<p>“absolutely jazzed about earth science”</p>
<p>Then go with this. Chen, Bio, and Physics all serve the earth sciences (M.S. in soil science here myself). He will get a lot more out of the “pure” sciences if he feels that there is a good reason to master them in support of his real interest.</p>
<p>Hmmm, I just realized something. At kids’ HS, ap chem and ap bio are taken without any intro level chem or bio, and no summer school related intro either. They just take 9 months of ap chem (10th) then 9 months ap bio (11th). Is this unusual or rare for schools to do?</p>
<p>D took AP CHEM 12th (bio required) and AP BIO 11th( not regular bio), physics 10th (AP not offered),earth science 9th</p>
<p>In our school system Biology is required to graduate from h.s. It’s generally taken in freshman year. Can’t take AP without having taken regualar Bio. </p>
<p>S1 did Honors Bio.(9th gr.),Honors Chem and AP Envir. Sci. (10th grade),Honors Physics(11th gr.) and AP Bio (12th gr).</p>
<p>S2 did Honors Bio.(9th gr),Chem(10th gr.) Honors Bio.II(11th gr) and Honors Earth/Environmental (12th gr).</p>
<p>S1 was a very strong student. S2 was average h.s. guy.</p>
<p>We actually have a similar conundrum for next year with our son who’ll be a senior, but it has to do with skipping physics. He attends an independent school where they eliminated all AP classes several years ago (not uncommon around here). Here’s how they describe their science curriculum:</p>
<p>Upper School science begins with Foundations of Scientific Knowledge in grade 9. This introductory course covers physics, chemistry, and biology. Students learn the process of gathering , organizing, and interpreting scientific data in weekly labs. This class serves as the foundation for advanced biology, physics, and chemistry classes which are available in grades 10, 11 and 12.</p>
<p>IIRC, all students take the same science “Foundations” class in 9th grade, but from that point on, they can choose regular or advanced courses. My son, who has no big love for science in general, has always taken the advanced courses and he’s taking Advanced Bio I this year with a fantastic teacher. I’d love for him to take Advanced Bio II next year, but he hasn’t taken a full year of Physics yet. Math is his strongest subject, so I’ve always assumed he’d take Physics at some point, but something has to give, and we really don’t want it to be his Drama elective (which next year will be a full year of Shakespeare). </p>
<p>So would it be terrible if he never took Physics in HS if all his other coursework was the most rigorous he had to choose from (excepting the Drama class)? Or should he consider not taking any history class his senior year and take both Advanced Physics and Advanced Bio II? (He’d love that. All juniors have to write a 10-page original research paper and it’s a pretty exhausting process.) Is it heretical not to take History your senior year? At this point, he’s planning to major in math (or some related discipline) and possibly minor in theater.</p>
<p>Sorry, don’t mean to hijack the thread, but this discussion is really helpful and very timely!</p>
<p>College physics courses often list high school physics as a prerequisite.</p>
<p>What prevents him from taking both physics and drama? Are both courses offered only at one time that is the same time?</p>
<p>Not taking history senior year may be ok depending on what other history and social studies he will eventually complete by high school graduation.</p>
<p>LBowie,
Sorry for hijacking your thread. I started a new thread about AP Chem and AP Bio.
