<p>While the caliber of the Prep school student body as a whole is probably more able then the national average, prep schools still sort their students into regular, honors and AP level tracks. Same names; different meaning. Highly able students (and who would be in APs across the board at their home public) are often locked out of upper level classes at prep school, to maintain the distribution and exclusivity.</p>
<p>Prep schools sometimes limit access to AP to the six rocket scientists who take AP Calc B/C in sophomore year, rather then the 1/3 of the school that could handle the work by senior year.</p>
<p>^^Do you think this hurts kids in the college app process, or do the colleges realize that the prep school curriculum is more rigorous even if the student does not take several AP’s?</p>
<p>It only hurts those students that are applying to colleges that include the number and the score of AP’s into their merit scholarship calculation. Colleges dont use AP tests for admission criteria, and they know that most classes in BS are rigorous.</p>
<p>I don’t even understand why it would matter if someone took AP tests or not. Isn’t that just helpful to the student because then they can test out of certain classes thereby saving themselves a semester or so of college in the long run?</p>
<p>I wish I had visited this thread earlier - to answer PA-C’s question about bio at Exeter, although it may be too late as I think registration is closed, we were advised by the Dean of Students that it is better to take Physics prep year and take biology in 10th grade. They told us the prep biology course is very elementary but the prep physics course is more advanced. Your child has to be somewhat advanced in math however to take physics at this stage.</p>
<p>As to AP courses, we were advised that while Exeter has dropped the AP designation for their courses they still have AP type courses that prepare the students for the exams. However, most of the courses require an intro course to be taken first, therefore kids are not taking AP courses their first year. Also there is a huge adjustment the first year and they baby the kids a little bit especially the first term, it would be very difficult for them to be preparing for AP’s at that time.</p>
<p>And my understanding about AP’s is that colleges do use them for guides in admissions. College adcoms have advised us that comparing AP scores allows them to compare apples to apples, whereas an advanced biology course in one school may not be equivalent to an advanced biology course in another school - yet if you turn in a score of 5 on the AP exam you have undoubtedly mastered biology. This was especially true for high level colleges like ivies and the like as they often do not offer credit for AP’s, but they do use the scores for admissions. (I have a junior getting ready to apply next year.)</p>
<p>And yes, I couldn’t agree more that all this testing is insane. But what choice do you have?</p>
<p>I have contacted a few colleges and what they told me is that they will usually count an AP class for credit if the student scores at least a 4 and sometimes they require a 5 for credit (ie Biology). They say APs or advanced courses shows a maturity in the student - dedicated to doing well despite challenges.</p>
<p>Most college websites will have a chart identifying which classes will be waived with a specific AP score. One has to look a little deeper to find out if “equivalant” class is an EC or a class for majors. Sometimes AP credit can only be used for electives. On the other hand some schools would prefer that students waive out of mega-prerequisite courses, which are already too big. (Professors aren’t that thrilled about one more freshman comp student; they would rather teach upper level seminars.) It really varies by school. Check the website.</p>
<p>My favorite website is from Cornell. They have a chart that identifies the equivalant cources, plus a page of text of why you as a student would be much better served by NOT choosing to waive the courses.</p>
<p>PS Although formal registration is closed, at many schools there is this magical time in the first week of classes or just before, when the you/the school discovers that they have double booked your student in three classes at once or booked 18 students into a class that only can handle 15, or the special teacher for a class dies or the like. If you know the times when the various sections a preferred class are offered, andyou offer a solutition that helps them solve a scheduling conflict, then you are in and they are thankful that they have one less scheduling problem to solve.</p>
<p>Never say “we have a scheduling problem.” Always say, “we have a scheduling problem, and here is how we can fix it.” It helps if you make friends with the registrar. Be nice to the registrar. Be very nice to the registrar.</p>