<p>Hi,</p>
<p>We recently realized taking more AP classes get college credits. My son will be getting into 10th grade this year. He completed Chemistry in a foreign country during his 7th grade. He is smart but he is not sure whether he can take Chemistry Honors over summer such that he can do the AP Biology. Question is doing Chemistry Honors over summer is advisable ?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I took Chemistry Honors last summer online through the virtual public school for my state. It was pretty easy and I got good grades, but I definitely did not learn as much as I would have in a classroom I think. AP classes aren’t everything. If he already knows chemistry pretty well then let him take it online, but if he plans on majoring in it, then take it in class.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response, this help me a lot.</p>
<p>Don’t rush with purely academic learning. Chemistry is best done/most fun with a college lab. AP Chemistry is the best for a HS but some stuff is just too dangerous for that environment (locally at one HS some kid stole mercury and they had to call out the Haz Mat team to clean up spills on a sidewalk- no more of this element in the schools). Getting college credits means taking a lesser course than one would in many colleges. The reason to take AP Chemistry as a summer course would be to be with equally smart and interested kids- such as at a gifted/talented camp. </p>
<p>Taking AP courses should be to get the best available HS course, not to accumulate college credits to finish college earlier. The college your AP capable child chooses to attend may not give any credit for those AP exam scores (btw- it is not necessary to take an AP course to take/pass/do well on an AP exam, the knowledge can be acquired in other ways). If the college gives credit for AP exam results it may still be desirable to take the college’s version, especially in Honors classes.</p>
<p>If your son WANTS to do AP Chemistry this summer, let him. Especially if he WANTS to be able to take the AP Biology this fall. But Chemistry is a lab science, meant to be enjoyed in the lab, not just in theory so I would avoid a purely online course. I was a college Chemistry major- it is fun in the lab; too bad my son and husband don’t share my enthusiasm (they prefer math/physics).</p>
<p>Remember to let your child be a child. This may mean intense academics if that is his interest and ability. But even the most gifted children need to be well rounded. There should be time for activities he can’t get during the school year. There should be time for silliness, imagination, for the moment instead of the future.</p>
<p>The question was not whether he should do AP Chem over the summer, but rather honors chem, which would then let him start on the AP track for sciences in the 10th grade. I can’t make any guarantees about how hard or easy the course is - his best bet there is to ask people who have actually taken the course he’d be taking. My older son had gotten his science track screwed up and ended up taking Chem the summer after ninth grade to give him more flexibility. (He also had no better plans, and never liked any camp but computer camp.) He took CTY’s fast-pace chem. We picked it because he liked other CTY programs and we knew he’d be surround by kids like himself. They squeezed an entire year of chemistry into three weeks including all the labs required for New York Regent’s credit. It appeared on his high school transcript as a “P”. He took the Regents exam a few weeks after he’d finished the course and got a 91, his lowest Regents Grade, but it did at least put a number on his transcript. He took AP Chem a couple of years later and got an A and a 5 on the exam.</p>
<p>I agree with wis75 whatever Chem course he takes, make sure it has labs. That’s the best part of chemistry.</p>