<p>So I am looking to see what other school districts do. Our district has kids take Bio in 9th, Chem. in 10th, Physics in 11th and Chem. 2 in 12th. Is this what everyone does? It would seem to me that it would be more advantageous to take Chem. 2 right after Chem. 1 but our school doesn’t do that. Well, we decided that D should take the Chem. 2 AP this year rather than next year. She was not in honors last year but got an A in the class. She spent the summer doing a lot of book work and a lab and I just get a call that the class is overfilled and they are taking her out. A week before class starts! They will put her in Physics Honors but she did so much work. I think it will be easier staying in Chemistry. They are letting other juniors stay in the class even though they are taking 2 science classes. I think they are thinking they can do what they want to her because she isn’t an honors student. She wants to go into engineering and she needs this. I guess I can just let them put her in the physics honors because I hear that it is an easy class and she will probably get an A, which is important in her junior year, but she is away at camp right now and she will be very upset. I came from both perspectives. My S at UA was in all the honors and AP classes but she needs to step up her game if she wants to get into an engineering program, maybe at UA too. Thanks for listening to my rant.</p>
<p>My kids took…</p>
<p>9th: Bio
10th: Chem
11th: AP Bio and Physics
12th: AP Chem</p>
<p>9th - Physics
10th - Chem
11th - Bio
12th - A Science elective which for my daughter is Marine Bio.</p>
<p>Our kids took:</p>
<p>Science Survey & Bio - 9th
Chem & Physics - 10th
AP Physics or AP Chem - 11th
AP Chem or AP Physics - 12th</p>
<p>There’s a lot of variation at my kids’ school, depending on a kid’s interest in science and ability level. Just about everyone takes Biology first. After that, some kids take Environmental Science, others take Chem followed by AP Chem, some kids take two AP sciences in junior and/or senior year, some kids take Anatomy and Physiology. Most kids who are going to take PHysics take it senior year.</p>
<p>My UA daughter took Biology, Honors Chem, AP Environmental Science and Physics, one each year, in that order. One of her friends took Biology freshman year, Honors Chem sophomore year, AP Enviro and AP Chem junior year and AP PHysics senior year. Another friend took AP Chem freshman year (she already had the math requirement because she was in the special program that went to the HS for math in 8th grade), AP Chem sophomore year, AP Bio junior year and AP Physics senior year. To answer your primary question, most kids who are going to take AP Chem take Honors Chem followed immediately by AP Chem.</p>
<p>D took:
9th - H Bio
10th - Pre-AP Chem<br>
11th - AP Physics - Mechanics
12th - AP Chem and H Anatomy/Physiology</p>
<p>When my boys went through HS, they took Physics in 10th and Chem in 11th. </p>
<p>If you feel it is important, I’d fight for it. Or consider a class at the local junior collage.</p>
<p>D took:</p>
<p>9th: honors bio
10th: honors chem
11th: ap chem and anatomy and physiology
12th: ap bio and physics</p>
<p>It was strongly recommended that students take the two chemistry classes back to back.</p>
<p>My son’s school is worse, they take Bio in 9th and then generally don’t take Bio II until senior year. I agree with you, it makes a lot more sense to have related classes back to back. I do understand the rational of wanting students to take Physics as an upperclassman just so they can understand the math involved, but I can’t see why it matters when they take the other subjects.</p>
<p>S (Engr student) took:</p>
<p>Bio - 9th
Chem - 10th
Chem II - 11th
Physics - 12th</p>
<p>But there was no set order and while most freshmen took Bio it varied widely after that, most took Chem in 10th and Physics in 11th and then either Chem II or Physics II senior year, some took Chem II and Physics in 11th and then Physics II or Anatomy senior year.</p>
<p>Son’s school had no AP science classes offered and he was still able to get into several strong engineering programs.</p>
<p>Unless you are going into Chemical Eng’g, DO TAKE AP Chem in high school (if you’re planning on going to UA, where you can get your Freshman Chem class requirement out of the way by doing so). You will need at least a ‘4’ (to get credit for Chem 101). A ‘3’ only gets you credit for Chem 104 (chemistry for non-eng’g majors and others), which will not be useful in your situation.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that the order of classes is important, but I do know AP Chem is difficult (for a reason).</p>
<p>Here’s another thought - take the CLEP Chemistry test now (as in asap, while all this work she’s done over the summer is fresh in her mind) - see how she does. A score of 52 or above gets you 8 hours of credit at UA, which is both Chem 101 and Chem 102. (There is no sliding scale, as with other courses/tests, unfortunately.) Knowing her score might influence you one way or the other. You get the score immediately after taking the test, on the spot. Tests cost ~$70-100.</p>
<p>Also, go back to guidance office - don’t take ‘no’ for answer about not fitting into AP Chem as a Junior - tell them all the work she did to prepare for it; tell them how successful she will be (and that good AP stats help the school as much as it helps your student); tell them that some AP Chem students will probably drop out after the first few days of school, and that you need your daughter to be in there from the get-go (not join later).</p>
<p>My dd took</p>
<p>9th grade - Honors Chemistry/Honors Physics (one semester each) - all 9th graders do this
10th grade - Honors Biology/Earth Science (one semester each)
11th grade - IB Chemistry HL & IB Biology SL
12th grade - IB Chemistry HL</p>
<p>The district changed its curriculum and got rid of the 9th grade Chem/Physics, I believe they now offer Earth Science in 8th grade and Biology I 9th grade.
