<p>The whole AP thing is out of control. Hyper-competitiveness run amok.</p>
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I wonder if those kids who graduate hs with 10-15 AP course really graduate from college early - and if they find it provides much benefit at all.
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<p>At the public high school my kids attended, every year there are probably 30-40 kids who graduate with 6-7 AP courses. Probably half of those kids go to public universities, and substantially all of the ones who do graduate in three years (sometimes less). The kids regard this as having real economic importance to them.</p>
<p>Ironically, the few kids who take more APs than that are often comparatively unlikely to benefit, since most of them wind up at selective private universities that give them very little for their AP credits. There were six kids in my son's class with 8-10 APs, and only one of them will get any actual college credit for them.</p>
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I wonder if those kids who graduate hs with 10-15 AP course really graduate from college early - and if they find it provides much benefit at all.
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Both of my Ds took lots of APs - in the range you state. Since they're both pursuing engineering majors (CS), the APs don't get them out of many classes and doesn't really decrease their time in college much since this major requires a <em>lot</em> of courses to graduate - far more than a poli-sci degree for example. So, the benefit of how many college classes the APs obviate and how much less time one needs to get the degree depends on the major and also the school. All of the extra credits from the AP classes does give them higher class standing which allows them a higher priority on signing up for classes.</p>
<p>My kids had a side benefit though - taking the AP classes allowed them to take the most rigorous courses the school offered which they both could easily handle. They'd have been very bored in the non-AP classes that were offered at their particular HS. It also put them in the class with and had them surrounded by (and generally where most of their friends were) the other high achievers from the school. I think this experience would vary by school but at a HS with a fair amount of non-achievers, being in the AP classes helps a lot.</p>
<p>I took two last year and 5 this year. I don't recommend it actually. Taking too many AP's is a massive amount of work, and the only way they count towards college credit is if you get a 4 or 5 on the AP (some colleges take a 3). The people who have done best and been least stressed out in my high school are the kids that have taken 4 or 5 APs total in their junior and senior year :)</p>
<p>I took one as a freshman (ap world), 5 as a sophomore (calc ab, apush, ap environmental, ap english, ap music theory), i plan on taking at least 5 more throughout junior and senoir, probably macro/micro, ap gov. and pol, ap comp. gov. and pol., ap bio, ap chem, bc calc, ap stat, and german (if they offer it, i haven't checked). we have many opportunities at our school. so i gues that means 15 total? plus all of my jr. and sen. classes are full time college classes.</p>
<p>thats true that they don't get credit for all of them, but for alot of people, the credit that you get isn't the main goal of AP classes. i know that i don't care about the credit, i take them to prove to colleges that i am ready and willing to do lots of work.</p>
<p>At our public HS, GC's push for kids to take as many AP's as possible. Once upon a time, there were prereqs for even the honors track--now it's all about self-selection. I'm sure you can guess the school's motivation for the change...(rankings anyone?)</p>
<p>AP's are marketed to students before they even enter the HS. At the 8th grade orientation, the GC's present a PowerPoint of a "typical" schedule complete with resume and then trot out the senior class wunderkind who is president of everything, competes on 3 varsity sports teams, volunteers, takes 7 AP's, and is on the way to HYP as the role model to emulate. </p>
<p>Those who dare to dream usually end up graduating with about 10-12 at our HS. Only 1 (World) offered for sophs, 3 or 4 as a junior, and then 6 or 7 as a senior. Though lately there has been self-teaching mania. One senior is doing 10 this year, as a result. (The admissions outcome includes: Accepted at Princeton/Waitlisted at Harvard/Rejected at Yale.) One word--competiton. It's almost a sickness. These kids are stressed to the max.</p>
<p>The marketing push includes the you get "credit" at a discount mythology. True for some but certainly not for all. Many of my D's friends will be entering college with advanced (probably soph) standing, but my D is going to a LAC that offers NO credit. You can't gain admission without taking them though, now, can you? So, the $800+ I shelled out will buy her a pass on a couple of "Intro to..." courses. But again, they're an admissions necessity at many schools. So, I guess they're a good enough deal no matter what you get out of them in terms of credit. </p>
<p>A timely thread since the exams begin next Monday. At least my D doesn't have to attend classes for the next two weeks--it's almost like a vacation.</p>
<p>Good luck to all taking the upcoming exams.</p>
<p>Our small college-prep high school offers NO AP courses, though some kids do take the AP exams.</p>
<p>I took 2 soph year (BCCalc, Chem), 4 Jr year (Eng Lang, USHist, Bio, PhysC), and 4 Sr year (Env. Sci, Comp Sci A, Eng Lit, Span Lang)</p>
<p>School offered 16-18 I think.</p>
<p>It's interesting to re-read this thread now that I know a little more.</p>
<p>Ds's school only offers AP for most of the cores at junior year, so everyone is forced to take several. That bugs me. By virtue of that setup and his interests he'll have seven APs one semester and six the other. Seems like too much to me, but he literally doesn't have a choice if he pursues his interests.</p>
<p>at our public HS, the only AP available for Sophs is Art History, which a few Sophs take bcos it fulfills a UC admission requirement. Jr year APs typically total 2, but some kids may double in a science or history or math, for 3. Senior year is 5/6. Top kids end up with 8-10. School offers ~15 APs.</p>
<p>To answer the original question, my son had courses that followed the AP syllabus through joint classes arranged by our homeschooling group in seventh grade and eighth grade, but he didn't take the matching tests, and in my mind they were his "honors" courses in those subjects (chemistry and biology). He was also in a calculus course not specifically designed for AP preparation but corresponding quite well to the calculus AB syllabus in eighth grade, and didn't take that test either. Last year (ninth grade), he took an AP United States history course, an AP physics B course, and a continuation of the calculus course that included most of the "C" topics in the AP syllabus and a lot of linear algebra. He also had a political philosophy course not at all aligned with any AP syllabus, but taught at a first-year university level. He took the AP tests in </p>
<p>United States history </p>
<p>physics B </p>
<p>calculus BC </p>
<p>United States government </p>
<p>and </p>
<p>comparative government </p>
<p>and passed all five tests. He is slated this year to take </p>
<p>computer science AB </p>
<p>chemistry </p>
<p>statistics </p>
<p>and </p>
<p>physics C mechanics. He has a very flexible high school. </p>
<p>my oldest D attended a school without APs and she didn't take any AP tests.
