>

<p>Your advise is much appreciated.
WW</p>

2

<p>Some ideas:
Does she love and adore languages? If not so much, she might consider downgrading one of the AP languages to regular level, to make time for Ap USH.</p>

<p>Have you asked the Guidance Counselor’s (GC) opinion? They sometimes know how kids respond to the courses as taught by specific teachers.</p>

<p>My bias is that I think a well-taught History course is worth more than twice as much as a history course taught in a mundane, routine way. My kids learned to write from their History teachers, even more so than from English, because the thinking and content were always necessary. My S learned to write good, solid, persuasive essays to prepare for the AP USH exams. This carries up into college for essays.</p>

<p>What are her main interests? I’ve heard that AP Calc makes sense for someone who wants to be an engineer or doctor, but perhaps not for everyone just because they are good at math. It’s a very hard course, I’m told. But I don’t know, really, am just repeating what I’ve heard.</p>

<p>I find it very enriching to know American history, because whenever we travel it gives us a context to enjoy the journey and sites. For all 3 of my kids, it ws their most important course. Only one had the chance to do it AP, because the other 2 attended schools that only offered Honors. </p>

<p>I have been told that AP Bio is a lot of memorization, so I’m sure that’s time-consuming. </p>

<p>Perhaps with the AP Bio, and AP in two languages, it’s too much heavy memorization. If I had to eliminate an AP, I think I’d do it from the language (make it regular) to allow the important experience of taking a quality course in history, her only Social Science.,</p>

<p>But I’d confirm EVERYTHING with the GC. Truth is, the teacher can make or break any course, leading a student to glory or misery, regardless of the subject.</p>

<p>Also ask the GC if she may start out with all 5 AP’s but downgrade one to a regular course around October if she’s absolutely swamped.</p>

3

<p>I agree with the above idea. 5 AP’s in her JR year is in my mind a killer schedule for a JR , especially if she hasn’t taken any AP classes before. The guidance counselor would [hopefully] know if this is a course load your D could handle and do well in.
If her currenty planned schedule is going to be too much, then perhaps dropping “down” to Calc AB, and taking only 1 AP Language, and APUSH would be a good compromise. That will leave some rigorous AP classes that she can take her SR year.</p>

4

<p>APUSH had a reputation for being the most difficult AP offered by my HS, though I’m sure that had more to do with my specific school than with anything inherent to the course. Anyway, very few kids took it, and there didn’t seem to be any issues. The only other option was regular US history, although the teachers who taught the regular classes (one of whom also taught AP) were quite strong. Kids were encouraged to take AP’s in their areas of interest, so I knew plenty of great students who turned down APUSH in favor of a science or second language.</p>

<p>I’ve read on CC about some colleges with US history GE requirements that can be waived with the AP. If your daughter heads to such a school, then the good news is that even if she doesn’t take APUSH, she’ll eventually have the opportunity to take a good, high-level course in the subject (the downside is that she might feel that it’s redundant).</p>

<p>Personally, I loved APUSH, but it’s an immense amount of information to absorb (our class was two years long…I can’t imagine having fit it into one year, although most do), especially on top of other memorization-heavy classes, as a previous poster pointed out. I’d encourage your daughter to pursue AP’s in the areas that and/or with the teachers who most interest her. If she feels that four is enough (which it almost certainly is), trust her.</p>

<p>Others make important points, such as the fact that a lot of this depends on school, teacher, + your daughter, and should be addressed with the GC (or perhaps with the APUSH teacher). But ultimately, if your daughter is taking a challenging load (which she will be) and isn’t itching to try APUSH, I see little reason to push the issue.</p>

5

<p>I’d say it was a toss up as to which was more work AP Bio or AP USH. My son took the former as a sophomore the latter as a junior. Both were great courses, but my kid who normally breezes through school, definitely put in the hours on both courses. He’s a math guy and though Calc BC was a cinch, so I have no opnion there. He took AP Latin as a senior, it requires a fair amount too. Is he doing Virgil or the other one? My older son far preferred to be in AP classes where everyone participated in class and did their homework. My younger son will be taking more of a mix, he would never be able to take so many APs at once.</p>

6

<p>I had a similar decision to make, for my junior year. I think that it depends a lot on specific factors at your school, that people here can’t judge.
But the first priority is–could she do that course load, well, and have time for extracurriculars, sleep and a little bit of a social life. If the answer is no, nothing else matters. That said, the next concerns:</p>

<p>-If getting into a tip-top school is a priority, have students in past years taken 4 APs and been competitive? How does this course load compare to her peers’? Each high school’s AP courses are quite different: at some 5 is par for the course, at others it would be overwhelming (because the courses are taught with the assumption that students are not taking five of them). </p>

<p>-Does she know which teachers teach the different levels? Do the AP teachers have a better reputation and does the class have a good reputation? Is there not only more academic content, but also more discussion and engagement among the students (if not, she could just read the AP textbook and get the same effect)?</p>

<p>It’s a tough choice to make, and I had to make similar ones several times in high school. There’s no right answer, really–just what intuition tells you is right. Good luck!</p>

7

<p>APUSH at my S and D’s high school is the most rigorous AP, with lots of reading; I see adding it to the proposed schedule as being very difficult.</p>

8

<p>AP USH has been a lot of work for both my kids. But, from what I have seen with the colleges, it is a worthwhile one to have, seems to always result in credits being awarded. There are other threads here on how colleges take APs into account. It may be worthwhile checking that out while you mull this over. Many schools will not accept that many credits, or accept only for placement.</p>

9

<p>My son is currently taking both AP Bio and APUSH as a junior (plus other APs). For him, there is definitely more work in AP Bio. He is getting As in both (no pluses in my system). (And we are in one of those states that is penalized in the AP game by starting after Labor Day, so everything has to be compressed/crammed into a shorter timeframe than schools that start in early-mid August.)</p>

10

<p>My daughter is a senior this year. Last year as a junior she took only 2 AP classes (the most anyone at her high school takes Junior year). They were AP US History and AP Eng. Language and Comp. This year she is taking AP Calc AB and AP Eng. Lit.(She would have taken AP French as well, but it was cut.)</p>

<p>I would say that for my daughter, who is definitely an English-major kind of girl with an 800 verbal score on her SAT, AP USH was the most work- intensive class she has ever taken. AP Calc is the hardest for her to get a high grade in, since she isn’t really a math lover, but APUSH took much more time, and this is a student with phenomenal reading/writing skills. Her AP courses junior year were meaty, and she got 5s on both exams. She was also able to keep her grades up and participate heavily in extracurriculars. I hate to think how anyone could handle the classes your daughter is already planning to take without going crazy - unless the classes at schools where kids take a lot of APs adjust so that each requires a little less time. </p>

<p>It seems that your daughter likes math and science, since she’s taking very hard classes in those areas. I think that before advising her you should find out what the normal load for the top students at her high school is, and what schedule her guidance counsellor would consider to be in the category of “most demanding”. My daughter and I talked to the guidance counsellor before setting her junior schedule to confirm that the counsellor perceived her schedule as falling into the “most demanding” category for our school. If your daughter is interested in a top school, that’s an important box to have checked on her application. I wouldn’t recommend that your daughter make her schedule too crazy; it’s important that she be able to study enough to get high grades in her classes, and on AP tests, and SAT 2 tests. She should also have time for extracurriculars - and just keeping her sanity. </p>

<p>By the way, my daughter has already been accepted into an Ivy, which shows that if taking lots of APs is not standard (or even possible) at your high school, you can still be competitive for college admission. Good luck! Your daughter sounds like a very smart girl. If her instincts say enough is enough, she is likely to be right.</p>