My son is going into 10th grade, so he is stuck with the above plan (but he will take IB Physics instead of Chemistry I think).</p>
<p>Normal Students-
Earth Science (9th)
Honors Bio (10th)
Honors Chem (11th)
AP Bio/AP Physics B/ Anatomy (12th)</p>
<p>Advanced Students
Honors Bio (9th)
Honors Chem (10th)
AP Physics B/AP Bio (11th)
IB Physics HL/ AP/IB Bio (12th)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I will continue this fight tomorrow. I just can’t believe with everything computerized that this could happen. I really believe that they had a late registration and are trying to take out the kid with only 1 honors class on her schedule. Little do they know, they just stirred the hornets nest.</p>
<p>My oldest son, who is at Bama, took:</p>
<p>9th: Earth Science, Honors Biology, Chemistry
10th: Anatomy and Physiology, AP Biology
11th: AP Chemistry, Physics
12th: AP Physics B</p>
<p>His AP biology, chemistry and physics were through our state’s virtual high school.</p>
<p>His younger brother, who is a HS junior, took earth science and biology at one high school. Then, he transferred to another, larger school where he took chemistry as a sophomore. This year, he is taking AP Biology (a year-long class). He has discussed taking AP Physics B and AP chemistry (a year-long class) as a senior. He has no interest in engineering. He just prefers math and science (like his brother) over English classes.</p>
<p>After seeing several students change their schedules this year, because of conflicts, I sat down with our physics teacher and then, the science department chair. Our physics teacher told me that, since my son is taking BC Calculus (a year-long class, too) this year, there is no need to take physics. He can jump to the AP class and be successful. (He had three students with no prior physics class score 4 or 5 on the AP exam) The department chair agreed … and then she tried to talk my son into taking her anatomy class, which he still may take. </p>
<p>I would make sure your daughter takes at least a physics class.</p>
<p>Momreads- yes, the plan was for her to take Physics next year as a senior. We felt that Chem 2 AP was better this year as she had Chem last year.</p>
<p>9th- regular or advanced physics
10th- regular, advanced, or AP Bio
11th- regular, honors, or AP chem
12th- choice of AP environmental science, AP physics, human anatomy, or marine biology. </p>
<p>Our AP sciences don’t have prerequisites</p>
<p>In my district:
9th: Earth and Space Science (also called Physical Science)
10th: Core or Honors Biology
11th: Core or Honors Chemistry (only 2 years of science are required)
12th: Core, Honors, or AP Physics B, other science electives (Anatomy and Physiology and Forensics are popular).</p>
<p>Advanced students can petition (formerly it was test out of 9th grade science) to be a year ahead and students that were in the highly capable program in 8th grade can be 2 years ahead.</p>
<p>I ended up taking
9th: Honors Biology
10th: Honors Chemistry (Equivalent to CH 104 at UA as it was a College in the High School Course; I like to say that I took Chemistry for Nurses)
11th: AP Physics B
12th: No Science (I love science and attend science lectures, but didn’t see the need to take weed-out courses that I don’t need for my degree.)</p>
<p>I took
9th- Honors Bio
10th- IB Chem
11th- Geosystems(earth science)
12th- Anatomy</p>
<p>My son took</p>
<p>9th Bio
10th Honors Chemistry
11th AP Physics B
12th AP Physics C and AP Chem</p>
<p>My sons school science was all over the place. No set path, just credits that need to be met.
Momreads, my son took ap physics without a preceding physics class. And physics B is the non-calc physics. So he will be fine. </p>
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