<p>I don't understand why people on here are constantly talking about the number of AP classes that people take. I will have taken 11 (Eng. Lang, Eng. Lit., Bio, Chem, Physics B, Cal AB (couldn't take BC bc of schedule), Stat, Eco, Gov, US Hist, Comp Sci.). The thing is everyone at my school (about the top ten percent) takes about that same number of AP classes and it is pretty standard. So I don't understand why so many ppl on here put emphasis on the number of AP courses that people take.</p>
<p>Oh and to put this in context, I go to a middle class large public so it is not like it a prep school or anything, usually people do well on APs too. So basically what is the big deal about AP classes? It is not like ppl take them to get into top schools either, most go to UT or Texas A&M. So is it like a northeast thing to place importance on AP tests or what?</p>
<p>Taking an AP class shows that you're capable of handling college level work which is impressive in the eyes of adcoms. However, it really depends on the school you attend to make sense of how hard the AP's are. I go to a private school where we have a 100% rate of scoring a 5 on several difficult AP exams because our teachers are very intelligent and so are our students, even though the average person at our school only takes 2-3 AP's senior year (graduating having taken 3 or 4). Taking 12 AP's won't really help you if you get B's in all of them or score poorly (3 or below). I have a relative who also takes AP's at a different private school but they learn the material a little slower and we prepare about twice as much as they do after we've covered everything, which is another reason why we have so many people score a 5, especially on difficult exams such as Physics and Math.</p>
<p>When you read about colleges wanting to see the most rigorous course load possible, they're looking for Honors, and preferably APs (an IB program is just as good) depending on how many your school offers. My son has been taking them since sophomore year because he likes challenging himself. He has gotten an equal amount of As and Bs and 4s and 5s, and none of the Bs or the 4s seemed to hurt his admittance to a top school. I think they realy wnat kids who are ust interested in learning the material, and the scores and grades are somewhat secondary, altho a C could be lethal if you were looking at top ten schools.</p>
<p>At my school it depends which APs there you take. Like Math ppl who have Cs get 5's bc Math at my school is amazing, the same with English. In the sciences not so much (except bio, ppl do really well on that). Mostly it is the student at our school as opposed to the teacher, the teachers give you the material and everything you need, but you have to do it. I have gotten all A's in every single AP class I have taken and this semester I should have all A's as well. </p>
<p>For me I am taking 7 APs this year and I am going to take 5 or 6 of the tests. Last year I only took US Hist and English, (chem was a no go and I want to take it in college), comp. sci. I didn't take just bc I did not have time to prep (I took the SATs the week before the APs so I didn't want to split my time studying). I got 5s on the APs I did take and well they were really easy tests. I think it depends on the student though. I think people inflate the difficulty of AP courses. Sure you may end up at like 5 in the morning studying for a test (aka Biology where 7 out of like 50 have A's) but the way our system is set up, ppl progressively have to work harder or drop out of the program so it seems like nothing.</p>
<p>Which is probably why the attrition rate in the Math department at our school is HUGE!</p>
<p>My school is the same exact way as the OP's. I don't remember the exact number of APs we offer, but it's close to every single one.</p>
<p>As a result, everything is shifted up a level in my school. APs are the norm for good students, honors are the norm for average to below average students, and our regular classes are pretty much special ed classes.</p>
<p>AP courses have a standardized curriculum and final exam. They allegedly demand college-level work, although one variable can be the quality of instruction, which, if substandard, will be revealed in the exam. Performance in APs is a relative predictor of college success and better than the SAT, IMO. Thus, APs can be a legitimate mark of accomplishment, and for most Ivy/elite applicants a necessary profile aspect.</p>
<p>Yeah our school offers 18 (were missing some good ones like econ though, had to go to a local 4 yr uni to take it). Most top students take 7-9 aps. I'll have 9 by the time im done. Nobody from our school who takes less than that amount really goes anywhere, pretty standard.</p>
