<p>“A weighted GPA is used to determine class rank but weighted grades are not shown for individual courses.”</p>
<p>Same here. There is no additional weight for honors except on the overall transcript - pretty well useless as far as reporting course grades to colleges, especially when a 92 is a B.</p>
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<p>The Vassar college rep when asked this question replied, “It’s better to get an A in the AP Class.” The other reps in the room (Vanderbilt, Yale, U of Rochester, Dartmouth I think) all nodded ruefully. </p>
<p>That said, my kids have done both. They both chose not to take AP English as seniors and instead of getting B+'s got A+'s in English senior year. They both enjoyed senior year English a lot more than they had previous years. (Non AP is all electives.) My younger son also chose to take challenging (for him) APs because he was interested in the subject - so he took both AP Calc (BC) and AP Physics C. He had some sort of B in both classes at the time of his senior year mid-year report. Still got into top colleges though not the tippiest top.</p>
<p>These aren’t always easy decisions. It sounds to me like your decisions to overrule the teacher recommendations has turned out fine so far. In your shoes I’d probably be inclined to do the same, but in this case, I think it’s a close call. She’ll still get a lot of brownie points for taking Calculus even if it isn’t the AP class. I also know that there is a sort of readiness factor for Calculus - I thought it was hard when I took it at 16. After three years of no math I retook it at 19 and thought it was easy. My brain just felt readier.</p>
<p>OhioMom3000 – Its the difference between two levels of scholarships. Without getting too specific think Trustees Scholarship $16,000 per year and Chancellor’s Scholarship at $8,000 per year.</p>
<p>As frazzled2thecore suggests, merit aid at many schools is linked to stats, most commonly GPA and SAT/ACT scores. At some schools my daughters and their friends have applied to once you meet the GPA threshhold for a scholarship the only other thing that counts is the standardized test score. This is where my younger daughter’s math grades came into play: she missed the 3.5 requirement for a top scholarship by 0.05 or thereabouts.</p>
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<p>That’s a huge difference in difficulty and grading between regular and honors.</p>
<p>Out here in California, the state universities recalculate high school GPAs with +1 (on a 4 point scale) for AP and honors courses, presumably on the assumption that there can be a one grade difference for the same ability and effort.</p>
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There is a psychological factor at work here, especially for a young woman, that “conceding defeat” means admitting that you really aren’t good at the subject, and therefore should shy away from ANY major which would require more intensive study in it.</p>
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D knows she can come to me anytime with questions. I am capable of helping her with any of the material, even calculus. Occasionally she does, but not generally. I won’t force her to sit down and go over things with me.</p>
<p>“The Vassar college rep when asked this question replied, “It’s better to get an A in the AP Class.” The other reps in the room (Vanderbilt, Yale, U of Rochester, Dartmouth I think) all nodded ruefully.”</p>
<p>Hope the Vassar rep and others provided more than the obvious in that info session. But, thanks for sharing your kid’s experiences.</p>
<p>^They gave plenty of good advice, but on that particular question NONE of them were willing to address it usefully. Presumably, because there isn’t a simple answer. For my kids not taking AP English doesn’t seem to have cause them any harm, and they had a far more enjoyable time as seniors. My youngest loved his elective English class, loved being the top student, enjoyed being with some less academic friends. It was a great experience.</p>
<p>“That’s a huge difference in difficulty and grading between regular and honors.”</p>
<p>Mine had trouble with freshman honors Physics. Decided the next year to go into CP Chemistry and had 100. Chem teacher said you don’t belong here and made her move into honors Chem, considered the hardest class at the school – struggled for a C.</p>
<p>My other child is great at science and in 9 is easily aceing honors Physics and honors Advanced Algebra. He was placed in CP English and CP World History - a little disappointed but decided to try it. He has an A in each and for the first time in his life feels like he is good at History. I am pretty sure getting into honors and struggling would not have been as good a choice - for him. </p>
<p>Each child is different, but I disagree with the idea that the OP’s daughter will feel like or be a failure if she downgrades from AP to regular calculus. She may end up feeling more successful.</p>
<p>The point is, if the choice is between a course that is way too easy and one that is way too hard for the student, then there really is not an appropriate course for the student.</p>
<p>I’m in the OP’s camp about challenging students. I would fight for the AP Calc.</p>
