Parents of the HS Class of 2024

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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DS24 has finals starting tomorrow until Friday. He is in general not a good test taker but does well in homework and quizzes. so I’m hoping he can manage to get a good enough final grade to keep the GPA up. I think he has a good chance. Chem honor seems to be the most challenging class for him.

It might be just anecdotal but I’m hearing that many kids who did ok last year are struggling this year. They did well in 9th grade so they decided to take AP and honor classes in 10th grade. But they are struggling to get an A in the class. I’m sure classes were easier and more accomodating last year. Going back to original rigor might have shocked 10th graders who didn’t experience proper 9th-grade rigor.

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Agree, we had a slow start to the year and S is finally catching up. Many teachers have had to review and slow down this year a bit to make up for last year. And not only did they miss out on the rigor of 9th grade they also missed the first set of real finals and transitional rigor of the end of 8th grade!

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I have heard the same. S24 did well last year but we were cautious when we choose this year and decided to do only one honors and one AP. He has done pretty well so far :crossed_fingers: and S24 wonders if he should have chosen another AP or honors class. Though I have heard similar stories like you where kids are struggling in the AP/Honor courses more than usual. I think the moving from Online to in person has been an adjustment for many kids.

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Agree. This is more like first year in High school in many ways including Finals.

Even clubs and stuff suffered. Last year S24 did only one club and now has to catch up on the EC front also but he does not seem to realize the importance sigh.

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Last year, S24 had the fall final online with the open book so it was very different. And the spring final was optional for those who had A in the class or for those who are taking dual credit classes. So he ended up taking just 1 final in his dual credit class.

Now, most of the classes have finals (10-20% of total grade), time management to prepare for the final has been challenging.

He is finally learning what it means to have a time crunch and to prioritize things.

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Something to think about for next year’s schedule. DS24 is on track to take AP Calc BC however given that he won’t be doing STEM major, I wonder if we should change it to AP Calc AB track. Since he took chem honors this year, we probably will avoid AP Chem also.

Is getting B/C on the most rigorous classes better than A/B on slightly less difficult classes?

I would think getting a higher GPA with AP Calc AB and AP Physics 1 is better than a lower GPA with AP Calc BC and AP Physics C unless you are going into a STEM major… even if you are a STEM major, your GPA might matter more, no?

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@i_am_taxed , I think taking AP Calc AB should be absolutely fine if he is not planning on STEL major. My DD24 is also on the same boat. She just wanted to take one AP science and thought AP BIO would be better even though she doesn’t want to go for STEM but struggling with that. We realized that she is not a Science kid and planning to AP Calc AB, regular Physics 1, AP Lang and AP GOVT and planning to substitute with some Humanities dual credit courses during Summer. I never suggest her to take AP CHEM as my older daughter really struggled with it even though she is a good STEM kid and got into a competitive Pre-med program.

Hope this helps.

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agreed! My S 21 took something similar in his junior year and wound up with some excellent acceptances (although he wound up at a conservatory for bfa acting so the whole thing meant nothing, ha!)

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If he is not planning to do a STEM major it should be ok to take AP Calc AB instead of BC.

The question about Rigor VS maintaining a high GPA is something I think about also and is tricky. I think a B in one or two classes is ok with high rigor but if you are going to get C or many B’s I think then it may seem like they are not ready for that much rigor. Its truly a balancing act.

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I would recommend AP Calc AB before AP Calc BC, regardless.

I think to the question of getting a B in an AP class vs getting an A in a reg class, admissions people would say it’s best to get an A in an AP class, which doesn’t even answer the actual question! I do believe that admissions put more emphasis on core AP—math, science, comp/lang. They don’t value AP psych or AP art the same way as the core.

We have finals week for D24. It’s all weird since she was doing ok with no headaches from the concussion for three days as we reintroduced activities in phases. Then yesterday headaches returned and they were worse so we had to reset with her. Teachers have been great. She is going to request to take her AP Chem final after break since she’s lost about 10 days of studying for it the way she would want to. She has 99-100 in Spanish 3 so teacher waived the final with a pass. They get these passes for warning straight A’s but none of her classes ok final waivers while many others do if you have the pass. I think because she mathematically can’t get a B, the teacher waived it. Her biomed class is prob the same. She loves math and her math teacher so she’s taking that final (despite mathematically she prob cant get a B in that class). She said not taking it would add stress to her psyche. AP world the teacher allowed her to love the final essay to Friday. That class requires a ton of notes that she took online so this was approved since she had to limit screen time.

S21 comes home next Tue so we are looking forward to him coming home and the chaos that will ensue, I’m sure. He’s got finals this week, too.