Good luck to your K in figuring out whether K can skip Bio.</p>
<p>^ no problem – my question was pretty-much answered.</p>
<p>If the teacher isn’t satisfactory and/or the bio at your school is boring, there are other options: community college dual degree class, or an online class, either high school (check out Virtual High School) or college level. Bio lab is important and the online labs aren’t really satisfactory, but if the student is taking two other lab courses, maybe that will be fine. Even a summer class or program might help.</p>
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<p>The problem is just if he doubles up on sciences he has to let something else go. Could be Drama or Spanish or History. Sounds like we don’t want him to skip Physics though! </p>
<p>LBowie, what did you decide?</p>
<p>Lucie, depends on where you think he’s aiming, for college. The more competitive, the more important physics can be, not just for the content, but how it represents how he challenges himself. (And, challenges himself across the STEM disciplines.) At the same time, Shakespeare will represent the breadth he’s willing to take on, try to keep it. Can you have the deep talk with the GC? If he’ll have done 3 years of language, maybe it’s Spanish he skips. Or takes online. Agree you can sometimes skip the 4th year of history- but usually when US and World or Euro have been covered- not just geography, topics or govt.</p>
<p>Lucie – we haven’t decided anything yet. I think he’ll probably take bio, and he’ll probably like it better than he expects, because he generally likes science. Perhaps taking the AP version as a junior is a possibility, but maybe not. He will talk to his guidance counselor before deciding anything.</p>
<p>lookingforward, thanks for the suggestions. I did broach the subject with his college counselor (specifically asked if my son should consider taking physics over the summer at the local community college) and the counselor sort of poo-pooed the idea for some reason I didn’t quite follow. I may revisit with him when course-selection time comes. I kind of hate for my son to eliminate any of the core subjects (incl. Spanish), but I guess we’ll see what our choices are when the time comes in a month or so to select for next year. </p>
<p>LBowie, I think it’s great that your son already has a passion for the sciences. Our son is a fantastic math student and has always done well in science courses, but his real passion is the performing arts (bit of an odd duck that way). We want him to aim as high as he can in terms of selectivity, so lookingforward’s points are really important for us to consider. Best of luck to you and your son!</p>
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<p>If he wants to major in “math (or some related discipline)” and minor in theater, then physics and drama would be the most important courses to include. A second year of biology is probably the least important, although it depends on what level of Spanish he has otherwise completed, and what other history and social studies courses he has otherwise completed.</p>
<p>I just want to throw out that I did not take Calculus in HS because all my friends told me how hard it was. Then in College I took Chemistry without any Calculus. Big mistake, especially since I loved Chem and if I had wanted to go farther would have needed the Calc.</p>
<p>Let your son know that just because others complain, doesn’t mean he should make his decision based on that. That depending on what he decides to study in college, bio is often a first level course.</p>
<p>My older son did not take history senior year. (However he did take AP Econ in that slot). We have a lot of class periods so he was able to take two sciences. He’d done his arts requirement as a freshman and wasn’t interested in more art. Since he’s a math/science guy, I’d be inclined to let him skip the history if he’s already had three years of it. It depends a little bit at what sort of schools he’s aiming for.</p>
<p>Here’s what Harvard says about what they consider good preparation: <a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/preparing/index.html[/url]”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/preparing/index.html</a></p>
<p>I was particular struck by this: "it is essential that you study chemistry and physics in secondary school. "</p>
<p>With regards to history they suggest a year of American, a year of European and “if possible” a third year.</p>
<p>Thanks, everybody. Really appreciate the input!</p>
<p>Son goes to an independent school that’s pretty rigorous, but it doesn’t offer APs or IBs, so things don’t always match up easily with your typical rigorous public high school curriculum. For the most part, he’s taken the advanced track of any courses when offered. His three years of history will have been quite demanding (and include a ten-page independent research paper during junior year), and it’s probably his least favorite subject. He’ll also have completed Spanish 4 this year, so eliminating Spanish is a possibility too. I just hate for him to risk losing his hard-earned language skills and we’re not a family who can afford to send him to a Spanish-speaking country for the summer, etc. </p>
<p>mathmom, thank you so much for that link from Harvard. I’m bookmarking that! Son is not getting admitted to Harvard, that’s for sure (and we won’t be applying there ‘just for fun’), but the types of schools he’s aspiring to have much more in common with Harvard in terms of selectivity than, say, Temple. Sounds like physics makes more sense than a second year of advanced bio. And then there’s statistics, which he hasn’t taken yet either! I would think most math majors should have had that in high school, but maybe it’s not that important? </p>
<p>The thing is he really doesn’t know what he wants to study in college, which is why I’m trying to get him to focus on finding a school that’s really good across the board, where he’ll have the freedom to explore a variety of disciplines. For now, we’re thinking math because it’s his best subject and he likes it, but he’s not your typical math/science guy who wants to be an engineer either. Anyway, thanks again!</p>
<p>Statistics is well worth taking, but it’s generally better to wait for college - AP Statistics is not nearly as good a course as a typical college course.</p>
<p>Thank you, mathmom!</p>
<p>My youngest out here in WA will be skipping Bio. They used to offer it as a 1/2 year honors class combined with 1/2 year of Chem. This year they switched it to Honors Chem/Physics. I think the change is due to mediocre scores in AP Physics for kids who have never had any prior exposure to Physics.</p>