<p>Much conversation at my school about workload. Just curious: How many AP classes did your student take in each of their four HS years? Also, does your school limit the number of AP classes a student can take? Gracias in advance.</p>
<p>In my kids HS the earliest one could take AP classes is sophomore year and the only one they can take then is US History. In Junior year you might be able to fit in 3 and maybe 4 in senior year. Our school doesn't offer that many AP's, they all have high gpa pre-rec's plus summer reading and summer assignments. And they can only be taken in a certain order, i.e. AP Gov can only be taken senior year, AP Euro can only be taken Junior year. With a smallish high school that really hurts the scheduling. </p>
<p>After posting on here for a few years though, I've decided that limiting the number of AP's for the whole student body can be a good thing. A student can honestly say they are taking the most rigorous classes AVAILABLE and just be taking a few AP's. Kids should have a life outside of the classroom too.</p>
<p>My daughter took one, AP Psychology. There are about 12 different AP's offered at her school but AP's are not everyone. :)</p>
<p>My son took 9, which is probably the maximum number possible at our high school, which is probably somewhat similar to Kathiep's h.s. One in 10th, three in 11th, and five in 12th. My daughter took 7, as she was not an AP math/science student. She took one in 10th, 2 in 11th, and 3 in 12th, plus she did an independent study of AP Art History on her own under the supervision of a teacher in 12th.</p>
<p>At d's high school, there was one AP available sophomore year, with one class. Few kids took it. Junior year had more APs available, but most kids only took one (AP US). Senior year had all the APs available, of course, and many kids took 5; a handful took 6. My d was different. She took 1 AP junior year and 3 senior year (plus one regular non-honors math class, and honors science and foreign language). </p>
<p>She did quite nicely in college admissions. She got into top 50 schools - not Ivies, but then she wasn't aiming for Ivies.</p>
<p>No APs offered soph year, so none then. I took 2 Junior year (bio & USH), and 3 senior year (lit & comp, calc AB, gov). There were a few more offered (art, music theory, languages) that I didn't have the background for and two more (physics, chem) that I chose to pass on.</p>
<p>My school doesn't limit the amount of APs you can take, but they really should. I was advised to take four APs my junior and senior years which my mom vetoed. At the time I was really upset, but looking back, I would have missed out on some really great, fun ECs if I was stuck inside doing homework all the time. Besides, who needs that kind of stress?</p>
<p>Son and daughter's high school allows APs beginning in sophomore year. My daughter ended up taking 3 as a sophomore (Chem, Euro, Psych), but the norm is one (Euro). Virginia offers "Virtual Virginia", online instruction for APs that makes it possible to take almost any AP course online. I'm not a big fan of that, but it is an option. This year, my D is taking 4 as a junior: Gov't, Calc, Bio and English Language (online). Son has only taken 2, U.S. and Enviro, probably more typical of our HS. School doesn't have any prerequisites other than completion of the basic courses for science and math APs, which I don't necessarily agree with because it ends up frustrating a lot of kids. We also have block scheduling, which unfortunately forces a lot of kids into the online courses because of scheduling issues. Daughter's English course is excellent, but she switched out of U.S. online to Gov't (live) because of frustration with the online program.</p>
<p>Different kids do well with different programs; my daughter would be bored out of her mind with anything less but son would be pushed to the limit with anything more. Interestingly, daughter has a pretty active EC schedule while son does not. What's that saying? Your mileage may vary? I think a lot may depend on the rigor of the school and the AP program there in general.</p>
<p>Yeah, my daughter's high school only allows you to take an AP if you got an A in the honors level of that class the previous year. For psychology, the A had to be in honors history. My daughter had wanted to take AP Biology but only got a B in Honors Bio.</p>
<p>S took 5 (total of 13 offered). All in Jr. or Sr. year. All the rest were Honors level, unless not offered that way (eg, PE, Band, a few others).</p>
<p>You didn't ask this, but since this <em>is</em> a college admissions website ;), I wonder if you are concerned with how the # of APs affect admissions results.</p>
<p>So, if you are interested in that, let us know and maybe folks can give a general idea of admissions results. In S' case, he was admitted with merit aid to some top 50 schools, admitted to (and addends) a top 15 university, and was denied at the one HYPSM he applied to. I doubt that the # of APs was a factor in that.</p>
<p>Kids vary, even in a school system that encourages APs and has a lot of them available, as the one in our area does.</p>
<p>My son took four -- two junior year, two senior year. </p>
<p>My daughter, who was in an IB diploma program, took eight AP tests, but half of these were "backups" -- AP tests taken after the completion of IB courses (because some colleges will not give credit for IB scores but will give credit for the corresponding AP scores).</p>
<p>S took 2. AP Physics & Calculus. His school offered 3 APs, the third was AP Spanish. S was accepted during the early round at Caltech & MIT, he was also accepted at UCB & UCSD. But his high school classes were all taught at an AP or honors level even though they only had the AP designation on 3 classes.</p>
<p>The HS says they offer 26 AP courses - but 9 of those are the foreign language APs. And some of those are co-taught with another class, or impossible to schedule. (Scheduling is a nightmare !!)</p>
<p>My daughter took 7 AP courses - 3 Jr, 4 Sr - But she is not into science so those are Euro, Us History, English Lang, English Lit, Macro Econ, Comp Sci AB, Calc BC. AP US History is taught as a 2 yr course beginning in Soph yr.</p>
<p>The kids have to apply for the AP courses - have to be in honors courses, have teacher recs, and good grades. Mostly, they have to be at least a Jr to take AP courses (except for APUSH)</p>
<p>The really competitive kids take 6 - 10 APs. But the highest courses are not always AP - my d is taking multivariable calc & differential equations, which is not an AP course.</p>
<p>Our school does not limit the number of AP's taken. Anyone can take an AP.
