Core tracks for honors students

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

It seems like the traditional path for classes varies a bit. What is your track for the typical above average (honors) student starting high school without any high school credits., doubling up years etc.?

Math - 4 years required
algebra 1/integrated math 1 is offered at all middle schools but not for high school credit,
9th geometry honors although now it is integrated math 2 honors
10 algebra 2 honors although now it is integrated math 3 honors
11 precalculus honors
12 AP Calc AB or BC

HIstory 3 years required (9-11) 4 recommended
9th US History 1 Honors
10th US History 2 honors or APUSH
11th World History honors or AP World
12th elective - varies quiet a bit AP Gov’t, AP Psych etc

Science (3 years required - biology and chemistry and needed 4) 4 recommended
9th Bio honors
10 chemistry honors
11th AP Physics 1 or other lab classes such as Biotech Honors, Forensics Honors etc
12th AP science of choice, honors science

English (4 years required)
9th grade -9th grade honors English Language Arts (ELA)
10 grade - 10 grade honors ELA or AP Language
11th grade 11 grade honors ELA or AP Lit
12th grade honors ELA elective, AP if started in 11th grade, Dual enrollment College Writing etc
I believe AP seminar and AP research are electives in addition to ELA but not positive

Foreign language (2 required, 3-4 recommended)
9th grade was honors but I think now 1st year is all one level starting this year
10-12th honors 2-4
some middle schools may teach year one so 2-4 honors plus AP level
some heritage speakers start at a higher level

We have 7 periods year
also needed for graduation 3 semester of gym 1 semester of health
2 years of elective credits in art, music, business or tech classes

2

D’s HS

7 periods/day plus lunch

English 4 years required
9 honors English
10 honors English
11 AP language and composition
12 AP lit

Math 4 years required six different tracks. Highest:
9 Honors geometry
10 honors Algebra 2
11 honors precalc and trig
12 AP calculus

Science 4 years required
9 honors bio
10 honors chem
11 honors physics
12 honors AP of one of the above

History 3 years required
No history class offered freshman year
10 AP Euro
11 APUSH
12 DE gov one semester and Econ the next

Foreign Language 2 years required, almost everyone took three. DE 3 and AP were the highest levels offered

School also required:
4 years of theology
1 year of fine arts
1 year of PE
1/2 year of Health

Lots of STEM electives for upperclassmen. My D was able to get in 3 engineering courses, CS, and organic chemistry. She also was able to double up on math and science junior and senior year so she took AP stats, AP chem and AP physics C (both mechanical and E&M).

3

Without doubling up (in most cases) we have

4 blocks per day on an A/B schedule + lunch

Math- up to pre-calc required BUT all four recommended (many took alg II freshman year, so just cut geometry and add another elective if thats the case)
9- geometry
10- algebra II
11- pre-calc
12- usually calc, stats, or another math elective but you could also drop

English- all four years
9- World Lit 9
10- World Lit 10
11- American Lit OR AP Lang
12- Brit Lit OR AP Lit

Science- bio chem and physics req + one other science
9- Biology
10- Chemistry
11- Physics
12- AP/DE/other elective

Social Studies- (i might not be much help here bc we require 5 credits so you have to double up, take with a grain of salt)
9- Global Studies 9
10- Global Studies 10
11- US History Honors OR APUSH
12- US Government Honors OR AP Gov + elective

Foreign Language- (yes we require six credits, yes im a US school, yes im real. for an honors diploma in the state however, you need 3 years of one language OR 2 years of 2 different languages, so you can go by that too)
9- Lang I level I
10- Lang I level II, Lang II level I
11- Lang I level III, Lang II level II
12- Lang I level IV

Additional:
2 years of Health and PE
1 fine art credit (art, music, drama)
1 online econ and personal finance (state requirement)
1 senior specific class
1 freshman specific class
1 elective credit, can be done by taking any “extra class” (math beyond pre-calc, extra social studies or science credit, etc.)
You could also take up to 1 study hall a year,

