@BingeWatcher Harry Potter world is awesome and I’m not even a Harry potter fan! Best thing to do if you go there is stay at one of the Universal hotels that offers early entry. You get to go into one of the parks an hour early and it makes a HUGE difference in the lines at each ride. We like to splurge and stay at one of the hotels that also offers the express pass to get you in the fast line for most of the rides (used to not include Harry Potter rides but I think I just read that it does now!) It is more expensive to stay at those hotels but you can’t imagine how much time it saves. Also you can use it on your check in day so if you stay one night you can use it for two days.
Welcome to everyone who has signed on recently!
Our high school is one of the top two or three schools in our state and certainly has the best admissions results year after year in the state. D is taking AP Geography on the 18th. She has several friends who are taking two or three AP courses this year. Like some have mentioned above, honors science courses must be taken before AP courses, and AP courses are typically taken before IB courses, so it is common for kids to take one or two APs in ninth grade (along with many honors classes), many in sophomore and junior year, and none as a senior (when they are taking 4 IB courses with 8 exams, which occur during the same timeframe as AP exams). Often kids will have three years of one science (Biology, Chem, and Physics) and two years of the other sciences. S13 had three years of Chem and two of the sciences and D16 had three of both Bio and Chem (only one of Physics, however), and this has helped them greatly in their STEM classes in college.
It is interesting to see the varied policies with respect to APs. DS21 goes to a decent public school for our state but it is not highly ranked. Before entering we were concerned as we were told only AP World History was possible for freshmen. His counselor was great though and after we talked to her about what courses he had taken previously etc she authorized AP Physics 1, AP Calc BC and AP Comp Sci A. To our knowledge, this has not been done before at his high school. He hopes to get accepted to our states residential boarding school for 11/12 graders and there are many very advanced kids that attend so he hopes to stay competitive and is trying to take a rigorous schedule.
@yearstogo wow. I cannot even imagine taking AP Physics as a freshman. Our seniors with perfect ACT and SAT scores sometimes get Bs in that class at our high school as it is taught as a true college class with median test scores sometimes in the 40s and then curved so the kids don’t officially fail the class. That’s how all of our AP science classes are and I suppose that’s why our school requires the honors level as a prerequisite. I don’t know how AOs tell these AP classes apart. What it has taught me is that our kids need to report their AP scores on their apps to prove that their AP classes at school do not practice grade inflation and that the kids really do learn the content.
At my niece’s high school, just five
miles from our school, kids never seem to get above a 3 on the science APs yet they can report having taken an AP class and getting a good grade. I think AOs really must look at applicants’ school profiles closely in order to compare kids.
@homerdog, I’ve a feeling the AOs are savvy when it comes to the quality of AP courses at different schools. They seem to be with differences between the online providers, too. The AP Chem class through ChemAdvantage (the one my daughter just finished) is taught in the way you describe your school’s AP Physics course. Taught like a college course with median test grades often below passing and with a curve. Definitely would be in trouble without a prior Honors class (at least, my kid would have been). My kid worked her butt off every day in a way she has never had to work for a class before. The struggle was good for her and she just barely got an A-. Most common AP exam grades for past students in that course are 4s and 5s, with I think mostly 5s (D21 feels like she got a 4, but of course she just took the test so we don’t yet know).
That being said, I am under the impression that AOs don’t compare kids between schools - they compare them within schools. I think a kid is judged within the application pool of the school to which he/she belongs.
@homerdog The classes were not too hard for him and he has high A’s, but his HS is not very strong. We will find out in July if he was able to pull a 5. The quality of teaching in his Physics class left a lot to be desired and the teacher left for maternity leave about a month ago. We bought Princeton books for all APs plus 5 Steps to a 5 for Physics. He did very well on the practice exams so fingers crossed.
Math and Programming are his strengths so we are somewhat confident he should do well on those upcoming APs, especially given the high “5 rates” on them. His Calc teacher is good and prepared them well. Comp Sci A was done via an online program in our state.
Next year will probably be quite a bit tougher as he will take AP Chem without having taken Honors Chem, although he plans to work through some of KhanAcademy Chemistry over the summer.
@homerdog : just fyi, AP physics 1 is very different from AP Physics C (Mechanics or E&M). Just an example, our school does not even offer AP physics 1 because it is considered not rigorous enough to offer and too similar to regular physics. Another private HS in the area offers AP physics 1 in 9 or 10 and occasionally 11, and it is done instead of Honors Physics. They offer AP physics C to those 11&12th who have already done AP Phys1 or Honors Phys and are in Calc BC or above. Of course every HS treats &teaches differently, but in general AP phys 1 is a lower level course. I know at least 3 top colleges in our area that do not give any credit for AP physics 1. AP physics C gets a student credit for first year college physics (if Mech and Eand M both passed ). AP physics C may be the hard class that many in your HS take as Jrs or Srs.
AP compsci A vs principles are also different but I do not know the details on that yet.
@Ynotgo : great info on the different things in the school profiles! I had no idea about them until recently. I have just gotten my hands on the last couple of years of school profiles for our HS and am fascinated! Ours has every single course offered listed, specifically notes the hardest courses (lists the 16-17 APs plus a very small list of others I did not even realize were rigorous), then lists the common APs NOT offered (Apush, AP english, euro, few others), and lists the AP pass rate too (85% 3 or above, 69% 4or 5, which i guess is good?). It also has lots of GPA and SAT breakdowns (25-75th %ile and more) for the class. It really seems as though the profile is essential to help these colleges figure out each school, and it has helped me learn more about what is highlighted as “rigorous” by our school.
