I don’t understand the econ requirement. My D19 took AP Econ and I think got a 2 on her AP exam. My other 2 kids are taking IB history of the Americas which is a 2 year sequence and somehow they cover enough econ in the course to meet the econ requirement. I just don’t see why econ is see as being that important.
Ugh!! It drives me nuts that there are only 6 classes in a day! No way to get music and a language and PE! My oldest was the only one that kept up with music but she did sports. My S23 did a PE class in the summer (which was actually a great fit for him) because he was taking PLTW engineering classes.
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Kiddo has accommodations and took AP Euro on the computer. Honestly, his handwriting is 100% illegible (I call it his “serial killer” handwriting), so I’m not sure how he would survive blue book tests in college. (Are those still a thing?!?) He said he felt okay about AP Euro, so I’m hoping he pulled a 4 this year. AP Computer Science Principles is tomorrow, and then things should slow down until finals in a week and a half. Tonight is the big band concert celebrating the 150th anniversary of the band. We have family in from Texas and Missouri, and I’m really excited to see the kids play at the performing arts center. I’m also excited for daily band practice to end!
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At DD’s school if you took AP Gov they used to NOT require Econ but now they do. So not only is she taking a full year of government (regular gov is only one semester) she now also has to take a semester of Econ. It really makes it hard to fit everything in with only 7 periods to the day.
Senior year she’s going to have to decide between getting a 3rd year of Spanish in and taking either her 4th year of Biomed or AP Psych.
Does anyone know when College Board will open up registration for the August SAT?
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Anyone else waiting for April PSAT 10 scores?
Most students here satisfy the local school district’s econ requirement by taking a 1-semester personal finance class, though AP econ (which isn’t offered at all of the high schools in the district) also satisfies it. (ETA: There are a few other courses that satisfy it, as well, like entrepreneurship, and it’s built into the curriculum inside of other courses for IB diploma students—but again, those aren’t available at all high schools.)
The rationale behind the econ requirement is that too many kids graduate high school with no idea how basic finances work, and it’s a good idea to make sure they’ve at least been exposed to it. (Which I actually agree with.)
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Ah….the personal finance class I understand and I think that should be the goal/intent. The AP econ class my D23 took was a waste of time and I don’t see a connection to econ being taught at the IB History of Americas at West Anchorage, but I’m not going to complain 
.
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We just added a personal finance requirement last year. So my oldest 3 didn’t take it but D25 is in the class right now. It seems like every couple of years they make some minor tweak to graduation requirements.
Since we have 10 classes (5 full year classes each semester on a block schedule) they aren’t too hard to work in. Although actually taking 5 classes instead of 4 plus a study hall is a killer especially if a couple are APs. I’m hoping it works for D25 to only take 3 each semester the next 2 years and add one class a semester at the local directional U instead.
We won’t get schedules back until summer, and they usually have to be tweaked a bit. They don’t do that until just a week or 2 before classes start in the fall. So we won’t know for sure it will work out until last minute. It’s nerve wracking, but so far I have always been able to come up with something that works in the end.
Question:
A couple years ago, I came across a website (I think it was actually from the College Board, but not sure) that listed what grade level students were when they took each exam broken down into raw numbers and percentages. I found it useful in trying to navigate when classes should be taken. I can’t find it anymore–has anyone come across that and have a link? Thanks.
Well, it’s official: C25 is now fully registered for their fall classes in the district’s DE program.
Their first semester in the program students take a “how to college” course plus their writing and math courses and (optionally) one more that fulfills HS graduation requirements. Most semester college courses count as a one-year HS course (most of them: 3–4 college credits=1 HS credit, >4 college credits=1.5 HS credits, <3 college credits=½ HS credit), so for example C25 will be completely fulfilling their 1 HS credit US history requirement with a single college course in US history.
So their schedule for the fall is:
- First-year composition I
- Calculus I
- US history post-Civil War
- University studies (the “how to college” course)
They’ll all be in person except university studies, which is asynchronous online essentially by design.
