Currently AP Bio is kicking his bottom. This is his first class he needs to “study” and it’s been challenging. It doesn’t help that the teacher is horrible. He still wants to be a doctor so he knows this is just the start. LOL
I hear ya. Sometimes, you don’t luck out with a decent teacher! For D24, it’s Honors Chemistry that’s kicking her butt this year. Normally, the sequence at their school is you take the honors science first and then the AP science the following year. But the AP Chem teacher is the same one who teaches Honors Chem. And everybody’s doing horribly. The resounding report from all of D24’s classmates is that they’ve all decided to NOT take AP Chem next year. Apparently, this teacher taught college before starting her gig at our school. So D24 is going to do AP Environmental Science next year instead…at least, that’s what she’s been talking about lately.
One more thing about credit cards: Most of the airline CCs come with some sort of free bag perk. If you get the card that aligns with where your kid is going to school this can be very big when it’s time to fly to drop off with all of their stuff.
My S22 originally wanted to go to CA and we went out last summer to check out a bunch of schools as best we could. Lo and behold he didn’t apply to any CA schools as it seemed “too far” when we actually visited. Most of the schools he actually applied to are in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic - so you never know!
For some reason chemistry honors and AP chemistry is very hard in our school also. Having Said that the teacher is good at teaching but just the tests and grading are very hard and lab scores also get 100% is hard as the teacher is a perfectionist per the kids.
If the class is hard and the teacher is bad in teaching then yeah skipping AP chem makes sense.
ap chemistry is hard at every school, it is one of the hardest AP classes there is as is AP physics. In our school only the best math and science kids take those classes.
I wished they all did what my school’s AP
physics does AND also have teachers who can teach it. Have the Bio/Phy/Chem lectures for kids to watch at home. Then homework in the classroom. They can ask the teacher for help and teachers can see where they struggle.
reversed classroom concept. Our high school has tried it also and I am not sure how well it works. Glad to hear that some schools can do it well. It is a lot of time for kids outside of school though. I dont totally understand though how some schools encourage kids to take so many AP classes. esp the really hard science classes. Doesn’t make sense to me for kids to take the class if they wont get an A or B in it and a 4 or 5 in the class.
We call it a “flipped classroom.” Some teachers are great at it and others are not. College Board/AP really encourages it and provides the videos to the teachers.
My D24 is not doing that well with AP Bio and she is a Humanities person. She ended up with a B- in 1st semester. Ours is a semester system grading. I am not sure if she should take AP BIO test. If she takes and doesn’t get good score, can she avoid sending that particular score to colleges? When we were submitting scores for D21, we couldn’t find a way and fortunately she had all 4s and 5s.
I dont believe that you have to send AP scores. My S didnt send any until after he was accepted for his schools. It looks like you can send some scores and not others
Thanks! I understand that we don’t have to send scores till they were accepted but I remember my D21 had to report all her scores in some of the applications. Is that ok not to report the score that you don’t want to send even though you take the test?
You don’t have to report the score you don’t like. My son didn’t report his AP Lang score. And you don’t have to submit AP scores. At some school, it may be strategic not to submit—for instance if your child wants to take the topic again with a better professor or get more in-depth.
I know of colleges NOT letting you use AP in lieu of certain college classes, special those required for their major.
But, are there actually colleges that PREVENT students from registering for entry level courses, just BECAUSE they had taken an AP class in high school?
Often schools try to get students on the correct level for class dynamics and grading. Having people who are too advanced or not ready for the material ruins class discussions and the curve.
Obviously this is very school/department/major specific. As I mentioned up thread, my oldest couldn’t take entry level Spanish in college because he had scored above a 3 on the Spanish AP exam. If he hadn’t taken the exam, they would have had him take a proficiency test for placement. Taking the AP course without the exam wouldn’t have made a difference because his placement would probably have been the same.
Questions for the parents who already went through.
How important are summer programs for admission purposes? There is a college experience camp ($$$), major-specific programs/camps, internships, and volunteer programs.
We’ve gone through this once with D20. She did a couple foreign exchange programs during summers (entering 9th grade, entering 10th grade) but the remainder of her summers were spent working at her paying job. The language exchange programs were not super pricey.
I don’t think the foreign exchange programs helped her with admissions, though they did lead to fluency in the language she was (and still is) studying. She did those exchanges because she wanted to, not to impress for college applications.
I do think her job was impressive for college admission, but that is in large part because relatively few teens are getting paid jobs now, nor are most sticking with those jobs for two years and getting promoted.
With D23 and D24, I have to admit I am not worrying about how they spend their summers. One of them does a year round sport and will have extra practice time during the summer, one of them is taking summer school to complete consumer ed (so they don’t have to take it during the school year) before traveling with their grandparents to Europe. Both will have a lot of down time where they hang out with friends, go to the pool, etc.
College applications will work out regardless of summer plans.
I’ve heard some podcasts on this subject. Summer programs are a bit of money maker for prestige universities and the consensus seems to be that it doesn’t help with admissions since those programs are not nearly as selective as the schools in many cases. OTOH, My S21 applied to a limited science research program at a UC (was waitlisted two summers in a row ) and the guidance counselor thought that one might be helpful since it was very selective, perhaps could generate a letter of rec.) If the school tracks demonstrated interest, I suppose it might be an extra check mark.
It’s great to use the summers to explore a genuine interest that’s authentic. Go deeper on something the applicant is into. It has seemed that some of the en vogue extras - Eg. helping build in a third world country - become passe and even emphasize privilege in a negative way to some AOs. Working outside the home is rarer and helps too, especially if it helps the family. I’m no expert though, I’ve just been listening to a lot of podcasts.
Taking college courses is another use for summer and may help prove college readiness.
My D will perform at camp and is in serious need of volunteer hours. She kind of wants to work and may take Spanish (we’ll see about that). She’s humanities and not gunning T50.
) and the guidance counselor thought that one might be helpful since it was very selective, perhaps could generate a letter of rec.) If the school tracks demonstrated interest, I suppose it might be an extra check mark.