Hello! Just wanted to ask for some advice from those of you who have been through all of these scheduling decisions with your kids. We only have one and I’ve been trying to advise her as best as I can with all of the great info I’ve garnered on this site but I do have a few questions for D’s Junior year schedule.
Here’s one of my questions. D wants to do regular Physics instead of AP Physics bc she has heard that most kids do horribly on the tests and then these tests have to be majorly curved so that the whole class doesn’t end up failing. One of her friends told me that her sister had a hard time with that class as well and her sister is a good student.
D says she wants to learn the material and not feel like she’s lost all the time. I think she’s still worried about how she felt earlier this semester in AP Calc AB. After doing so-so on the first test and not so great on the second test, she had a low C and felt like the class was moving too fast for her and she wasn’t “getting” all of the material. I talked with her AP teacher and we both agreed she should switch to ACP Calc I. It’s an IU credit class and it’s weighted on the same 5.0 scale as an AP class. She ended up getting an A+ in the class this semester and was so happy when they covered what she had in AP and she got it.
My suggestion is to try AP Physics and if she feels it’s moving too fast then she could drop to regular but she’s not having it. Unfortunately, the school doesn’t offer ACP or Honors Physics. She wants to go into Business, maybe Accounting, and will be applying to IU (in state) and other B schools. With that in mind, should I just let her do regular Physics since she’s not going into Engineering?
You’ll get lots of different opinions on this one but here’s my 2 penny advice. Since she’s not interested in a STEM major right now, I would suggest she take the lower level Physics and get a higher grade. I would argue strongly that a high GPA looks better than a rigorous course load (if that rigorous course load causes lower grades).
Use your own Calc example. Her A+ in ACP Calc looks SO MUCH better than a B or C in AP Calc.
Had the exact same discussions when my D was deciding whether or not to take AP Physics. She ultimately decided to take the lower class first and has no regrets. Because yours will be a junior, she can still take AP Physics her senior year if she wants. (Mine decided she had enough of physics and never wants to take another class.)
Another vote for regular Physics. I have a D21 too. She is leaning more towards a communications/business type major and she stresses herself out way too much. I don’t push the APs if they aren’t want she wants. Good luck!
Agree with the others and I would go with what my child wanted. IMO there is no reason to push or pressure them into classes they aren’t comfortable taking. Let them be confident in their choice. 1 class should be the make or break on their future plans and they shouldn’t feel the pressure that it may be. My d20 puts way too much pressure/stress on herself so we have spent her junior year trying to teach her to be ok with not having to “do it all” and take a step back and enjoy the moment more than worrying about the future.
@STEM2017 and @Rivet2000 thank you for your input. I was just worried bc she won’t have any AP classes next year and I wasn’t sure what schools would think of that. She will have two ACP IU credit classes though. So here’s her tentative schedule for Jr. year:
*ACP Calc II
*ACP US History and English 11 Honors Seminar (2 different classes and teachers but 2 block scheduling hours back to back)
*Regular Physics
*Advanced Accounting
*Spanish III
*Sculpture I/II
This year she has:
*English 10 Honors
*Chem Honors
*ACP Calc I
*AP Human Geo
*Intro to Accounting
*Spanish II
*Intro to Business (1sem class) then Health (required 2nd sem)
They were only allowed to take Bio, Human Geo, Euro History and Calc AB as Sophmore AP classes this year. She thought about doing AP Bio next year but since she’s not going into the medical field, I thought Physics would be a better progression after Chemistry.
So far she has all A’s this year and last year except for one B+ from Spring semester Freshman year in Pre AP Trig. She got an A in Pre AP Pre Calc though. So I’ve been happy with her hard work to date and hoping if she can keep it up and do well on standardized tests maybe she could get a little merit money from IU or somewhere else.
I wanted her to take AP Lang but one of the main AP teachers is teaching her Soph. class this year and she says she’s not learning much. She had such a great English 9 Honors teacher last year and said she learned so much. She’s been disappointed in Lang this year (not much discussion or lecturing but lots of busy seat work while teacher grades the AP classes’ work). Once again, I told her to try AP Lang and/or see which of the couple teachers she ends up getting and take it from there. She wants to do English 11 Honors instead. Not sure if I should push this one either. Thank you for any input you can provide.
I just got done meeting with my rising junior’s councelors for his 11th grade schedule. My son is in the same boat, STEM career paths are not really his thing so instead of AP Physics he’s going to be taking AP Environmental Science. He’s in PreAp Chem right now. Our school district did away with “Honors” classes…it’s either regular, Pre-AP, AP or Dual Credit. AP & DC have the same multiplier, for class rank purposes. Since my son has a fair amount of test taking anxiety, we’re going to be doing a mix of dual credit & AP for the rest of his core classes. Schedule for 11th grade will be:
Instead of APUSH, he’s opting for DC US History (year long class)
Eng 3 AP (may Switch to DC not sure yet) (1 term class)
PAP Pre Cal (1 term class)
Marching Band (year long)
Debate (1 term class)
AP Env Science (1 term class)
(Our district does accelerated block scheduling, four 9 week grading periods with only 4 classes in a term)
We’re also waiting for the Virtual Learning options for summer to open up, he may add an AP Psych for summer class if it’s offered.
