<p>We usually end up meeting with the GC to hand-write D and S’s schedules the week before school starts because their schedules are such a PIA (and possibly so am I, though I try not to be). Then the ten day count takes place, classes are shifted around, and it all goes for naught anyway and we have to do it again.
Seriously, though, S’s schedule has been difficult the last two years because the math he needed was a one period offering, and his two band classes are also one period only offerings. So that kind of made scheduling around it difficult. This year math won’t be an issue (because of online) so I’m hoping it will be easier for him to get everything he’s needed. D will probably be the problem this year.
Last year we ended up putting the kids in Honors World History instead of AP World because of scheduling, and the teacher said she’d recommend them for the AP anyway. Only problem with that was that since they were essentially self-studying, the school didn’t cover the AP fee like they do for the kids in the class. So we elected not to test. For math or Spanish, or AP Lit, I’d probably bite the bullet, but the AP World exam seemed like it would be of limited use.</p>
<p>Really, 170 or better? That seemed low (but I know very little so I’m not challenging you, just pleased!). Good to hear, since my kids scored only a bit above that and I figured they were boxed out.</p>
<p>My DS16 took APCS freshman year, then AP World and AP Latin sophomore year. This coming year, he will take AP Stats, BC Calc, AP Physics, AP US (and Honors Chem, considered the first year of a 2-yr sequence for the AP here, and Honors English). Senior year, he expects to take AP English, AP Chem, AP Mandarin, AP Euro, and I’m not sure what else. None of this is considered out of the ordinary at his HS except the AP Latin during 10th grade and both maths during 11th grade.</p>
<p>He (and his friends) seem ok with the courses. My objection to the heavy weighting (and I guess the AP pressure) is that there are these weird side effects on the GPA as people have mentioned here before. So for DS’s school honors are out of 4.7, APs are out of 5.0, regular are out of 4.0. This means that just taking an elective that doesn’t offer Honors/AP (e.g. 2nd world language or music) instead of a free period, and getting an A in it, has the potential to bring your GPA down compared to your peers who left it as a free period.</p>
<p>However, I think we have to have faith that the admissions people really do what they all say they do, which is to look holistically at what the kids did vs. what opportunities were given, and also what kind of grades/GPA with a fresh calculation to make it comparable across schools in terms of weighting. (Although at U Mass’s presentation, the guy explicitly said that in a school that, say, gives a 93 on the transcript for an 83 earned in an AP course, that grade might get raised again in the calculation because it wouldn’t be clearly inflated upon receipt.)</p>
<p>Like others, back in the dark ages I only took a few APs, and got credit for even fewer (I did fine on the exams, but allowable credit maxed out at one semester’s worth, anyway).</p>
<p>I wish our high school offered Chinese and Latin! Sadly, language options are terribly limited, and the classes not very well taught. S dropped Spanish after his third year, which I hope doesn’t come back to bite him.</p>
<p>@petrichor11 - I agree, we are very lucky!! Unfortunately, Mandarin and French enrollments are dropping and the language department had to fight to keep them in front of School Committee this past spring. They’re safe for the short term, but I have younger kids too, and am concerned.</p>
<p>Here’s a link for the most recent (Class of 2014) National Merit Semifinalist cutoffs, by state:
<a href=“National Merit Scores”>http://www.studypoint.com/ed/national-merit-scores/</a></p>
<p>The Dakotas and Wyoming are at the low end, in the low 200’s.<br>
Massachusetts, D.C., New Jersey, and our home state of California are at the other end, 223 – 224. A few other states are also in the 220’s.</p>
<p>Also, we’ve touched on it in this thread before, but the fact that you can take a high school course, get an A, and lower your GPA is absolutely silly. As @fretfulmother alluded to, the more selective schools may start with an unofficial GPA cutoff, but beyond that I don’t think that a few tenth’s here or there on the overall GPA is of any consequence. Many of these schools re-calculate the GPA per their own formulas, anyway. And these schools are also familiar with the vast majority of the their applicants’ high schools, so they judge grades within that context.<br>
