<p>The school board is currently being a totalitarian dousche. Because there are not many sophomores taking Pre-AP English II and the regular sophomore English classes are crowded beyond belief, the school board has decided to merge my Pre-AP English II class period with the Pre-AP English II class period before it. They have two options: Either leave my class period as it is (which is during 8th period) or drop it down to 7th period. There's a problem with this. My pre-AP Spanish III class is during 7th period, and if it so happens that my English class gets moved to 7th, I will have to move to a regular Spanish class, because my Pre-AP Spanish III class is held for only one period. If this is to happen, I have two options:</p>
<p>1) I could ask my Spanish teacher if I could join his AP Spanish IV class during 8th period and self study the material pertenent to Pre-AP III. I just don't know if my counselor will allow this. I will have to see.</p>
<p>2) I could transfer to the other high school in our district, which offers the IB program and is much more organized. Now, does IB really give you an advantage? Is it seen as "better" than AP? My teachers say it really does the same goodness, but it just consists of tests graded on a different scale. Now that I will get my license in two weeks, I can provide my own transportation to go to that particular high school.</p>
<p>Maybe I'm freaking out, but I don't care. My friends keep rolling their eyes at me and remark that my loss of advanced Spanish is "not the end of the world". I know it's not. But there's no excuse for me to drop down a notch just because my school district is slowly being drained of money. My academics are important to me, and despite what everyone else hopes for, I will not relent on my fiery determination. </p>
<p>Sorry for the apparent lack of focus. It's late, and my eyes are sore.</p>
<p>if i were you, i would ask my counselor about switching to ap spanish because i never learned anything in my pre-ap german class. </p>
<p>personally, i don't really understand why they are making this decision now. it should have been made over the summer when they realized that the regular classes would be overcrowded. don't they see that several people's schedules would have to change if they switched the class to 7th hour (i'm assuming other people are in the same boat as you). </p>
<p>being someone who has gone to 5 different schools, i recommend that you do not switch high schools, which they probably wouldn't allow anyway. your parents would have to pay a lot more to go to a school outside your own district because your taxes aren't funding that school.</p>
<p>keep up with the fiery determination and good luck!</p>
<p>Yes, there's a few people who will be detrimentally affected by this schedule change, but really, no one's going to listen to me. Maybe my Spanish teacher will, but my counselor just smirks at me because it's a crime in the school district to even think about the Ivy Leagues. </p>
<p>Oh, this other high school is also in our school district. Though the people seem nicer, the resources are pretty crappy. It's old, in comparison to my current high school which is only two years old. </p>
<p>And regarding your remark about the school board making a decision in the summer: A lot of people who were in Pre-AP English I were intimidated by the summer reading assignment, so they backed out of Pre-AP II. At the beginning of the year, a lot of kids started to drop Pre-AP English II because they thought it was too hard, and they were failing. The decine in numbers just wasn't expected. There's too few kids taking Pre-AP English II.</p>
<p>*Also, the school board cannot afford to hire new teachers to handle the regular kids. </p>
<p>Thanks for replying. So much. Your reply really did make me feel better.</p>
<p>Ah, "old" buildings... our school building is 74 years old. :]</p>
<p>The poster before me basically said it all, though. Good luck with that! I'd hate switching schools, but do whatever you feel most comfortable with.</p>
<p>
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1) I could ask my Spanish teacher if I could join his AP Spanish IV class during 8th period and self study the material pertenent to Pre-AP III.
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</p>
<p>That would be very, very hard.</p>
<p>I'd suggest you stay in Spanish III, but do it independent study. (if your teacher's really nice and will let you.) As in, you'd be sitting in the back of his Spanish IV class but be doing Spanish III work for Spanish III credit. My public-school French teacher did this for me since otherwise I'd be forced to go from French I to French IV and there'd be a lot of verb tenses I'd never seen before. Though this would probably require coordination with the guidance counselor, etc.</p>
<p>And IB sucks. They'll give you a lot of busywork to do (Extended Essays, Oral Presentations, TOK, CAS hours etc.) that really won't enhance your understanding of any pertinent academic subject. Though you'll probably meet smart people there, and if you can deal with the busywork transferring to such a school may be a valuable option.</p>
<p>Thank you, fizix. I will most certainly follow your advice. </p>
<p>I have been told that IB consists of a bunch of busy work, and after much research, I've concluded that it's just as beneficial as AP, provided that you take as many AP classes offered. So, do you think they're the same and would do you the same good when applying to an upper-tier college?</p>