Our sch. offers about 15 AP's. Many sophs. take AP's.
S1 took 7 (1 soph. yr, 3 jr. and sr. yr.)
S2 took 2 jr. year.</p>
<p>D took AP Euro as a sophomore, AP US History as a junior, and is now taking AP Spanish, AP English (they can take either test or both), AP Psychology, and AP Stats. She opted not to take the "harder" APs in calculus and the sciences (Bio, Chem, Physics) although she could have. I think she is carrying too many APs this year, but the way our school is set up, there is very little else for the honors seniors to take.</p>
<p>I am not a fan of AP Euro for sophomores. It's a scheduling issue at our school (only year where there's room to offer it, I guess) but the teacher is not that good and it turns a lot of kids off history.</p>
<p>D is not applying to Ivies, Northwestern, et al. She does not get all A's in AP, has some B's, which does not hurt her GPA if schools look at weighted GPA. Only place it might have been an issue is UMich, with its policy of only looking at unweighted, but in the end she decided not to apply there because of high OOS tuition and lack of merit aid.</p>
<p>D1 took one (Calculus AB/BC) her sophomore year, 5 or 6 her jr year, and 6 or 7 her sr. year. As with sabaray above, other than the 2 AP English classes (which she despised, but still got 5's), she would have been bored out of her mind. She's at a public U, and got 58 hours of college credit for her scores on all the AP tests she took, and got out of most of her general requirements....she registered about 2-3 weeks before all of her friends at school this fall.</p>
<p>D2 is taking 4 this year as a jr., probably will be about the same for sr. year. She's involved in a bunch more ECs, dances 2 nights a week, and is not "driven" by GPA as much has her sister was. Because of scheduling issues, she did not take AP English Language this year, but will probably try to self-study and sit for the exam.</p>
<p>Our massive school district (same as PackMom's) prides itself on the number of AP's offered across the 18+ high schools. The Newsweek poll every year always has 2-3 schools listed from our district, because of the push to "challenge" kids to take as many AP's as possible. However, since the Newsweek list shows AP tests taken, and NOT AP scores received, it's always a bit misleading.</p>
<p>Our school does not limit APs. D would finish 15 by senior year. S also did 15. School offers 26, I think, but foreign language APs are several, and a couple are not scheduled due to low interest.</p>
<p>Youdontsay, the decision about taking AP courses must be made with the individual student in mind. I don't think it matters at all what other people in your district are doing.</p>
<p>My son took 3 as a sophomore, 6 as a junior, and two as a senior along with a heavy load of courses at the flagship university and a couple of electives at the hs. He did great, got 5s on everything and As, along with a ton of out of class activities. That doesn't mean I would recommend that course of action for anyone else. My 10th grade daughter is taking one, World History, which is somewhat standard for honors students, and it is a ton of work for her and is making it hard for her to keep up with her other classes. Unfortunately, the non-AP alternative is very badly taught and requires almost no work. She will take AT MOST two APs her junior year, because that is what is right for her.</p>
<p>Nobody should let their kids be talked into taking more AP courses than they can handle without stress; likewise, nobody should let their kids be bored to death by restricting them to non-challenging courses.</p>
<p>D's school offered 3. She took 4.</p>
<p>S is taking AP Euro, Calc AB, Bio, and English Lit as a sophomore. He is also intensively involved with piano, both private and as an accompanist at school. He's works very, very hard but is holding up.</p>
<p>midmo: Did your son take English at the university?</p>
<p>S took 1 as a freshman, 1 as a sophomore, is taking 7 as a junior, and will probably take 7 next year.</p>