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I hope your D24 feels better soon. Was she playing in high school soccer? DS24 plays for high school soccer after stopping club in 9th grade. It’s a lot more physical and those seniors are huge. You have to be extra careful with high school soccer not to be injured.

DS24’s school offers Algebra 2 Honors → Trig/Pre Calc, Trig/Pre Cal AB, Trig/Pre Cal BC Honors.
He is in Algebra 2 Honors this year and doing reasonably well. But some of his friends who are taking Tri/Pre Cal BC seem to be struggling quite a bit.

I was thinking of having him take Trig/PreCal BC Honors → AP Calc BC. Since he is not going to be in engineering, I’m not seeing a value of AP Calc BC which he will struggle to get A.

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Our DD didn’t do very well in 9th grade. Almost all of that school year was online. It was a learning experience for sure…she learned that she absorbs the material a lot better when it’s in-person instruction. Her school did not reduce the rigor/difficulty in 9th grade due to the pandemic & online instruction. This school year is shaping up to be much better so far in terms of her grades.

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If my DD24 were choosing given your DS24’s situation, I’d probably be advising her to go with AP Calc AB instead of BC. And I’d go with probably AP Physics 1.

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We are going to have to make a similar decision for D24. Dual enrollment calculus or calc AB, the school does not offer BC. I am sure I will push for dual enrollment, but will let our daughter decide.

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@i_am_taxed Thx! Yes, it was from high school soccer. Comp soccer takes a break during high school soccer season in our area. She played HS soccer last year. They are def more physical. She’s usually pretty good and is fast but just got unlucky this time.

@parentkeith Make sure to see if grad school takes into account dual enrollment grades. I know that med school requires reporting of dual enrollment (ours is thru community college) and it does impact their med school admission GPA. This was why I didn’t have S21 and won’t have D24 enroll at our CC.

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Sorry to hear that you Daughters headaches are back. Glad the teachers are letting her take some finals after the break and being flexible in general. Hopefully the holidays will help her get some rest and recover fully.

In regards to AP Calc AB vs BC in our school they let us take only one not both. Kids who do pre-cal usually end up doing AB and Pre-cal honors end up doing BC. We also have some kids in our school doing BC in 10th grade . I know in many schools AB is pre-req for BC. Son is in Pre-cal honors this year and plans on BC next year.

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Thanks @MommaLue , I remember that advice (maybe from you) in the class of 21 thread also. But at this point, just taking things one year at a time. Sounds like there are possible downsides, but really want to focus on the right class for next year. So far, it’s the easy classes that are creating B’s, not the challenging ones. Our school really relies on the dual enrollment classes to fill out the 11th and 12th grade schedules. Unless there are other options she is interested in, I suspect Calculus will be at the junior college.

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We just started our second term. We don’t take finals until late January. , early February. However, school is on par with last year. Covid numbers are creeping up though. Par for the course being winter and all I guess.

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DD24 is taking Honors Calculus this year, will take AP Calculus AB next year in 11th grade, and then some sort of math capstone class in 12th grade. Math for her was rough the past 2 school years, but this year she’s turned it around and is doing much better (different teaching/instructional methods & different curriculum used compared to before).

Back in 9th grade, the requirement at school was for 10th and 11th graders to take 2 science classes each year. For example, in 9th grade, she took Honors Bio, then in 10th grade (this year), AP Bio and Honors Chemistry. Then the following year, you’d take the AP version of the honors science class plus a different honors science class.

Following that rule of thumb, it would mean that next year, she’d have to take AP Chemistry and Honors Physics, BUT the AP Chem teacher is the same instructor who teachers Honors Chem…and that teacher, frankly, isn’t very good.

BUT…DD24 found out last month from the school counselor that the “2 science classes per year in 11th grade” requirement has changed to just 1 science class…and instead, you have to take SOME sort of AP elective class instead. I even double checked with the counselor myself because I didn’t quite believe it at first. :slight_smile:

So in 11th grade next year, she’ll still take Honors Physics, but instead of AP Chemistry, is going to do AP Environmental Science instead. She read the course description and thought that it sounded interesting.

DD24’s PSAT scores jumped up a lot from when she took it in 9th grade but they’re still in what I would consider the ‘not great’ category, so we’re going to have her do an online PSAT prep course next summer…to which there was much moaning & groaning & histrionics this past week. Between that and our requirement that she get a part time job next summer, she’s decided that we are trying to ruin her summer. Yes, child, gone are the days of yore where you laid around all summer playing video games and watching TV.

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What crazy school does she go to? In our school only the tippy top kids take two science classes and that is only if they can convince the guidance counselors that they can handle it! It amazes me how different schools are even at highly competitive high schools.

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