My kid also took AP Physics, with no regular or Honors Physics before… in fact, Honors Physics is not offered at her high school. Regular Physics is, but the college prep kids were ALL strongly encouraged to take AP Physics, regardless of what their college plans were. So, D took it and got a C both semesters.
I also think that if a student did well in Honors Chemistry, they were automatically steered into AP Physics.
I begged my daughter to drop the AP and switch to regular and she wouldn’t, mainly due to pride, I think.
Thankfully, she wants to study History or Anthropology or English in college. I hate that she has the Cs on her transcript in junior year, though.
“Does not want me to talk to any teachers…even via email.”
Well, I don’t really care when a teenager in trouble says he doesn’t want the parent to get involved. Teenagers don’t want their booster shots, either. The grownups decide when help is necessary.
I agree that there’s no point in talking to the teacher to try to change the grade. There is an imperative need to talk to the teacher to try and figure out what went wrong and how best to help the child. There are a lot of different paths to an F, and you need to know what’s going on in order to fix the problem. Did the child perform well in class but fail to turn in homework? Freeze on tests? Tune out during class, or skip out, or sit in the corner and cry? Does the teacher think the student needs to work harder or that he isn’t ready for the material yet?
Maybe the solution is tutoring, or dropping the hard classes, or counseling, or anxiety medication, or something else. But you won’t be able to get enough information to make that call from an uncommunicative child.
I took real college physics without any background at all. (One year of bio and one year of chemistry in high school). It was difficult but not impossible. However despite my lack of background, I’m pretty good at math and spatially minded.
However I wouldn’t recommend taking two AP classes in one year with no high school equivalent class preceding them. Too much danger of being overwhelmed.
In our school Physics B replaced honors Physics, it was fine to do it that way. It didn’t assume any prior knowledge. I don’t know exactly how the new Physics 1/2 curriculum is going to be handled. I had one kid who would have happily doubled or tripled up on AP sciences - the other one was better off taking them one at a time.
There is no need to think about premed in high school and even in college it is not necessary to do a" premed curriculum" (which doesn’t exist at most schools) to get into med school. Many kids want to be doctors and most change their minds.
thanks for the comments and there was a happy ending. I was stressed when I posted this since my child was. But report cards came and final grade in AP physics was a B. (that is without ever having physics before) and AP chem was a C (first C ever). Had honors chem in the past and had a high grade there. Also had another science class, plus a humanity AP. I thought early on it would be too much but determination won out. SOmetimes its a tough place to be cause your child wants to go for it and encouragement helps get them through but when they are stressed it really kills me. I can feel the pain. I hate to hold back someone who wants to try. It was rough and definitely not hurting chances at the schools being considered.
@californiaa, “most kids that take AP Physics had studied physics before. Probably, for several years already. In some after-school programs, online, with tutors, or prep classes.”
I have to respond to this. No, I don’t believe that “most” or even more than a very tiny percentage of kids who take AP physics have been studying physics for several years, in after-school programs (we barely even have physics classes around here, I’ve never heard of such thing as an after-school physics program), online, with tutors–no, most students do not have tutors, or prep classes (huh?–again, never heard of such a thing as a physics “prep class”). The OP did nothing wrong by having her son simply enroll in physics. That’s what most kids do. There is no huge lead-up with years of prep, studying, tutoring as you state to enroll in high school AP physics. Usually a prior year of high school physics if it’s AP physics C. In some schools a prior year for the defunct Physics B, and in some schools not. That’s all.
"I suggest my D to study physics and chemistry at least 2 years before school, “at home”. Then she is sufficiently prepared to take double AP Chemistry/ AP Physics in one year. " I see. Yet on this site you have stated a thousand times the tired refrain that all that is necessary to be successful in school is to do your homework. Evidently that, and making your child spend two years studying on her own before enrolling in the class. And evidently you believe that taking extensive prep classes outside of school, having private tutors, etc, is the usual practice from your comment above. So which is it, just do your homework and all will be fine, or bring on years of prep classes and private tutors so that you already know all the material before the course even starts?
Mathyone - I think it’s Miamidap, not californiaa, who is responsible for the tired old refrain of “all you need to do well is do your homework.”
Though I agree with you completely. Sorry there is a bizarre-o culture of whacked-out nerd parents who are in a rush to cram every possible piece of learning into their kids, but it’s not the norm.
Well it’s good that the final grades turned out better than expected. But please address the feelings of stress and being overwhelmed in your daughter.
What is the plan for senior year? Are there any classes left for her to take if she took 3 science AP (AP bio as well?) In junior year and an AP history?