Some of this is really specific to my school and I know that, but this is how it’s laid out in our course planner so

4

Our school has three documented “sequences’ - Honors, Traditional, Concepts. I’d say about 1/3 are generally Honors, but many step back in 1-3 subjects each year. The Honors sequence has

Math
9 - H Algebra 2
10 - H Pre-Calc/Trig
11 - AP Calc AB, BC or Stats
12 - AP Calc AB, BC, or Stats

Social Studies
9 - H US History
10 - AP World History
11 - AP US History
12 - AP Macro/Micro or AP US Gov and Politics

Science
9 - H Bio
10 - H Chem
11 - several options, but H Physics is most popular
12 - AP Chem, Bio, or Physics C

English
9 - H English 9
10 - H English 10
11 - AP Lang
12 - AP Lit (though lots of students drop to H Brit Lit)

Computer Science
9 - AP Computer Science Principles
10 - Dual Enrollment Intro To Programming (with University of Pittsburgh)
11 - Intro to Python or AP Computer Science A
12 - AP Compute Science A

Foreign Language
1 quarter of four languages in 7th (everyone takes this)
Start a language, Honors classes, in 8th
Most take H of whatever language through 10th or 11th
A small number take AP In a language in 12th

So 10 APs for the “standard” Honors track. Taking 8 is popular. Probably only 5% (25 kids) hit 9 or more.

5-10 kids are a year advanced in math - 3 AP or 2 plus an advanced online class). A small handful in science take 2 APs. None that I’m aware of in the others.

1/2 year of gym every year, 1/2 year of health in 7th and 10th for everyone.

Graduation requirements: English 4, Math 4, Social Studies 4, Science 2 (Bio and Chem), STEM 1 in 10-12th, PhysEd 2, Health 0.5, Arts/Humanities 2, Electives 4.5 to get to the minimum of 24. plus a Senior Project.

5

@RichInPitt do kids take Algebra I and geometry in middle school?

6

For honors kids, they choose between an IB an AP track, the IB is much less flexible:

AB:

Math:
Algebra 2
Pre Calc
AP Calc BC
DE or AP Stats - there are usually 5 or so who are an additional year accelerated and take Calc BC as sophomores.

English:
H English 9
H English 10
AP Language
AP Lit

Foreign Language
H French/ Spanish 1
H French/ Spanish 2
H French/Spanish 3
H French/Spanish 4 - if you are ready for Spanish 2 as Freshman can take AP Spanish, don’t offer AP French so would be done Jr year if you’re accelerated.

Social studies
H World History
H US History
AP Government
AP US History or AP Economics

Science
H Biology
H Chemistry/Physics
AP Chemistry or AP Biology or AP Physics 1

For IB
Math:
Algebra 2
Pre Calc
IB Math SL
IB Math HL or Calc BC kids beginning Geometry only get to SL, kids without Geometry typically go IB Math Studies

English:
PIB English 9
PIB English 10
IB English HL 1
IB English HL 2 (there is no option for less than HL for English)

Foreign Language
H French/ Spanish 1
H French/ Spanish 2
H French/Spanish 3
IB French/Spanish SL - if you are ready for Spanish 2 as Freshman can take AP Spanish, don’t offer AP French so would be done Jr year if you’re accelerated.

Social studies
PIB World History
PIB US History
IB Econ SL/IB World History HL 1
IB World History HL 2

Science
PIB Biology
PIB Chemistry/Physics
IB Biology/Chemistry/Physics SL
IB Biology/Chemistry/Physicis HL

While in IB there is an Arts for the 6th area, 90% of kids take a second science instead, either to SL or HL.

7

Yes, Honors track is Algebra 1 in 7th, Honors Geo in 8th (30% of students. They have to take do some summer cyber coursework between 6th and 7th.)

