Freshman AP Test-takers?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>Hi, everyone, </p>

<p>I'm just curious here about students who take AP tests at the young end of the age range. I see from the AP national reports that only a tiny percentage of freshmen take any AP test other than human geography (that seems to be the AP test most taken by freshmen), but I wonder what your experience is. Did you take an AP test as a freshman? Were you even ALLOWED to take an AP test in ninth grade at your high school? </p>

<p>And maybe "freshman" isn't the only way to look at this issue, because some students skip grades. So whatever your grade designation, did some of you take AP tests at age fourteen or younger? Which tests? How did you study for the tests, in a school class, or by self-study?</p>

2

<p>In my school it is common for freshmen to take AP Computer Science in a class-setting. There's no limit as to how many they can take as long as they fulfilled the prerequisites. I, however, did not take it my freshman year.</p>

3

<p>Well, my school is designed around AP testing, so they kind of plan this stuff for you. In 9th grade, all the classes are sort of preparatory classes like Pre-AP Bio and Pre-AP World History, then 10th grade we start AP classes - generally with World History, AP Bio, and maybe Art History. Then we can choose after that.</p>

<p>So to answer your question, no one takes AP classes as a freshmen at my high school.</p>

4

<p>no freshmen at my school take any APs</p>

5

<p>Tokenadult, my S took the AP Psych test this past May; he's 14. He's now a rising sophomore, so yes, was a freshman when he took it. He self-studied (after a fashion...) for it. He'd taken Cog Psych at CTY last summer, liked it, did well, so he had had some exposure to some of the subject matter in a classroom setting, though Cog Psych is a small part of the AP test.</p>

<p>AP courses are generally not open to freshmen at his high school. There were no impediments to his taking an AP exam, however, and the school even paid for it.</p>

6

<p>Thanks, owlice, that's the first instance I've heard about of starting out with AP psychology. </p>

<p>Thanks for the other replies too. It's interesting to hear of various high school policies.</p>

7

<p>I'm a rising soph right now, and freshmen aren't allowed to take AP classes. But I self-studied psych anyways and took the test.</p>

8

<p>tokenadult, I saw a post from a dad posting about his (freshman, 14-year-old) D's AP Psych score, so that makes at least three. (<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/525267-ap-scores-2008-post-your-exam-score-here-post1060631412.html#post1060631412%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/525267-ap-scores-2008-post-your-exam-score-here-post1060631412.html#post1060631412&lt;/a&gt;) Looks like the freshmen are 3 for 3 with 5s, if I read xioajingteng's post elsewhere correctly.</p>

<p>The consensus on CC appears to be that AP Psych is one of the easiest AP tests for which to self-study. </p>

<p>I was not surprised the school let my S take the test, but was surprised that I didn't have to pay for it. I had assumed that the school (district) paid for AP tests only for students taking AP courses. (The school requires that those taking AP courses take the corresponding tests.)</p>

9

<p>The only person at my school who has taken an AP class as a freshman took AP Calc BC (they were in an AB class and self-studied the other small portion). They got a 5.</p>

<p>The school does not pay for anyone's tests, and the school district, LAUSD, doesn't either.</p>

10

<p>At my old school (I graduated) some freshman take world history and a few take human geography each year but the majority do not start taking APs until sophomore year.</p>

11

<p>My son took the AP Physics B test in May as a freshman, and got a 5. He took Fast-paced HS Physics at CTY last summer and did extremely well. He took an AP-level physics course at school this year, but it was not very well done. I think that most of what he learned was at CTY. Everyone in our HS who takes an AP course is required to take (and pay for) the exam.</p>

12

<p>I forgot to answer your other question. It is quite unusual for a freshman to take an AP exam in our public school district. I believe that some kids may take one as sophomores, more as juniors, and the motivated kids take up to 6 or 7 AP courses as seniors.</p>

13

<p>At my old school, only two freshman students took AP exams for Bio and Chem. They both got 5s.</p>

<p>At my new school, a bunch of ninth graders take Human Geo.</p>

<p>I didn't take any AP classes freshman year.</p>

14

<p>I took AP Music Theory in 10th grade and I skipped 8th grade.</p>

15

<p>My friend took AP Calc AB in 8th grade and then did Calc BC and Comp Sci AB in his freshman year. He got 5s in all of them and is now going to MIT...</p>

16

<p>i took world history in ninth grade and got a 4. i think it should be like a required class for all ninth graders.</p>

17

<p>The freshmen required classes (e.g. PE) at my school makes it impossible to fit in an AP class. I doubt the administration would even let freshmen take AP's if it were an option.</p>

18

<p>I hear many high schools are still setting up barriers to freshmen participating in AP courses. How many of you have heard, one way or the other, officially if freshmen can sit for AP exams?</p>

19

<p>Took AP chem, world, and envi sci. 555.</p>

<p>5 more APs this year. national ap scholar... hopeful...</p>

20

<p>I took AP Human in 9th (rising sophomore)- surprisingly, although the general consensus around here seems to be that it's one of the easiest, my friends and I thought it was so-so even with rather extensive prep (although teacher did have to leave for personal reasons two months or so before the exam leaving us with the other not so great one).
But that's the only course that is given for freshmen I think.</p>