Please help her to schedule for success and so that she can enjoy her senior year.
Also the focus for college should be for a good, supportive environment, for her sanity as much as success.
@mommdc I completely agree with you wondering about her senior year. I read this entire thread ,and all I kept thinking was someone needs to look at this student’s schedule for her senior year so that she does not have another year of stress . Without blaming anyone, I also think it’s important to stay on top of what’s going on in my student’s classes from the beginning of the semester. I am lucky enough that our school system provides us with access to the portal so I can see exactly what’s going on with the grades for homework, tests, quizzes , projects etc. I am one to let my student take some of the responsibility in communication with his teacher or GC, but if there is a major issue, I step in. I have been in the situation where I felt that my student was not ready for the recommended class or a class he wanted to take, and I stepped in and refused placement in that class. Was my child disappointed? Yes, but at the end of the course, he came to me and told me that we made the right decision. We need to remember that they are still kids and while we want to foster responsibility and problem solving , many of them have had limited opportunities and experience with this (usually) and need some assistance.
If this was the new AP Physics 1 curriculum, there were significant problems with teachers not knowing what would be on the test. The overall scores were historically low. Her teacher could have decided to make the class very tough so the kids would be prepared. I think our physics teacher did that, as some very bright kids got low grades. OP, you and your D couldn’t have known about this in advanced; no one was predicting this for Physics 1.
Amen to @mommdc and @carolinamom2boys posts above! In addition to the stresses OP’s kid had this year, senior year’s college apps take a good chunk of time and bring with them more stress. Hope this kid has a fall schedule that allows for all of this.
Mathyone, when my daughter was in 8th grade algebra 1 she struggled to get her B+. Everyone else was acing the course. A few months into the class the teacher asked all those who have taken algebra before (over the summer, online, tutor) to raise their hand. Only 2 kids did not raise their hand. And that was the first time I learned about the “underworld” of pre-taking classes so the kid can get an A.)
It happens extensively in our school district. I cannot believe how many compliant, obedient kids will pre-take classes to help get an A or do summer school to get 1 or 2 years ahead in math, science or even History (which frees schedule up for more AP science classes!!) Not only do I think this is unnecessary but I do not think I could get my kids to do this.
51, they pay for it somehow. There will be no special help in college. Yes there's tutoring center but the kid has to be proactive too.
I never have tutors for my kids because I was tutored when I was younger. Not that I needed but my brother did. My mom thought it was a great idea to kill 2 birds with one stone. Let’s just say I rebelled and was mischievous enough that the tutor had to quit.
OP, I am sorry for this situation, but I don’t see you as totally responsible. I had some pretty weak grades in a few classes in high school…because I didn’t study enough or right. My parents exploded about them. That experience motivated me to study nonstop in college, and I did a lot better. This is a tough learning experience for your child, but it is a learning experience that can lead to a better outcome. It’s your child who needs to learn to study correctly and prioritize. Pushing your child to succeed isn’t a bad thing at all.
My apologies to @californiaa for confusing you with another poster.
However, I still think that it is an extremely small subset of students who are pre-taking high school classes. I can believe this may be going on in an extremely small number of hypercompetitive communities (though it certainly was not the case some decades ago) but it is not the norm in this country by any means.
The D got a good grade in a previous honors chem class, I think it was probably mostly due to overload and having to many APs. Would have been better to have taken AP chem or AP physics senior year instead.
But most importantly you need to be proactive now to set up your D for a better, less stressful senior year and find a college that best fits her needs.
I don’t know for sure, but I highly doubt that there are extended times. Those tests are already VERY long. I can’t imagine that someone who “needs more time” would do better on a test that is already VERY long.
The MCAT has a seating time of 7 hours and 30 minutes. Adding more time to that, say 20% more time, would stretch the seating time to 9 hours. I would think that it just too long.
STEP I exam is also an all-day exam. Really, someone who is a poor-test-taker really needs to avoid careers that require scoring well on standardized tests or licensing exams.
I see that in the past extended time accommodations were allowed… It’s not easy to get them, but they are available, but not at all test sites.
The MCAT that has just been discontinued had a 5hr 10 min “seating time”…and extended time accommodations could be 6-8 hours depending on the reason for the accommodation.
The new MCAT has a seating time of 7 hrs 30 minutes. If 2-4 hours is added to that, the test would be sooooo long, that I wonder what real benefit there would be. Each test section is now longer and I think there is one more section. So, with accommodations, each section would be longer, and by the time the student got to the later sections, you’d think they would be mentally spent.