<p>tx5athome - no real experience yet, as S is taking AP Bio and will tale AP Chem next year, but from what I have heard, AP Chem is a real killer at our school - tough and LOTS of work.There is a saying among juniors taking it (usually a junior year course) - " I don’t have free time, I have got AP Chem" ;)<br>
My gut feeling is that AP Chem is more for a mathy/science type kids and AP Bio more for humanities oriented one. But really, almost any AP class is quite a bit of work…</p>
<p>Also of note - our AP Chem teacher is one of the two best the school has :)</p>
<p>Good Luck!<br>
S is sick at home today and I will probably keep him in tomorrow as well. The stress of not attending classes here is HUGE…</p>
<p>The rigor of the course must depend on the school. At S’s school, AP Physics is the killer junior year course. We’re meeting with S’s GC this morning to try to get him in AP Chem for next year instead of AP Physics. If that fails, he will choose to do regular Physics. He just doesn’t have time to get swamped by a science course that won’t have any bearing on college for a fine arts major.</p>
<p>I would advise asking current students at your school for their opinion on rigor, etc. The kids are usually pretty accurate indicators.</p>
<p>The problem is that they have never offered AP chem, so we have no one to ask. I know AP BIo is one of the hardest classes at our school and he will take it either Jr or Sr year. I think I will ask the AP Bio teacher her opinion (given that they will be changing the course for the 2012/13 year).</p>
<p>Well, we had no luck getting S into AP Chem for junior year. Apparently the district is mandating only ONE sequence of science courses to get a Distinguished Diploma (our highest diploma). So all kids must take (in order) Honors Bio, Honors Chem, Physics (AP or reg - no honors) and then either AP Chem or AP Bio. In addition, because he is in Performing Arts magnet, his schedule of arts classes limits him in APs so…Here is his schedule for junior yr. It looks like a slacker schedule on paper, but he will be at school from 8am to 6pm or 7pm every day, so I don’t think he could handle more homework.</p>
<p>English III (Reg)
Pre-Calc (Reg)
Physics (Reg)
US History (AP)
Directing for the Stage (meets 2 hrs a day = 2 credits)
Theatre Production (meets 2-3 hrs a day after school - 1 credit)
Varsity Choir
Show Choir</p>
<p>He is also going to take Economics at the local community college this summer for dual credit in order to free up a class period for senior year.</p>
<p>Going on college tour with D13 over spring break. Plan is to visit a mix of Uni/LAC, Lg/Sm and Rural/Urban. Some will be ‘top 10’ schools and others more ‘top 50’. Trying to find right balance between visiting as many as possible vs info overload. We can’t do it all in 4 days.</p>
<p>We are probably a bit on the early side with this trip compared to norm but D13 is showing substantial interest and it seems to me that we have limited opportunities to visit schools while they are in session. She has very limited interest in our in-state schools so most trips will require flying and take multiple days. Also, D has certain issues that necessitate our spending extra time and effort to find a good non-academic fit.</p>
<p>wonemot - As others have said, my understanding is that schools will view your child’s transcript in context of the school. Your child should not be disadvanted in regard to admission as long as he/she takes the most rigorous schedule possible at that school.</p>
<p>Meg.- Congrats on D10! My neice has decided to attend American, maybe she’ll get lucky enough to be on your daughter’s floor!</p>
<p>Kelowna - Congrats on the scholarship.</p>
<p>YDS - fingers are crossed</p>
<p>wonemot - My neice who gratuates this year applied to 6 schools. Heard from 5 so far and received merit at everyone. Her school has 1 AP which she didn’t take. She did opt to take 2 on-line college courses this year (a semester each). She took advantage of many things her high school offered and self studied 1 AP. She bombed the AP and didn’t report the grades on her applications, but she discussed the self-studying in many of her interviews. She wanted to highlight that she really needs/wants academic challenges and she was willing to take on challenges. She targeted 4 LACs in the 65-100 range of the USNews list, plus Georgetown and American.</p>
<p>Midwestmom2013 - ADD Coaching – Don’t limit the coaching to your region. We found many coaches who work remotely via Skype. My son choose to not go this route, but if he continues/resumes coaching in college it will probably require remote coaching. I am seeing a bit of progress with the coaching. Certainly no overnight success, but juggling the large end of quarter projects, his EC and our family working through grief and estate issues would have set the kid into a downward spiral in December. Now he is just focusing on HIS most important duty one at a time. </p>
