We are in MA (public school) and I feel like my kids are getting a solid education. In terms of the AP exams, APUSH (47%), AP Lit 44%) and AP Physics 1 (42%) are the three most difficult to pass. That surprised me when I found out as I would have thought Calc BC would be tougher - but it has 75% pass rate. Of course, some of that could be self selection (many fewer students take that test).
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Yes, Calc BC has self selection for kids who will pass, at most suburban schools that offer APUSH it is taken but almost all kids who are eligible. In our school it is only APUSH or regular history
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true we have the same US history or AP US history there is no honors here. But I know only about 30% take AP US History because it is hard and time consuming.
At our suburban HS only about 25% (from a given class) of kids will take APUSH. AP Lang is the most common AP course (about 60% of a given class will take it). Our school has a 84% pass rate across all AP exams - in math it is near 100% (all 4s & 5s) but those are not as popular and it is definitely self selecting. Edit to say - although our school is good, it isnāt one of the top public schools in MA -there are some where the overall AP Pass rate is 95%.
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Ours too - and about 60% of students take APUSH.
Likewise, there is no 11th grade Honors English. Student take either AP Lang or English 11.
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Yeah AP Physcis and AP US history are hard tests. AP scores pass rates are available at AP Score Distributions ā AP Students | College Board
I checked our school we have 91% pass rate for us History but only 30% of the school takes it. AP Lang for example 50%+ take it.
what is the pass rate mean? a 3 or a 4?
A 3 or better (so 3, 4 and 5).
Wow I had no idea. We are in California and students are tracked. There is no honors history or bio. Even so I donāt think the pass rates are that high. Now Iām curious so Iāll have to go look.
When you say ātrackedā what does that mean, exactly? We donāt have tracking here except math acceleration in 7th grade. At the HS students can take a mix of courses - college prep, honors, enriched and AP. My older son isnāt great in math so he takes college prep for that - all the rest of his courses are honors or AP. We also donāt offer AP until junior year which is fairly common in MA. It doesnāt keep students from getting into excellent colleges etc.
A pass rate is 3 or more.
Yes it all depends on what the school offers. In our school for example APās are limited in 9th and 10th grade as there are pre-requisites for many APās and also the preference is given to 11th and 12th graders. We also have very few honors classes here (no hones in English and history or bio honors for 9th grade. So 95% of 9th grade cant even take a honors class unless they take precal honors or which few students do take in 9th here)
We are highly ranked STEM public school and have many kids go to T20ās.
So it all depends on what school offers like you said.
Not trying to get political here but this explains tracking. It in practice extends beyond math.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/06/04/california-math-class-detrack-race-equity/
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Iām so curious about the current class of 2022 cycle results. Still listening to some CA podcasts and one just came out about people being rejected from so called safeties (possibly due to yield protection/lack of demonstrated interest). This could also be a function of selective schools getting a higher volume of applications due to TO. My S21 had a large number of targets on his college list and Iām wondering if we are going to end up there again. Oof. D24 would be more inclined to prepare fewer applications.
Incidentally, on another podcast one person thought some colleges might adopt a minimum test score - to control application volume. Interesting.
CDC approved 12+ for boosters!
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so glad i made the illegal appointment!
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Yes I am also eagerly waiting to see how the next two years admissions play out. Would like to limit the number of apps if possible.
On the minimum test score would it be SAT or ACT or something else? did they mention?
Idea is yes Sat or act with the testing company confirming the student met the minimum for that school. This is just speculation of course.
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Well, Iāll be happy to share what I learn with my S22. He is not one of the super students you see on CC so he is not aiming for top 50 schools, but happy to share his results. He has mainly applied to schools where (on paper) he has a decent chance at acceptance (UMass Amherst, Pitt, American, Fordham, Syracuse and UConn) plus one reach (Wm & Mary). He is going TO and has a 3.65 UW/4.10 W gpa with reasonable rigor - all honors except for math and 4 AP. Weāll have to see how these crazy times affect his chances.
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Thanks. My D24 will be similar.
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