<p>Here human geo AP is pretty standard for college bound kids in 9th, I think older kids sit the test without the course and just buy a crammer book, it is that kind of AP. Here the course is called Human geography LOL. They give it to freshman here because it is a good intro to AP for 9th graders. It is a semester course but freshman do it over a year.
<a href=“http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-human-geography-course-description.pdf”>http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-human-geography-course-description.pdf</a>
I don’t think people think of it as a college course though, I don’t know if it counts for credit anywhere, it is more to get kids into the way of thinking and writing and grading expected as they progress through high school. </p>
<p>
And as a result, the curve is rather harsh; only 11% got a 5 last year. As mentioned upthread, few top colleges even give credit for it.</p>
<p>An earlier poster thought that APUSH was always taken in 11th grade. It is at our school, but I have read on this site of schools where younger grades are taking it. Again, the OP needs to look at their own school’s sequencing.</p>
<p>APUSH is considered one of the hardest APs because of the large amount of material covered, and AP Gov covers less material for the test. However, in our school, the APUSH class is structured around AP test requirements while the AP Gov class involves many time consuming project which aren’t so directly focused on the exam itself. Several months are spent on things like model congress. It is still an easier class, but I wouldn’t say it only covers half the material so it only takes half the time. </p>
<p>@thumper1 - yes D is taking about 5-6 AP classes and I’m not happy about it. She seems to be doing fine so far. </p>
<p>The problem is sometimes the AP class is the default course for college-bound seniors. There are only two senior English classes: regular senior English and AP Lit - D picked AP Lit in a heartbeat. US History is only offered as Honors and AP - the amount of work in these two classes is the same, so, many kids take the AP version for the grade bump. As for the Calc AB/BC, I think that class in her high school is actually equivalent to many other schools’ Calc BC class (from what other parents have described to me) but it takes up two class periods instead of just one period. The other option - in the original class schedule her GC gave her - was AP Calc AB and AP Stats; between the two choices, she preferred Calc AB/BC.</p>
<p>
Again, this varies by school. The College Board outlines the topics for the exam, and the school must get the syllabus approved. But each school can structure the course as it sees fit. Some offer AP Gov as a semester elective; others offer it as a year long course. If the course runs for an academic year, the instructor, out of necessity, may have to add additional topics/activities in order to keep the students engaged for that length of time. That said, APUSH is much more difficult than AP Gov.</p>
<p>DS’s AP schedule:</p>
<p>9 - Human Geography
10- World History
11 - Calc AB, Physics B, Chemistry, English Lang, Art History, Spanish Lang, European History
12 - Calc BC, Physics C, English Lit, Spanish Lit, Biology, US History, Government</p>
<p>7 AP courses in both 11th and 12th grade? Wow. I will say, I’m not sure that us a usual amount of AP courses, and my bet is it exceeds the national average…by a lot.</p>
<p>It was a lot of work, but at least he was well prepared for college, which he says involved MUCH more work, at least in his STEM major at a very rigorous college.</p>
<p>IMO there are several considerations in discussion about AP classes, many of which have been discussed above (e.g. talking to counselors, what hs courses hs offers, can freshman take/not take AP courses, looking ahead to what potential colleges requires (here in CA, there are 2 main college pathways with differing entrance reqs), etc). Most importantly and the most variable comes down to the individual student. My basic mantra is a kid should take the hardest possible courses that he/she can take AND do well in. Do not be concerned with what other kids are doing. This isn’t about keeping up with Joneses. Note that the word “AND” is critical. Taking AP courses and doing well certainly looks good on transcripts, hopefully provides solid foundation at least as to time management, and may give them more college choices/aid offers. But taking AP courses and struggling, not so helpful. I understand that whether or not a child will do well in any given course can be assumed upfront, but will not be known for sure until the child is actually taking the course. So to some extent you have to just see how things go. So it’s ok to try to set up some hs plan in 8 grade as to taking 6/7 AP courses, but be flexible as if child stumbles, an adjustment may have to be made. </p>
<p>At S’s hs, in core subject areas, either regular/non weighted or AP courses (or Honors if no AP course offered) were offered. S just seemed to follow natural sequence of things. In grade 8 he took/did well Algebra, in 9 grade- H geom.… AP Calc BC in grade 12. In 9/10 grades, he took H English, did well, so just moved on to AP English courses in 11/12. In grade 8, S took Spanish 1. Did well in 9/10 Spanish 2/3, but he was not fan, so we didn’t push AP Spanish on him. Look at where D is now and how’s she doing. I’m assuming that hs registration won’t occur to spring, so just keep ear to ground for now and let her enjoy 8th grade. </p>
<p>S’s AP schedule:
10- Bio, Euro
11 – US History, English, Physics C,
12 - CalcBC, Chem, English, Government (one semester)
In interest of full disclosure, in 11 grade, besides above courses, he also took H Pre Calc; in 12 grade second semester, after Govt, he took H econ. In both 11/12 grades, he only took the 4 core subject courses above.</p>