For reference:
Traditional is Pre-Algebra in 7th, Algebra 1 in 8th (60% of students)

Concepts is Concepts of Pre-Algebra in 7th, Concepts of Algebra in 8th (10% of students)

8

The most advanced is:

MATH
-Algebra II H
-PreCalculus H
-AP Calc AB or AP Stats
-AP Calc BC or AP Stats

SCIENCE
-Physical Science H (you used to be able to skip this)
-Biology Honors
-Chemistry H or AP Chem
-Physics H, AP Physics 1, APES, or AP Bio

English
-English 9 H
-English 10 H
-AP English Language or English 11 H
-AP English Literature or Two Honors English Electives (Creative Writing, Brit Lit, etc.)

History
-World History H
-US History H or APUSH
-US Gov Honors + halfyear elective or AP US Gov (full year)
-No social science, AP Psych, AP Euro

World Lanuage
-Spanish II H
-Spanish III H
-Spanish IV H
-AP Spanish
Or, you can start with Italian I A, French I A, or Latin I A and move on

9

@RichInPitt gym and health in 7th grade counts as a high school credit? We have to take gym in k-8 every single year and health is taught at least in middle school years but they absolutely would not count as high school gym/health here. Just curious since you mentioned 7th grade.

10

At my son’s school there are too many combinations to fit in here, but the typical core path for math&science-oriented kids looks like this:

Math

  • Precalc
  • AP Calc AB
  • Calculus DE
  • Differential Eq / Linear Algebra DE

English

  • English Honors
  • AP Lang
  • AP Lit
  • English Literature DE

Social Sciences

  • AP World History
  • AP US Gov
  • AP US History
  • AP European History

Science I

  • Biology Honors
  • Chemistry Honors
  • Electronics
  • AP Computer Science A

Science II

  • AP Physics I
  • AP Physics II
  • AP Physics C
  • AP Biology or AP Chemistry
11

No, the four semesters (two full credits) of gym and one semester of Health needed to graduate HS need be in HS - 9th through 12. (Health is in 10th on the standard schedule). There are a few cyber/summer options for both.

Two semesters of gym and one of Health are required to “graduate” Middle School, which is just 7th and 8th.

And gym/phys ed are part of normal elementary school schedules, so gym every year and dedicated health classes in 7th and 10th (both require passing CPR certification).

12

English (4 yrs required):
9 HN
10 HN
AP Lang
AP Lit

Social Studies (4 yrs required):
World 1 HN
World 2 HN or AP World
APUSH
AP US Gov (full year) or AP Combined US & Comp Gov (one course rather than two 1/2 semester courses)

Math (3 yrs required, 4 recommended; school is debating whether to add a new math course because of the number of juniors in multivar):
A2 HN
Precalc Trig HN
AP Calc BC
Multivar calc / Matrix Algebra

Science (3 DIFFERENT sciences required, 4 recommended):
Bio HN
Chem HN
AP Physics 1 / APES / AP Bio / AP Chem
AP Physics 1 / AP Physics C (both) / APES / AP Bio / AP Chem

Foreign Language (either 3 yrs of 1 language or 2 yrs of 2)
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4 HN / AP
AP / Year 5 HN

2 years of Health/PE (includes one quarter of Drivers education)

1 year of Econ (AP Micro/Macro or an online Pass/Fail course)

1 year of Career/Technology Education or Fine Arts

Also, for some reason, the school requires you to take at least one of your courses online so I took the Pass/Fail Econ course over the summer which counted.

13

Most kids at your school take precalc in 9th grade to take multivariable calculus in 11th grade?

14

@“thatshot…” In order to take multivar as a junior, yes you need to take precalc as a freshman. This is, however, very rare. Class of 2020 had only one student on this track. For some reason, the class of 2021 saw an increase in the number of students doing this. I doubt there are more than 10 (I actually have no idea) but this is out of 600 kids per class so barely any. I will say, there is a freshman in multivar right now (O_O) so I can only assume they will eventually have to add more math classes. I personally think this is ridiculous, they are unnecessarily pushing kids forward this advanced in math. I won’t encounter multivar in high school at all and I think that path makes sense, I can barely imagine what sophomores feel in BC when they haven’t been exposed to rigorous or AP courses yet.