<p>We went to a meeting this week for next year's AP classes. I'm curious how much summer work is required at your schools.</p>
<p>S1 is taking (senior next year):</p>
<p>AP Physics - 2 chapters of text book (read and problem sets) - test on third day of school
AP European History - read "A History of Western Society Since 1300" - essay over book
AP Engish Lit/Comp - Read 3 Novels - (Hard Times, All Quiet on the Western Front, Tell Me a Riddle) - there will also be one or more essays related to this - not sure if there will be an exam when school starts
AP Calc - no summer work</p>
<p>S2 is taking (sophomore next year);
AP Psychology - no summer assignment
AP US History - read "The American Pageant" - write essay</p>
<p>It looks like it will be a busy summer for S1 (although it beats reading Moby Dick again - honors English III required this last summer). I suppose he will use this as an excuse not to get a job (especially since marching band starts at the beginning of August).</p>
<p>Just curious what is required for the rest of your kids.</p>
<p>Only our English/lit requires summer work. It is required for every college prep English class starting with Freshman year. Typically similar to what you list. Read 2-3 novels, hand in a binder for each with handwritten notes (one page for each chapter..they do this so the kids can't spark notes it). A test is given on the reading on the first day of class.
Students who do not hand in the binders are automatically withdrawn from the class and placed in the next level down.<br>
AP math at our school-no summer work, European History and other history classes have no summer work.</p>
<p>APUSH required Son to do two or three chapters - otherwise there was not enough time for the teacher to get through the meterial by test time.</p>
<p>In Englsih, it's usually two books, then an essay on them.</p>
<p>Junior year, AP Psych was one of Son's alternate classes, and he was surprised that it was on his schedule at registration Good thing he's a fast reader because he had to do the whole summer of reading in about 4 days.</p>
<p>All of our honors English classes also require summer reading (9-12). All AP history (US, World and Euro) and sciences (Physics, Biology, Chemistry) also require summer work.</p>
<p>AP Lang: 4 novels, total of 2000 pages
AP Lit: 5 novels, total of 1700 pages
APUSH: 3 chapters of text, worksheets on them for a grade, test on 2nd day of school
AP Music: none
AP Chem: None, but AP Biology class had tons (5 chapters? I think)</p>
<p>All our history and english classes (AP or reg) require summer reading and work. It has not been part of the regular curriculum (ie, it is not the first couple chapters of a book) but supplemental readings which are discussed/tested at the beginning of school.</p>
<p>Only other AP D has taken is in language and no summer work. </p>
<p>I am confused he would have to read American Pageant and write an essay. That is the main text book used in our USH classes (although there are about 8 other books which are more opinion/analysis on various aspects of USH) do they expect him to read the whole thing over the summer? </p>
<p>Can you talk to parents of older kids to see how big this workload actually is?</p>
<p>I am currently reading Moby Dick :) but I'm glad I don't have a deadline or a test at the end!</p>
<p>None of my sons have done AP work over the summer. All have passed all but one of their 9-10 AP exams (and all missed a different one - go figure).</p>
<p>APUSH: "A People's History of the United States" and a page of notes for every chapter.
AP Euro: Nothing.
AP Lang: 3 books (Huck Finn, Great Gatsby, and Fredrick Douglass), essay on each.
Ap Lit: 2 books (Jekyll and Hyde, Island of Dr Moreau), essay on the theme of evil as portrayed in the books.
AP Calc: packet of review problems (the teacher does not review at the beginning of the year). About 200 problems.</p>
<p>AP and honors classes usually have some summer reading or assignments. For APs we start after Labor Day and really are short on time. There may have been more, because I don't pay that much attention to what my kids are doing.</p>
<p>APUSH - read a book or two maybe Zinn? and April 1865 for the oldest something different for the younger son
AP Calc - nothing
AP Bio - read the AP review book for one
- read two or three chapters and be tested on them on day 2 of classes for the other
AP Econ - read a mystery story that included economic theory and Great Ideas by Dead Economists
AP Chem and AP Physics C - nothing that I remember
AP World - they did a big summer project about an Arab explorer - involved costumes and acting
AP Comp Sci - nothing</p>
<p>APUSH: Read the first three chapters from the text book and write a 2 page paper for each chapter - due the first day of school.</p>
<p>Math "summer" packet</p>
<p>AP Lang (actually all English classes): Novel - tested the second day of class</p>
<p>AP Bio - Reading</p>
<p>AP Chem - Packet to be completed</p>
<p>Latin - Packet to be completed.</p>
<p>These are just the ones I remember.</p>
<p>Lots of complaint from families made the school take a look at the amount of summer work - individually it wasn't so bad, but with multiple classes it really seemed that the kids had no break. Still summer work - just less now.</p>
<p>AP US - Founding Brothers, which I didn't actually read (and I'm now a history major concentrating in American history... I just really hated that book)
AP Calc - nothing
AP Government - nothing
AP English (we did lit and lang in the same year) - Lord of the Flies and 1984, although I might be lying about 1984, I can't quite remember
I took the psych AP exam on my own with a regular psych class, so there wasn't any summer assignment.</p>
<p>Not only do many AP classes require summer work in our school, but all Spanish classes do, too, in order to try to maintain some semblance of immersion over the summer.</p>
<p>Our school does not usually assign summer work for AP classes but the kids are swamped when school starts. It's a struggle to get through all the material in time to take the early May exams. Makes me wonder why the college board has the exams in May instead of June!</p>
<p>The way teachers explained it to us here is that, since the tests are in May, the summer projects are necessary to make sure all the material is covered. I guess schools here are at a disadvantage starting after Labor Day, while schools in some other states (particularly in the South) start in August. It hurts at the other end too...D's graduation day is June 27th, more than a month after her cousin in NC is done. That is probably why the tests are not in June...</p>
<p>Similar to Anon except also AP chem work -- few chapters + questions and test second day of school.</p>
<p>Makes for a busy last few weeks in August if you are taking 4 -,5 AP's! My D did a 4 week language immersion in Spain last summer and still had to do the AP Spanish packet. Drives everyone crazy!</p>
<p>My D's school doesn't assign summer work either. It is definitely a struggle for the teacher to get through APUSH. Most of the other classes don't seem to have a problem with getting through the material.</p>
<p>Wow, my high school was light on the summer homework!</p>
<p>AP World History: Nothing
AP Psych: Nothing
AP US History: Nothing
AP English Lang: Read Grapes of Wrath (tested on the first day)
AP European History: Nothing
AP Stats: Nothing
AP Bio: Nothing
AP English Lit: Read Jane Eyre (tested during the first week) and another book of our choosing from a list (never did anything with it)
AP US Government: Nothing
AP Macroecon: Nothing</p>
<p>For the record, though, our classes were pretty difficult, and we tended to do well on the AP exams (Personally, I received 3 4's and 10 5's, one [Human Geo] was self-study). All English classes (regular, honors, and AP) had summer reading for all four years. Do your kids find that summer homework helps much in long run?</p>