<p>S13 doesn’t finalize his schedule until May, but he had to come up with a preliminary schedule so his small school may wecide what to offer. He was coaxed into AP Calc because without him and another current 10th grader added to the current 11th graders the school would not have enough kids to offer the course. This is GREAT news to me because I really hate how all the Science/math at his school required to take the “regular” or honors section first. His schedule looks to be:</p>
<p>AP Calc
APUSH
AP Language
AP Bio
Latin V (Honors)
Studio Art (it is combined with AP Art, but at the pace he works he will not complete enough projects to submit AP portfolio)
World Religion (required 1/2 year for graduation)
College Planning (required spring )</p>
<p>This will leave him only 2 required courses - Ethics & 12th grade English for senior year. It will be very nice for him to have the freedom to choose to drop a subject and double up in a subject of interest. I forsee no history senior year in order to spread out to the soft science/humanities, perhaps Psych. The only issue is his transcript may look funny because he’ll actually take less AP courses senior year - school only offers 9 on a rotating 2 year basis - He won’t have any Math or history APs left to take.</p>
<p>Great news! Soninaz has been accepted into the Kenyon Young Writers’ Workshop this summer. I don’t know how it happened since it didn’t require a piece of writing like his other applications did. There was just a 300 words or less response to explain basically why you want to go to the program and what you want to get from it. I’m guessing his teacher wrote an AMAZING rec especially since this was the incomplete application I mentioned a while back. He never requested his transcripts. I guess Kenyon contacted the school and got them. And he recieved a scholarship for all but $100 of the tuition.
I definitely couldn’t have afforded to send him without that.</p>
<p>Echoing Longhaul to reeinaz, that writing program sounds great. </p>
<p>I just signed D13 up for SAT II for Bio, which is on the Saturday before her final. We are visiting Northwestern during spring break (close and has program that D thinks she wants to major in). </p>
<p>D had choral concert last night, which conflicted with the College Fair. We gave a ride to school this morning to one of D’s friends, who was able to attend the College Fair. She said there were lots of sophomores there. I also have a S’10 and absolutely, the kids are talking about college earlier in their careers now, as compared to three years ago. Maybe it was just boys, but the only topic in the car pool three years ago was “Family Guy”. What a difference.</p>
<p>Good luck to all in sorting out schedules. It looks like we will need the refuge of this thread as our kids tackle Jr. year.</p>
<p>I think AP Bio is one of the most difficult classes at your school simply because the school did not offer AP Chem (did they offer AP Physics B or C?) before. AP Bio is something you can memorize, something that can’t really be said about AP Chem. I honestly think that kids who are not strong math/science type might have problems with AP Chem or AP Physics.
Since AP Chem is a new class, I would stick with AP Bio for junior year, let the AP Chem iron itself a little…</p>
<p>S is determined to go back to school tomorrow. Currently skyping with his best buddy about homework. So thankful for skype/internet, since we are over 30 miles from school and the rest of the kids…quarter ends next week, being sick now is not the best timing, but what can you do? Do your kids stress about missing school?</p>
<p>Oh, forgot to congratulate on the Kenyon program! Sorry!!!</p>
<p>Kenyon is supposed to be a really beautiful college, will you drive your kid there?</p>
<p>For summer programs I wish my S would get into PROMYS. It is in Boston, he could have an opportunity to visit many school while there…ah, dreaming ;)</p>
<p>Hi All! I was on our little college tour so I missed a few days Trying to catch up!</p>
<p>reeinaz: that is awesome news! Kenyon’s writing program is supposed to be wonderful. I’ll be interested in a review of that.</p>
<p>wonemot: every adcom I’ve every talked to says they evaluate a student based on the context of the HS they attend. So if they go to a HS that doesn’t offer AP’s, that’s not held against them. If they go to a HS that offers 21 and they don’t take any, well that’s another story. I wouldn’t worry about it. MIT says their average incoming student “only” takes 3-4 AP classes and when you consider how many kids enter with 10+ APs that means they must take a good number who have none or just a couple. </p>
<p>Kelowna: I think I forgot to say congrats on your son’s scholarship.</p>
<p>D’13 is on Spring Break this week. Our little road trip was productive. Made some of the theoretical more concrete. Which was really all I was hoping for. Things she realized:
her college must at least be as big if not bigger than her high school (about 1800 kids.) Agnes Scott only had 880 total undergrads.
Club or intermural softball team(s) is somewhat of a must
Schools that are too pre-professionally focused are somewhat of a turnoff.
Tour guides & adcoms answer questions and if everyone is asking about pre-law/pre- med/business and you want to hear about humanities, you’ve got to open your mouth and ask a question.