(They also took the AP Calc AB test earlier today. Absolutely no desire to talk about it, but doesn’t seem to act like they did badly or anything—but apparently it’s my job to mind-read.)
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Nice! Our school doesn’t have anything like that. The only thing we have is a handful of CHS (college in high school) classes taught at the high school in cooperation with the local community college. And most are not really useful in fulfilling general ed classes. My son will take 3 AP’s next year (he chose to not take APUSH or AP Lit this year and his rank is suffering for it).
He is in Band and JROTC, which he won’t give up and are both unweighted classes.
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We have a government class at the local directional that will fufill the HS government requirement. That one shows up on the transcript. There may be a couple more vocational ones at the CC that show up too, not sure honestly. But I think the CNA class shows up on the HS transcript, maybe a couple others will too.
Those are arranged partially through the HS, although you still need to register at the college. Any other classes don’t show up on the HS transcript at all, and can’t be used for graduation requirements.
D is hoping to take psychology. I know that at least at a few colleges, that intro class is tough to get into, and necessary to take upper level psychology classes. I’m hoping that since this isn’t dual enrollment, but her actually sitting in a room full of college students where she is likely the only HS student, whereever she ends up will take this as a transfer class, so she will have that first semester of psychology fufilled, and get around that choke point.
Also she just needs to get out of the building. She is kind of over HS, which is a problem for a rising junior. But this way she will have 3 classes at the HS, and 2 blocks off to take a college class. She won’t have studyhall this way, but will have plenty of time to basically still have one, just unsupervised. And she will have access to the facilities at the college, so she can study there if she wants to. It’s about a 5 minute drive from the HS.
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We inadvertently visited a couple colleges. We had to spend an afternoon in Philly for some appointments and they were located right by Drexel and UPenn. Neither are even far off contenders but I got some good data out of it. It was a beautiful day and the area was bustling with people from all walks of life, students, workers, visitors, anything a big city would have. The buildings were well maintained and looked stunning. Riding in an Uber to an Asian market allowed my D to see more than if we just walked around. I asked her what she thought and a hard no came swiftly. I asked what if her job one day wants her to work in the city and she said she’ll plow fields before taking that job. I knew she didn’t like the city for anything other than a visit with a purpose but had UofBoston in the background for music as a very high reach but that’s gone now! No Portland State either lol. (Sorry to my Portland family who wants her out west).
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That’s great you got feedback to cross some schools off!
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It’s always tough for me to let some of them go. But really, learning what they don’t like is at least as valuable than a positive visit. There are 4,000 options. Anything that narrows the list is a good thing.
When D25 did visits last year, I expected women’s colleges to get eliminated. Instead they shot up the list. I also thought she would be unenthusiastic but ok with a Jesuit school, just not somewhere super religious like BYU or Liberty. Nope, after we visited Fordham all colleges even remotely religious are off the list. While on some level I find that slightly annoying, she can only go to one place so I guess that being the reason to eliminate a large swath is good as any.
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The August 26th SAT test date is now available for registration. I know a few of us were going to have our kids take the SAT that day.
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D25 just got PreACT test back today. Did well with no prep (as in I’m pretty sure she didn’t even know how many questions or how much time she had for each section). So I’m hoping I can get her to study over the summer and take the ACT in July and Sept, and hopefully be done.
I’m not a huge fan of the tests, and if she hadn’t done well I would be inclined to just let it go. But it looks like she should be able to get to the mid 30’s or better with a bit of prep. So it’s hard to walk away from the chance to get that boost.
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My D has such slow processing speed. She is not a great test taker. PreACT for her was only 19. She just really struggles. Thankful for test optional!
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We are waiting for PSAT 10 scores that say on the website we will get within 4 weeks but it’s been just over and they are not there. His previous 2 were lower than expected as he used to test really well. Was planning on SAT or ACT over summer but keep forgetting to check sign ups.