<p>My school is know for having the BEST advance math program and math team (Every tournament we participate we either get 1st or 2nd). My school is also really competitive and the AP/Honor classes are not a walk in the park. They are legitimate AP/Honor classes. It just really frustrating when I take the highest and hardest math class and I ended up getting a very very bad grade. When somebody who takes the same class at a different school (lower difficulty) gets an A</p>
<p>AP Bio....</p>
<p>By far the worst class every... Constant work, projects, lab reports, test with 100+ questions, 2-3 reading quizs a week which are impossible to get an A</p>
<p>My AP Bio teacher even bragged about crushing students dreams in doing medicine or anything science....</p>
<p>My question is how the heck do colleges pick out schools with legitimate AP/Honor classes?</p>
<p>One should take only classes that he or she can handle and do the best he or she can. </p>
<p>If colleges look are your school and notice the average grade is an 80 but 97% of people get 5's on their AP exams, they'll know that you go to a really strong school. </p>
<p>I don't know what you consider a "Really bad grade" but if you are making C's the class is probably just too hard for you.</p>
<p>I can sympathize with you though. I'm having a really hard time with an online AP physics class I'm taking through my state's magnet school. I don't know anyone at the physical school who plans to take it because of how hard it is and the people who have a good shot at majoring in physics at MIT etc. seem to be struggling to pull a B. </p>
<p>I'm 1 point from an A in my AP Calculus BC class I'm taking through the state magnet. Only 2 people have an A in the class. In both of the classes we go well beyond what is required for the AP exam. </p>
<p>The advantage is you have a chance to embrace it and really preform well. At the state magnet school, an A+ in physics is a 94.. and A (Not an A- either) is an 84. No one has an A+. </p>
<p>In the end though, you just have to suck it up. :(</p>
<p>They can't pick out which ones are "legitimate". </p>
<p>People like to think a "competitive" school makes up for a low GPA, but in truth, it really doesn't stack up.</p>
<p>With the ego of prestige comes hard work... sorry. </p>
<p>My AP Bio class... we had a test every two weeks. Never had quizzes, had to color pencil color for many of our homework assignments, wrote an essay three times the whole year there probably, and mostly the teacher talked about lots of other things during lectures. Anybody that tried got a solid A. </p>
<p>But you know what? </p>
<p>We covered 2/3 of the book, and of the 25 of us who took the AP test, three of us passed. I got the highest score on the Bio test and that was a 4. There was one flower reproduction essay question we just couldn't even begin to BS... </p>
<p>So what's it going to be? An easy class, or real competence of learning something? Your choice. :)</p>