<p>We also end later…</p>
<p>In upstate New York, our school year ends June 25 or so. That’s more than a month after the AP exams. We didn’t start till after labor day. That means less time to prepare for the AP exams and a month of doing pointless busy work(if you aren’t taking any state-mandated regents exams, but don’t get me started on those) no matter how you look at it. I think we are at a disadvantage compared to those schools who start mid-late August.</p>
<p>I’m for the Northeast(pittsburgh) and we start school a week before labor day…
i do feel at an advantage cuz my teacher got all the way through 2000, whearas my cousin, who started school the week after me, only got to 1984…but we live like 20 minutes apart.i don’t think its a regional thing, but a school thing</p>
<p>i live in canada (west-coast) and we start after labor day too…</p>
<p>If anything the northeast is at an advantage because they actually offer multiple AP exams …</p>
<p>This will also vary from course to course, of course. </p>
<p>My school (in CA) starts in late August, and ends in late May (I graduate on the 19th, my last finals are this week). I’ve taken several AP tests, and the level of instruction varies. Our Calc teacher has her entire lesson plan for the whole year dialed in, and she runs a tight ship. We finished learning things and had about 3 or 4 weeks of review before the test last week. My chemistry teacher last year was the same way. Computer this year was a joke, we barely learned anything, and I ended up not taking the test since I didn’t feel prepared at all. The History classes are probably the worst, as far as pacing goes. For both US and World, we were going over new material up to the week before the test.</p>
<p>Same with SoCal, it just teaches you to work harder and faster. Better college prep.</p>
<p>Schools in the Northeast are generally better so it evens out. I go to school in New York and I ended the curriculum in most of my AP classes well before AP exams. We finished the Calc AB curriculum a full month before the AP. I think the real problem is that the classes are not equivalent and many of them cover way too broad of a subject area.</p>
<p>Texas USED to start mid-August when it’s too hot to do anything outside anyway, but then the genius legislature passed a bill saying no school can start before the last Monday of August because it hurts “tourism” (why would anyone sane vacation in Texas in August?). Seems like our AP classes are DONE after the tests. My son watched “Forest Gump” today in US History. An equally useful movie is scheduled for tomorrow in AP Psych. There’s a rule that says the teacher must take a major grade in each 3 week period. Maybe there’s a test on the movie plots??</p>
<p>tlynch15 – Isn’t preparing for the NYS Regents exam just busy work after taking the AP exam? I know that the two kids in my wife’s class who scored a “1” on the AP exam last year got a 95 and a 98 respectively on the US Regents exam. The two tests are not comparable.</p>