@Petrichor11 – I’d consider it a blessing that your son has been freed from the val/sal thing, so he can take band and other unweighted courses and not be held hostage to that craziness. Being passionate about a musical instrument will serve him better in life, and very well may serve him better in the college admissions process than being six rungs up the ladder in his class ranking.</p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel - I consider it a blessing. He’s still grumpy about it, but there’s not a whole lot can be done at this point. He’s in band one more year at least. Senior year, optimally, he will be, but it depends a lot on whether he can order the dual enrollment classes he’ll have to take along with the band’s practice schedule. Four nights a week practice doesn’t leave much time for DE.<br>
At this point, though, I’m mostly concerned with just surviving junior year.</p>
<p>My S is taking 4 AP classes. APUSH, AP English, AP Physics, AP Calc BC and two Honors classes and orchestra. After how poorly he did on the AP tests this year I don’t think he will be taking any of the tests. For those of you who have been following me, we regraded his AP Euro test and the 1 is accurate. So another $30 down the drain. I was speaking to another teacher and his kids got 5’s on the Calc tests, got to college, struggled and ended up dropping out and going to a CC. Like I have said before, I don’t know why we even have an AP program.</p>
<p>Wow, how disheartening! I think I’d be feeling the same way. What does your son think?</p>
<p>He has lost some confidence saying, “Why study for these tests?” </p>
<p>@mysonsdad – I wrote about this in more detail in a prior note here (#1028 on July 5), and at the risk of giving more unsolicited advice (one of my many annoying habits, according to my wife): I think it could be very fruitful to look into why there is such a big gap between your son’s high school performance/grades and his standardized test scores. The difference/discordance is way beyond a couple of standard deviations of one might expect to be seen (on, as I remember, multiple types of tests). I’ll shut up about it after this note, but I would hate to think that there is some possibly solvable issue that might bring his standardized test scores up to the high level at which he’s performed in school.</p>
<p>@petrichor11 – Showing my ignorance, what’s ‘DE’?</p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel I saw your note from July 5 and don’t feel bad about giving advice. It is very helpful. Where do I start on seeing if there is a problem? The other thing I am worried about is him starting to think that he has a problem when he may not. Fwiw he had the highest PSAT score for his class as a sophomore where he got a180, which honestly, for our school I think that is low.</p>
<p>Sometimes, when a student does not post a 3 or higher score on AP, they can turn around and take a CLEP test in the same subject and can score high enough to be granted credits at some colleges (policies differ re CLEP). Just a thought. </p>
<p>I have a question regarding college credits. My D took psychology at our local cc over the summer. The class is transferable to UC and other state universities. Is there any advantage for her to take AP test in May? I know some universities do not give credits for AP anyway.</p>
<p>@seal16 I do not think there is any advantage to also taking the AP class because it will be transferred one time as credit from a cc. so the AP would not be acknowledged …but anyone else can chime in if I am wrong.</p>
<p>… sorry I meant AP test…</p>
<p>We have only 2 APs in our high school, English 12 and Calc. Although they have DE if you can jump through all the oops they require for them to pay for it. I’m not sweating it. D16 is taking courses via distance learning at Ohio University. They aren’t too spendy, like 600 for 4 credits. She took Human Communications this summer and is taking World History this fall. I pay and I know the courses transfer. The plan is to graduate with about 30, maybe get the AP credits. She’s talking about a music minor so she can march and this would give her a cushion. </p>
<p>For you guys doing college courses, how do you make sure that you aren’t messing up the eligibility for fin aid etc. that comes with entering as a freshman vs. as a transfer? Someone warned me about this being an issue, so we’ve hesitated to sign up for extension classes, but I would love to hear how to do it “safely”.</p>
<p>My understanding @fretfulmother is that, in most schools, as long as they have less than 30 credits they are considered a freshman. </p>
<p>Thanks, @kandcsmom!</p>