She was admitted to all her colleges.
Younger D took AP Euro in 10th , didn't take the test, took AP history in 11th ( US) and took the test & is taking AP american lit and AP american government in 12th and will be taking the AP lit test.
( has been admitted to all her colleges- school offers 15-17 courses)</p>
<p>D took 2 in jr year, and 4 in senior year. There were really not that many more that were offered. Small private school in NE, with good rep.</p>
<p>My S goes to a small public high school in suburban New Jersey that offers 13 AP courses. He took/takes 5 -- English Lang & Comp and US History as a junior (5's in both), and Spanish, English Lit and AP World History now. (I happen to think that it's impossible to teach a "World History" course in one year at anything close to a college level, by the way.) The ones he didn't take, other than French, are mostly in science and math (not his forte), plus, I think, AP Art.</p>
<p>He saw no earthly reason to take more than 5, and neither did I. I don't think any of his classmates took more than 7 or 8, although (from what he tells me) there are a lot of kids who really aren't able to do the work at a high level who take courses like AP US History because their parents insist.</p>
<p>Taking "only" 5 AP courses didn't hurt him with colleges, I think, since he got into the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins, among other schools; his only rejection was from Yale (like 92% of everybody else who applied, no matter how many AP's they took!).</p>
<p>I don't know if he can get credit for any of his AP's at the University of Chicago other than Spanish (if he gets a 4 or a 5), so most of them probably didn't have much practical value except to the extent that he enjoyed the courses and/or that they may have helped him with college admissions.</p>
<p>Back when I was in high school, sometime before the Flood, I took 4 AP exams, which was fairly standard at my school. (A private high school in NYC with 106 kids in my class, 25 of whom went to HYP, and a total of 50 to all the Ivy League schools.) I suspect that the average is somewhat higher now! I actually used my AP credits to get through Yale in 3 years rather than 4. In retrospect, I dearly wish I hadn't. Another year in college would have been nice, and I don't know why I was in such a hurry to get on with life!</p>
<p>Donna</p>
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Back when I was in high school, sometime before the Flood, I took 4 AP exams, which was fairly standard at my school. (A private high school in NYC with 106 kids in my class, 25 of whom went to HYP, and a total of 50 to all the Ivy League schools.) I suspect that the average is somewhat higher now!
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<p>I've been wondering about this, because I too took 4 AP exams 30 years ago. Frankly, I can't imagine having taken more. Those classes were HARD, among some of the hardest I've ever taken in a life which has included far too much school. Has there been some tremendous increase in the intelligence of current high school students relative to their parents? Or, though I hesitate to suggest it, could the tests have been, omg, dumbed down? </p>
<p>Obviously, I could be far dumber than I think I am :), but my high school classmates have the same feeling about our AP classes. Maybe mass delusion is another possibility.</p>
<p>I never took any 40+ years ago. Were they even offered??</p>
<p>Our son took the max allowed in our district hs-six.</p>
<p>I don't remember any at my HS, and I was top 5%, so if they were offered, I think I would have known. Where I grew up, AP was a grocery store.</p>
<p>My son took AP Human Geo in 9th grade, AP World History in 10th grade.</p>
<p>This year he has Bio, Comp Sci, Psych, English, and US History. That it way too many and I wish someone would have counseled against it. (Instead, he was counseled to put off PE until senior year and add Psych.) </p>
<p>Next year he'll have Stats, Gov., Econ. and English Lit. It shouldn't be as bad because Gov and Econ are one semester course, so only 3 at a time.</p>
<p>I think my younger kids will be taking far fewer AP classes.</p>
<p>S is taking no AP courses now, but he's just a freshman. :) He'll take one AP test in May; he's self-studying for it.</p>
<p>He'll probably have 5 by the time he's done: psych, calc, govmint, compsci, and a science, either physics, chem, or bio. </p>
<p>I know that back in the Dark Ages when I was in high school, at least a few AP courses were offered; I took the AP English test without taking the AP English course (no studying for it; I was a walk-in). I took Adv. Bio, but don't remember whether that was considered AP Bio or not; that was the only course with "advanced" in the title that I took, and I didn't take the test for it.</p>