<p>Let’s turn around one of the comments we’ve read so far: *If it were one only teacher recommending she be in lower math then I could see the parent’s point<a href=“just%20summarizing%20-%20I%20didn’t%20go%20back%20to%20quote%20it”>/I</a>. How about looking at it this way: three teachers have told the OP her D should not be in the advanced math class - and they were ALL WRONG. She got a B in each of those classes she supposedly could not handle.</p>
<p>I think OP should consider if Calc will be useful to D (math, science, engineering) and how it will affect D’s gpa. D does find it boring.</p>
<p>I received a 79 in Algebra Honors in 8th grade and struggled in Geometry Honors and Living environment honors in 9th grade, where I received a 88 and 82, respectively, but then in Algebra II trig the next year, I suddenly got a lot better at math and got a 94 and also a 90 in Chem Honors. The next year i finished Precalc H with a 94 and AP Physics B with a 93 and a 5 on the exam. Now I’m in AP calculus BC with an A in the course. </p>
<p>I think I was a late bloomer, as in I never really “shined” in my classes and did extremely well until 10th-11th grade. Perhaps your daughter is too, but not definitely. I say finish the year in precalc honors and see how her performance is.</p>
<p>When I was a freshman in high school, my math teacher tried to get me [along with about 5 other kids in the class] to switch into regular. Some of them switch, I decided to stay. I ended up getting straight A’s in honors math for the rest of my high school career and got a 5 on AP Calc AB :)</p>
<p>In conclusion, stay in the class!!</p>
<p>My daughter’s former IB English teacher-(an excellent,very demanding teacher) recently posted an article about this topic :
[In</a> schools, self-esteem boosting is losing favor to rigor, finer-tuned praise - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-schools-self-esteem-boosting-is-losing-favor-to-rigor-finer-tuned-praise/2012/01/11/gIQAXFnF1P_story.html]In”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-schools-self-esteem-boosting-is-losing-favor-to-rigor-finer-tuned-praise/2012/01/11/gIQAXFnF1P_story.html)
I have alway wondered why parents want high school to be easy. Do they want their children to face their first challenging course away at college or do they hope every course in college is easy, too?</p>
<p>My D got a B in honors Algebra in 8th grade and a B in honors Geometry in 9th grade. We debated dropping her to regular AlgII/trig since those B’s were the only grades in her life that weren’t A’s, and we didn’t want to do any more damage to her GPA. Instead, she somehow blossomed and ended up with an A in AlgII/trig as a Soph., then had over a 100 avg in honors PreCalc. Now she is in AP Calc BC and just ended the 1st semester with an A and one of the highest grades in the class. </p>
<p>Now I am glad we didn’t drop her back, but had she kept getting B’s I probably would be mad I hadn’t.</p>
<p>@Moreover: I don’t “want high school to be easy.” That’s an incredible oversimplification of what people who have suggested the OP stop “pushing” (her word) have said.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. If the student concerned has the work ethic and is willing to put in the effort…I’d tend to lean towards taking the more challenging course. </p>
<p>Even if the child ends up not pulling the higher grades, being surrounded by stronger curricula and peers can provide a better educational experience and more importantly…a better preview of what college-academics can be like…especially if we’re talking elite universities/LACs. </p>
<p>We’ve all heard/witnessed undergrads who were top 10% or better from their respective high school classes who ended up crashing and burning within their first year or even semester in college because their high school curricula…even loaded down with honors/AP courses…were essentially too easy in comparison with college-level work. </p>
<p>All I have to say as someone who had the polar opposite experience…glad I wasn’t in their shoes. </p>
<p>Having said all that…a B level grade is really nothing to write home about once you’re in the honors/AP milieu. </p>
<p>It’s a mentality not too far removed from most Arts & Science MA-MS/PhD programs I know of…if you can’t pull more than B/B+ grades…most will seriously question your ability and commitment to continue at the graduate level.</p>
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<p>By “way too hard”, I meant that even with good work ethic and plenty of effort, the student is still unable to understand the material or get better than a D grade. If a school offers only a course of this type, or a less rigorous course that is an easy A for the student with no significant effort or learning, then the school really does not have an appropriate course for the student.</p>
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<p>Only a few AP courses are really fully college level; many of them cover just a semester’s worth of college level work over a year even if they are accepted (e.g. calculus AB, statistics, chemistry, psychology, human geography, etc.).</p>
<p>"^^^^^^There is no way no how I could ever help my daughter with calculus. That would be bad advice for my family. "
-Then tutor is only other option that I can think about.<br>
I am not sure why you are so intimidated by HS math. There is a textbook written for high schoolers . If HS’er can read it, any adult can. But if your family does not feel like doing it, then there are math tutors who are known to be good, just ask around.</p>