Racing towards the finishline here in Arizona. We were out of school due the teachers strike for 6 days and that kind of took the wind out of our academic sails. Felt like the first day of school when we got back. Luckily it doesnt look like they will have to add days to the end of the year.
S21 is still chugging away and keeping his grades up. Hopefully he finishes strong.
Good luck to all as finals approach.
Hello! So nice to see so many other parents of 2021’ers! 
Our S21 is our oldest, and we honestly have zero clue what we’re doing. S21 attends a large (2000+ kids) public HS, and this year the guidance department was so overwhelmed and his class so large, that they decided to no longer hold one-on-one meetings with Freshman, so he doesn’t even know who his guidance counselor is, which is a little scary. 
He picked his classes for next year based on teacher recommendations and what he wanted to take, but we have no idea where to even start with the “finding a college” process, and whether what he’s selected makes the least bit of sense. (Should he be going for rigor? GPA?) To complicate things, he’s super ahead in math and science (only Freshman in his school taking Trig-Calc and Chemistry, also only Freshman taking AP class (Comp Sci A)) but is super behind in writing. So it should be an interesting ride! Wishing everyone a stress-free end to Freshman year, and looking forward to gleaning wisdom and commiserating through the highs, lows and in-betweens with this lovely community!
Welcome to @aMomInNewJersey, and Happy Mother’s/Parent’s/Caregiver’sAdmissionExpert’s Day to all! :x
Welcome @amominnewjersey! For the college hunt, there are a lot of considerations - majors, size, location, cost of attendance, fit. With my older child we sort of started with location and majors, but quickly eliminated based on cost. Ran a lot of net price calculators, and studied websites and common data sets for merit info. Cost was a major factor for us, but not everyone is as price-sensitive. It’s fun. Kind of.
Welcome all. @mom2cats…Cost is #1 for our criteria!
D’s first AP (APHG) this friday.
In other news…She NOW officially has a boyfriend…;.her little precious nerdy crush took a long time to officially ask is she would be his girlfriend…2 introverted nerds…They have both agreed they are not ready for kissing however hand holding is on the table but has not occured yet. Don’t think they are they type to go to each other homes (at this age anyway). D crazes alone time, hates having people over as she does not know how to entertain. As her chilling is playing logic puzzles on her phone with her headphones on.
Congrats @BingeWatcher that sounds cute lol
Thank you for the physics info @2Devils . We have AP physics 1 instead of regular or honors. How is the exam for it, even though it doesn’t give credit most of the time?
D got assigned the drum line part she wanted for next year! If all goes as expected, she will also be 1 of the 2 section leaders. So excited for her but I can’t announce it to the world until it’s official.
@mom2cats , congrats on the drumline spot!
Regarding AP physics 1 test, since our school does not offer and I have not read into details about the exam, I only have anecdotal info:
the local schools who offer it instead of HS physics ( i.e. like yours–the first time they have a physics course) report their schools have a 70-75% pass rate. But my guess is a lot of success on AP exam would depend on teacher as well as the individual student.
Our local public high school only offers AP Physics 1, in fact they will not even offer this course next year which is too bad.
@2Devils is the pass rate a 3 or a 5? Presumably a 3 as AP Physics 1 had a 5% “5 rate” last year and only 4% the prior year.
Most of the high schools in our area seem to primarily teach to a 3 on the AP exam and if the kid wants to do better they need to study on their own with a Princeton or Barrons book.
I assume the parents mean 3 is pass. That is the common way %s are tossed out here from schools and parents, 3-5 is pass.
@mom2cats, congrats on drum line! My S18 is a percussionist and looks forward to pep band at Saint Joseph’s University next year! He took AP physics, aside from AP calc, it was by far his toughest test/class. Eeked out a decent grade and 3 on the test.
I think I’ve only posted on this thread once before early on. CC was HUGE when navigating the college waters with my D16 (who safely ported at the perfect school and is very happy), but my S21 is such a different human. He’s barely hanging on academically, though he is still putting forth a lot of effort, which pleases me immensely. He goes to a private school that by almost every benchmark is number one in our state, and he goes for free because my husband teaches there. He may be asked to leave at the end of this school year due to grades, so we are living under that cloud, while at the same time recognizing the “best” my not be best for him. I think this fact has been more disappointing for us than the kid.
I enjoyed the college tour chat a few pages ago. S21 has a loooong standing love for the University of Oregon. He had a chance to go on a tour when he was in 6th grade, and the tour guide freely admitted he knew more about the school than she did! Just a few weeks ago, our niece flew in to tour a university she was admitted to. I went to all the admitted student stuff with her since her parents stayed home. S21 just joined us for dinner in the dining hall. His lanky, always hungry self LOVED it. As he surveyed the endless buffet of food, he said, “Yeah, this is what college is all about.” Ha! Not exactly, kid…
Thanks @VikkiG5 is that in Philly? We know a few kids starting next fall. No one in band that I know of.
@palm715 that sounds tough. Maybe he would thrive in a different atmosphere. My son class of 2018 had a very good in state option but couldn’t get over the bad food. He went to camp there, visited friends, always mentioned the bad food. When he visited where he ended up accepting he raved about the dining hall, so I knew it was a serious contender!