<p>And for what it’s worth when a Vassar admissions officer was asked if it’s better to get an A in an honors course or a B in AP, she quipped, “It’s better to get an A in the AP course.” The other admissions officers there (Cornell, Dartmouth, Yale and a couple of others, all laughed and agreed.) </p>
<p>I think most bright STEM kids should be looking to take AP Calc, and one or two AP sciences (Bio, Chem, Physics not the weird sciences though they are fine as extras), and a more Soc Sci/Humanities kid might take 2 or 3 AP Histories and 1 or 2 AP English courses. Everyone who starts a language in middle school should seriously consider taking it to the AP level. AP Art and AP music theory are also good experiences. (I took AP Art way back when and it was one of the more valuable courses I took in high school.) The rules at your school may or make this schedule not enough or too much. Our system has languages in middle school and many students take high school biology and Algebra 1 in middle school.</p>
<p>I think how many AP classes kids take is very dependent on the particular high school. If you are in TX where rank is very important and your school offers weighted grades for AP classes you do have to be concerned with how many AP classes other kids are taking. My D will have taken 12 AP classes (and a few advanced classes with AP weighting) by the time she graduates and that’s about the norm for the kids in the top 10% of her class. There is no way you could make it into the top 10% with out multiple AP classes here. Another reason to check with your particular GC.</p>
<p>At our school senior full IB classes are weighted the same as AP. The top 10 kids are always IB students partly due to all the weighting and partly due to the fact that the “smart” kids usually go into the IB program. In order to be competitive for class rank my son (not IB) has chosen to take </p>
<p>9th: AP US Gov
10th: AP Computer Science, AP Human Geography
11th (current): AP English Lang, AP Calc AB, AP Environmental Science, AP Economics- Macro & Micro (virtual courses), AP Statistics
12th (planned): AP Eng Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Science (likely Bio), AP US History, & AP Psych </p>
<p>Part of the plan of putting APUSH in 12th was that if his grade dropped a bit 2nd semester it would be no big deal. College decisions are done by then.</p>
<p>9th: AP Human Geo AP Statistics
10th: AP Computer Science AP calc AB/BC AP env sci AP Chem AP Gov
11th: AP Bio AP English Lang AP World linear algebra
12th: APUSH AP Psych AP Physics C AP Physics 1/2 AP English Lit AP econ macro/micro
put us history towards the end for the same reason as dragon flygarden
he advocated for himself to take AP in the order he wanted</p>
<p>School is open to younger kids taking APs:</p>
<p>8th: AP Computer Science (through AoPS class)
9th: AP Physics B
10th: AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry
11th (tentative): AP English Lang, AP US Hist, AP Stats (1 semester)
12th (tentative): AP English Lit, AP Govt (1 semester), AP Micro/Macro Econ (1 semester each)</p>
<p>Hopefully: AP Physics C Mech/E&M (school doesn’t offer, but independent study with teacher mentor is possible)
Probably not, but possible: AP Spanish, AP Bio</p>
<p>School doesn’t offer AP Human Geog, AP Psychology, AP Music, AP Art</p>
<p>
That may work at some schools, we found the more we deviated from standard schedules the more conflicts there were. </p>
<p>THANKS A MILLION FOR ALL YOUR RESPONSES!! We appreciate it very much!Thanks again.</p>
<p>My daughter did
junior year: 5 APs, one science, one yearlong college level math class, one elective
senior year: 4 APs, one dual, one semesterlong college math class, one elective. Yes it was a little too much in senior year with the college class in the fall and apps as well but she managed. She also audited another AP class (non credit); I tried to talk her out of that because she really didn’t have time but she insisted.</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with any high school where 5 yearlong (not semester-based) courses would be considered a full time load. </p>
<p>You don’t. Your children take the best courses available to them in the year that best fits for them. It is best to take the AP exam in the spring closest to finishing the AP course so the material is freshest. The AP exams are spread over more than a week, like college exams are. It could be the student’s good/bad luck as to how close the exams are to one another for those chosen. </p>
<p>Don’t worry about it. Sign your kids up for their best HS course lists every year. My gifted son had to forgo an English AP class to get his 4th year of French- worth meeting college reqs more than needing one less lit class in college. There is never a perfect schedule. Son also had other schedule glitches as well. AP courses are a blessing for top kids who otherwise may be even more bored in HS (AP is only like middling college class work, not even flagship worthy). </p>
<p>My kids AP sequences:</p>
<p>D13 (humanities kid)
10 - APUSH
11 - AP Euro
12 - AP Gov (1 sem - replacement for Gov grad requirement) + AP Psych (1 sem); AP Lit; and AP Stats (plus also 2nd year IB Euro Seminar and IB Enviro both weighted like AP)</p>
<p>D16 (more math/science but also loves history)
10 - AP USH, AP Bio
11 - AP Chem, AP Econ Macro and AP Econ Micro
12 - AP Lit (or possibly language), AP Calc BC, AP Physics (don’t know which one as I don’t understand the various physics tests), AP Gov (1 sem - replacement for Gov grad requirement) and possibly AP Psych (1 sem)</p>
<p>How would you get to AP level in the 2nd language after only 2 years or is your child a heritage speaker?</p>