<p>Boy, do I ever wish the better teachers were teaching the AP science classes at our HS. That's simply not the case. The teachers with more seniority get the choice, so they choose the AP classes because, guess what, the classes are smaller. The AP Bio teacher is so boring it's like watching paint dry, and I got this from a parent with a PhD. The AP Chem teacher doesn't have something together since only 15% of students got a passing AP score last year, lowest of any AP class in the school ... and no one seems to be saying boo. The AP Physics teacher is fab but unfortunately is leaving the area since his significant other just finished his post doc. Thank goodness the math department is rock soild. The AP Calc teacher has the BC students thinking calc is just the coolest thing ever.</p>
<p>mathmom:</p>
<p>Our MS doesn't advertize it but they will let kids advance to the next level math class if they pass a test. This is how DS ended up taking AP Calc BC as a sophomore. He had his math prof father teach him algebra the summer between 6th and 7th grade and went off from there. Now he's a jr taking an on line (due to logistic issues) class in linear algebra</p>
<p>There's a fun story that goes with this. During 8th grade (MS) there were four students qualified to take Algebra 2 at the HS next door. It's a bit tricky due to the different schedules but kids have managed it. So the four went. About a week or so into the year, my S advises me he has a new math teacher. So I bite and ask why. He said the four noticed they were not in the HONORS Algebra 2 class and that things were going a bit slow, so they went en mass to tell the principal that they needed to be assigned to the honors class, and that was that. Done. No need for parental assist on it. I told the wonderful AP Calc teacher at the HS this story one day and he just loved it.</p>
<p>Apologies to ChiSquare for causing the hijack - my bad!</p>
<p>But back to the original scope of the thread, if a school has a profile I assume it would have the different levels of courses/number of AP's offered, right? So someone could not be at a disadvantage if they only have one or two APs on a transcript because those were the only ones offered...</p>
<p>I think the middle school is getting the message, but they still don't advertise. We had mathson take the seventh grade final exam in the fall of 6th grade. </p>
<p>All our AP teachers seem to be pretty good, though my younger son does origami to stay awake in bio. My other son had the other bio teacher who had a PhD and all the girls had crushes on him. My son adores his pre-calc teacher and will have him next year for both AP Stats and AP Calc BC.</p>
<p>We've found that while the high school has a lot of rule in the books about prerequisites they are more flexible in actuality. </p>
<p>So I've always wondered are you better off with a 2100+ SAT score where the average score is ca 1500, or where it is closer to 1800? The top students do well in our school, but there is a large portion of the population that gets average scores.</p>
<p>Mathmom, I gotta agree with you on schools being flexible about AP classes or at least high schools, even thought my kids school only offers 1 AP class to sophomores, she was able to wrangle a second one, U.S and Euro History AP in addition to her Honors classes.</p>
<p>SlitheyTove, does the school put out two profiles, one for the entire school and one for the magnet students? That can be VERY revealing.</p>
<p>CountingDown, there is one profile for the entire school, and a separate one for the magnet. I've seen them once, briefly, so I didn't have time to really look at what they may or may not reveal. The magnet counseling staff send both out with apps.</p>
<p>I am guessing if they are sending out both, there is a difference. One would perhaps hope they aren't sending out both for the kids it doesn't benefit.</p>
<p>Check your high school's profile. Many of them are out of date and/or have incorrect information. Your student should also get a copy of his transcript as it will appear to the colleges so that any misinformation can be resolved BEFORE the colleges get it.</p>
<p>mathmom - our school districts sound very similar. Maybe it's just because they're both in NYC suburbs. And I'm pretty sure that D's school's average SAT is probably somewhere between 1500 & 1600 out of 2400.</p>