<p>I have posted here before about my great S and received great advice. While waiting for 11/20 SAT results I thought I would share a strange observation. </p>
<p>My son has a good but not perfect GPA. I was reviewing his transcript tonight and I realized my son performs up or down by class type. </p>
<p>Regular Classes 9 (excluding elect's) B Average (including 2 C's)
Honors Classes 12, B+ Average
AP Classes 5, A Average</p>
<p>Strange, very strange.</p>
<p>I guess the more interesting, accelerated material helps him pay attention and work harder. That augurs well for college.</p>
<p>This is not strange at all. As mythmom notes, bright kids rise to challenges and snooze with boredom in slow classes. I sat through some regular classes during Shadow Days at our HS. The teachers circle around the material over and over so the mid-range kids will get the repetition they need and some of them were very skillful in finding different ways to circle around--auditory, visual, kinesthetic, etc. But for kids who get it the first time, this is difficult to bear. Block scheduling works well for some classes--and teachers--and is deadly for others.</p>
<p>More than likely, the school puts the best teachers on the most difficult classes. </p>
<p>There could be other reasons. Could you share his AP scores?</p>
<p>The APs are probably toward the junior/senior year right? Your son is maturing. DD is the same, has better grades in harder courses.</p>
<p>Sometimes lower-end courses require a lot of busy work, which is a big part of the grade. If you're not willing to do this "extra", often non-academic stuff, your grade will suffer.</p>
<p>He should do well in college where he will be able to take classes that interest him. One of my sons has better grades in college than he did in high school. He hasn't felt like there is a lot of busywork in college like there was in some of his high school classes.</p>
<p>In our High School the best teachers do get the honors and AP classes. I know we all like to think that our kids are smart and bored if they get lower grades in easier classes but sometimes it has to do with the quality of the teacher and how hard individual ones grade.</p>
<p>My sons both have done better in college classes than HS, including AP/IB classes, because there is NO busywork or daily homework assignments handed out in college classes. Plus, the classes are just easier for them due to the schedule and the independent learning that goes on. Kids who thrive on the homework assignments and rough drafts and get A's in HS by turning in work for points and interacting daily with the teachers might find college to be more difficult than HS. My kids always took the harder classes because we knew the "easier" the class, the harder it would be for them to pay attention and get an A.</p>
<p>Dad II</p>
<p>AP 4, 5 (will take 3 this year)</p>
<p>Alot of good thoughts, I don't think it's just a maturity issue as this goes back to his freshman year. Even there he got A/B+ in all honors classes and a C+ in fundementals of 2D design. He then got a A in Fundementals of 3D design..hehe. </p>
<p>The other good examples C+ in Pre-Calc, A in AP Calc, C+ in Earth science as a junior (he had to take it missed it his fresman year) while getting an A's in AP Bio, AP ChemB and Physical Sci being taken at the same time. Yes he had 4 science classes at once. </p>
<p>The downside, his weighted GPA is alot better than his unweighted GPA. </p>
<p>Reminder in S's school
100-95 = A
94-93= A-
92-90= B+
89-86= B
85-83= B-
82-80= C+</p>
<p>My son had similar results on standardized tests. Out of level tests - great scores. Grade level tests, much more uneven. He'd get bored and careless.</p>
<p>DTDad, thanks. Sounds like your son is more than capable of getting A's in the most difficult classes. What I don't under stand is that you don't know why he is getting Cs? </p>
<p>Both my kids are 100% straight A students. This year, my S got a B in his first Q of his first AP class. We went right away to school and talked to both teacher and GC. It turns out, it is just of the the most difficult classes that everyone in school know about. There were only two As in 30 students.</p>
<p>Teacher gave us exactly why S is getting a B. We talked to S and got him a Book teacher recommended for extra reading/practice. We will monitor it very closely.</p>
<p>Dad II</p>
<p>It's not a huge deal if your son gets a B, of course =)</p>
<p>It IS!!! There are things we could control and there are thing we couldn't. I will have no problem if S would get a B when he had tried his best and we had provided him with all we could.</p>
<p>Dad II,</p>
<p>I don't know that you will appreciate my thoughts on this topic but will share them anyway. This might sound like I don't appreciate the hard work kids put in to have straight A's (I do) but it's over rated. Not from a need to learn perspective but from a value of what you have learned. Is the kid that got a 94% really diffrent than the kid that got a 95%? In my S's school that's the diffrence between a A and a B+ which would mean no more 4.0. My son took the toughest classes he could schedule some of his friends didn't, they have a higher GPA, he has learned more. </p>
<p>It's about learning not just the grades. </p>
<p>I'm happy with the student and the person.</p>
<p>BTW, grats on your kids success!</p>
<p>Edit: I just realized my post does not explain his getting those grades in easy classes but it would be dishonest for me to delete the post :)</p>
<p>Who knows why, heck I wish I knew, kids....</p>
<p>Unfortunately, grades are worth it. They open up lots of doors for learning. I've known lots of brilliant kids whose college options were limited because of grades. You have to play the game to get ahead.</p>
<p>Perhaps I didn't do a good job expressing my point. I never meant to suggest that grades were not "worth it" My point was I would prefer a child who had a 93% taking the toughest classes following their passions without GPA fear more than who managed their GPA took lesser classes and had a 95%. </p>
<p>My S's school has a AP drop policy, you can drop your AP class at the 9 week point if you have a "C" many kids do instead of working through and possibly getting a B, grade fear. </p>
<p>Now I it would be nice if they took the toughest classes and had a 100% but that's not the reality for my S. I'm quite happy with his effort and progress and won't appologize for either. My S has a 3.8ish GPA is a two sport varisty athelete, member of the marching, concert, wind ensemble, academic olympics team, tutor, has a job and a girlfriend.</p>
<p>Most important is happy and balanced, a success despite rookie parents :)</p>
<p>It's silly how students have to take so many AP classes. It's actually llmiting them greatly, not allowing them to go in-depth into anything. If a kid is fascinated with history or literature or languages, why does he have to take a bunch of AP science courses? Because he's afraid not to, he is supposed to take the hardest courseload possible...</p>
<p>Alot of kids DON'T play the game. They don't overwork themselves with AP's, they don't take the hardest classes and while they might not get into the tippity top schools, so what? When I went to my 30th HS reunion there was zero talk of what college each person went to. There is so much more to life then A's and (horrors!) B's.</p>
<p>That is why Stanford put more emphasis on Intellectual vitality. It's not who has the most APs wins.</p>