<p>Very few school offer much above the AP level. (The schools that do are the very top privates and normally newsweek's "Public elites." Others may claim to and really don't.) APs, as mentioned before, allow the top schools a standard in how good the courses were in addition to SAT II's. Top schools are looking for students who take the hardest courses in their school. At 99% of schools those are AP/IB/college courses. It has become a crazy competition now to stand out. There are some people here taking 11 APs in one year.</p>
<p>My school doesn't offer any APs, but I'm a sophomore and I'm taking/taken 3 this year and last {AP Art History, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics B} and the college version of AP Spanish language. I'm hoping to go to my state's magnet for the next two years (a newsweek public elite) where I will only complete 5 or so APs but I will probably take several more AP tests and the rest of my classes with be junior level of college or above. </p>
<p>The thought is that you can just work hard and be very smart, but it just doesn't work that way anymore. It peaks next year but it won't get much better after that.</p>
<p>see all these people with a storm of AP's my school barley offers any (3 senior year that's it), and usually only has one class for each anyway. (making it hard to get into even if standard courses are boringly easy)</p>
<p>I'm resentful just cuz i have a 98 phys grade but they wouldn't let me take AP... /boggle</p>
<p>I think APs are good in that they give a direct scale for class difficulty for adcom's to see.</p>
<p>Maybe you got a C in an AP class, but a 5 on the exam. Pretty obvious the class was just very difficult, but certainly preparing and that you were doing the work etc.</p>
<p>Is it bad that I took only two of the four AP tests last year? The APs were right after SATs so I only signed up for the ones I was confident of doing well with out slot of study, I got 5s on them, but I didn't list any on my app.
Oh and my school is definitely not rarified in any way, if my school is considered good them our public educational system is in deep trouble.</p>
<p>Gah, I know exactly what you mean! It's honestly, quite incredibly stupid what my AP coordinator did to me... Last year, from the start of the school year, I asked him if I could take the Calc BC exam because it wasn't a course offered at our school, and he said all right, I'll sign you up for that. I reminded him several times, until he said he has finally finished it. Then comes May... and he comes and tells me he signed me up for the Calc AB exam because it was school policy that if the course isn't offered at our school, it won't offer the exam to students because they aren't certain they are qualified for it. -<em>- I showed him numerous works, examples, practices and totally ignores everything. And since it was May, I couldn't even sign up for the AP exam by myself! Incredibly, annoying. I honestly don't trust my school with anything important. I sign up for everything myself, and if it means paying extra money... I don't really have a choice -</em>-</p>
<p>My school doesn't have any APs. They say that all classes are accelerated and junior and senior courses are aimed at AP level for everyone, but I am still doubtful (and, I admit, worried colleges won't understand.)</p>
<p>I agree with T26E4...
It is hard for me to phantom so many AP classes
my school can't even afford to keep two languages or have full time custodians...
Right now we have 3 official AP classes, which will soon be gone
Be grateful! AP classes are great for preparation and experience</p>
<p>The problem seems to be that if you want to get into top schools from a high school that doesn't offer much, you have to take college classes or self-study APs.</p>
<p>MY home school doesn't offer many AP's and the ones they do, the teachers tell the students to not take the exam because they "don't teach for it." Luckily, I go to a magnet school half day where all the teachers are much more capable and teach AP classes the way they are supposed to be taught. In my school, alot of people take maybe AP english lit in 12th grade. At my magnet school, alot of people graduate with AA degrees because all the AP courses offered are dual enrollment at the local community college. My magnet school has just about every AP class, except Human geography, Latin, and psychology.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the schoool. My school only offers 6 AP classes and with each graduating class there are a handful of students that have taken all 6 of them. The honors classes at my school are really hard, and even though I'm only taking 3 APs this year it feels like I'm taking like 7. It would be literally impossible for me to take any more because of how demanding the other classes at my school are.</p>
<p>I would say as a general rule, the more you have, the better quality they are, as the school has enough money and good enough teachers to teach the classes. Mine has 26 APs. Its public.</p>