He took AP World Human Geo in 9th, has AP World History right now and all other Core classes over the two years have all been PreAp.
Oh my, thank you all ( @tutumom2001, @allyphoe, @yourmomma, @NJWrestlingmom and @ikim10 ) for your input as well! I must’ve been writing my last two responses when you all were posting.
@STEM2017, yes AP Economics is offered at her school. It’s a one year course with both Macro and Micro and at the end of the year they are required to take both AP exams. I was wondering how difficult the combined class is as far as AP classes go. I sort of wish Macro and Micro we’re split up bc I think some schools offer them that way. Since Econ is required Senior year, she’ll either have to take this or regular Econ. I thought the same as you since she’s interested in business. But, once again, her friend strikes and says her sister struggled with that class too. Ugh!
Another vote for not doing AP Physics. If she’s not a STEM kid, she shouldn’t torture herself. She might perhaps want to have one AP science class over the course of her high school career. (AP Bio, perhaps? It’s a lot of work but probably not as difficult as AP Physics). Also, by the time she graduates, she should have taken the three basic lab classes (Bio, Chem, Physics).
One question I would have is are the ACP and classes considered “most rigorous” at your D’s school? (That’s something she should discuss with the GC. I understand that they are both weighted, but does your school consider them at the same level, higher or lower in terms of rigor than AP classes? If lower, she might want to think about AP Lang and UPUSH rather than ACP/honors. If equal or higher, then she should take whatever she feels she will benefit from and enjoy the most. If the honors teacher is one of those life-changing educators, I would suggest considering that; otherwise, it’s six of one/half a dozen of the other.
As an aside, having a low stress AP Lang class junior year wouldn’t necessarily be a negative in the greater scheme of things, so – if she’s already a strong writer, doing AP Lang with a teacher that is not demanding might make her life easier…my D did that and appreciated the low stress of AP her Lang class as all of her other classes were pretty challenging (she was taking 5 APs at the time). She did end up getting something out of the class (she has always been a strong writer, but she did pick up some rhetorical skills in AP Lang in a very low stress environment; that said, she missed an opportunity to take an Honors English class with someone from whom she might have learned a lot). Life is full of trade-offs and there are no right or wrong answers here.
AP Macro and Micro combined is tough. The upside is that it will appear as 2 APs on her transcript. Also, if she takes it as a senior and her final grade is, lets just say, not perfect, she’ll already have offers in hand (hopefully).
@Momof3B, our school uses Pre AP and Honors interchangeably (no extra weight). They have AP and ACP for a weight of 5 and Duel Credit is also called PLTW (Project Lead The Way) and that’s weighted at a 4.5. The Virtual Learning your school is offering for the summer sounds interesting. I plan on having D test prep this summer and take the August SAT. I might have her practice the ACT as well to see which one she prefers.
From this site I learned that APUSH can be very time consuming so that’s why I don’t mind D doing the ACP US History IU class instead. She’s in XC for a sport and a school EC plus we want her to get a little part time job as well.
I agree not to push her in physics, but as communication skills are essential to be a success in business, I would have her try for the AP Language Arts class. She can bump down if it doesn’t work out.
Too bad about the macro/micro, ds20 LOVED macro (he’s a business major). This year, one of my sophomores is taking precalc honors and AP stat (along with her senior sister), and loves it. However, my 22 year old (who now has her masters in accounting) regretted taking AP stat instead of AP calc ecause it put her behind in college. Next year my twins ar3 taking 4 AP classes, but regular English 3 (honors not offered) because they are math kids (they both took physics freshman year). None of my kids have taken AP Physics yet, but I hear it’s not fun.
@LoveTheBard, I know the GC usually meets with the kids alone but I might request a meeting with her just to see what she thinks of D’s class rigor. Also, the AP Lang class would be high stress for her bc of all the handwritten, timed writing prompts. She’s always done well in LA but this teacher has shaken her confidence, even though she got an A this semester she just feels she isn’t learning much and this is also one of the main AP Lang teachers for Jrs.
@Groundwork2022, that was what I was proposing for D to do but she can be stubborn. Doesn’t want anything to do with AP Lang at her school. Now, if a couple other LA teachers were doing this class, she’d be all over it bc she knows their reputations as good teachers.
@STEM2017, so AP Econ combined is pretty tough then. Well, first semester covers Macro, I believe. Is that easier than Micro? Maybe, like you said, she’d already have offers in hand and if she got as low as a C in 2nd semester she should be ok and not get rescinded.