The lack of or abundance of bugs on a campus is going to sway her opinion :)</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me how to post a question on CC? Since I’ve been a member I’ve only gone into forums and replied to messages, because I don’t know how to start a thread with my questions (or if anyone is allowed to do so - I think you need permission?).</p>
<p>My question pertains to math on the PSAT’s and SAT’s. My daughter took Algebra 1 in 8th grade and had an awful teacher. She got C’s and D’s on her test, and although she understood it with a tutor outside of school, she just did not understand it well enough for the school tests. She did better in 9th grade geometry and trig and liked her teacher. She got an A in that course. Now she is in 10th grade, and she has algebra II and the teacher is bad again. In addition, my daughter has such a distaste for algebra after her 8th grade experience. Again, she gets it in class, can do her homework, but she is hit and miss on tests, and the teacher is frustrated and angry. </p>
<p>When my daughter goes for extra help, the teacher said she won’t reteach the lesson but will answer questions. So she is back to square one. She doesn’t know what questions to ask since she gets it in class and freezes on the tests. It is so frustrating because math is pulling her GPA way down. She currently has a C+. In her private school there are regular, accelerated, honors and AP levels. To qualify for any AP class at her school, they take ALL years into consideration when considering whether you can take an AP class. So you have to have straight A’s, for example in World Cultures, in freshman year and B+ or greater in 10th grade for APUSH in junior year. It is next to impossible to get into AP classes at her school which means that she probably won’t get into any of the top schools. </p>
<p>We are not sure whether to switch to our local public school for the next two years, since the qualifications to get in AP classes are much less stringent. My daughter has been in the John Hopkins CTY since 5th grade for language arts, and she took her first SAT’s in 8th grade bombing the math portion with a 430. So my question is what type of math is on the PSAT’s and then on the SAT’s? She will only be in pre-calc in junior year and then either calc or possibly statistics in senior year. She is concerned that the math on the PSAT’s and SAT’s is material they have not covered or will not cover for the exams.</p>
<p>She has looked through the test booklets and doesn’t recognize many of the math questions in the booklets. We are planning to get her PSAT and SAT prep, but I’d like to know if other schools have or will cover the type of math on the tests.</p>
If you go to the first page of a forum, say “The Parent’s Forum”, do you see a button near the bottom that says “New Thread?” That’s how you start a thread. I’m not sure if you need a certain number of posts to actually see that button. Good luck.</p>
I don’t think the level of math she takes in school is the major issue.
On the SAT reasoning test (SAT1), the math is basically Algebra I and a little Geometry. It might help to have some Algebra II but I’m not sure it is really necessary. Some kids might consider the questions to be in a slightly different “style” than what they learn in math class. And often the best method for solving the problems just requires pluggin in numbers or trying answers rather than any mathematical manipulation. Try the SAT question of the day online and get a practice book or two to learn a few tricks,</p>
<p>Medavinci: I think PSAT and SAT prep would be a good idea for your D, if only to refresh her Algebra and give her confidence. I don’t think the math goes higher than Algebra II on the PSAT. </p>
<p>On a personal note: S’s school competed in the district level One Act play competition yesterday. I didn’t attend the performance because S gave us the usual “We haven’t rehearsed enough”, “I only have 10 lines”, “Our concept is weird”, etc. Well, apparently it wasn’t that bad - his school won the district competition and S was awarded the “Best Actor” trophy. He was Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is beautiful casting (he makes a great pompous jackass). I have learned not to listen to S and will be attending their public performance tonight. They advance to the regionals next week.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your S megpmom! My D has a violin recital next week for her music magnet program. She has worked very hard on this particular piece of challenging music and does not want me to come to the performance…it seems I make her nervous. I want her to do her best so I will stay away. I have been able to hear parts of it at home, but would have like to have seen her perform it at school. Oh well, my consolation prize is seeing Celtic Women together next week!</p>
<p>Medavinci: D1 ('08) probably had one good math teacher 7th thru 12th grade. What she learned is to teach herself. While the teacher was talking she would read the book and do her homework. Her grades were A’s and B’s but now she is a junior in college and a math major.</p>
<p>Hi medavinci If I may, I do not think that scoring 430 in 8th grade on your SAT is “bombing” it Relax. Taking it for the second time without prep would yield much better result, and after some prepping she will do great. Also, make her take ACT - she might have much higher scores there. Good Luck!</p>
Trying to catch up!</p>
If I may, I do not think that scoring 430 in 8th grade on your SAT is “bombing” it 
Relax. Taking it for the second time without prep would yield much better result, and after some prepping she will do great. Also, make her take ACT - she might have much higher scores there. Good Luck!</p>