<p>Yup, my school has the same course hierarchy. Honors courses are definitely harder than the Regents and core courses, and definitely easier than AP courses. However, the final GPA is unweighted.</p>
<p>We have three "phases," starting at "college-prep for average ability" at phase 3, with APs listed as phase 6 for weighting purposes. And it's open tracking--you test into a phase and stay there unless you file a request to phase up or down, with teacher permission. A lot of APs are offered, but many students take classes over the summer in order to test out of honors prequisites and take AP directly (esp. in sciences). Unfortunately for me, we aren't allowed to test out of anything in English or history.</p>
<p>trinSF, Honors in California can have a very specific meaning. Especially as regards UC admissions, and "UC GPA". Some Honors courses are granted the same +1 gpa point as AP classes.... after UC review of the curriculum.</p>
<p>Here is the site that will lay out for you your particular school's course catalog and the UC approved status:</p>
<p>look for the gold star on some Honors courses... this designates +1 status.</p>
<p>"That's my warning to middle school students and parents-make sure you know what your high school offers and make sure your kids get into the most challenging track -so long as they are capable. I know schools often suggest that even bright students not stress themselves and take just one or two honors classes-that will be detrimental to them in the college admissions process."</p>
<p>So how is this fair to parents and students who do not know how to navigate the system? It is not the death knell for my D because she is not interested in the Ivies and she is really only one semester behind, but for some kids, it's a killer.</p>
<p>It is too confusing to expect 11 year olds to navigate this process in 6th grade.</p>
<p>My school has regular classes, Accelerated classes, and APs.
The acclerated classes are only freshman and sophomore classes and Pre-calc.(classes like Accelerated english, accelerated Algebra/algebra 2)
once you get into junior year you either take AP English or regular. or AP HIstory or regular history. the difference is huge between them obviously. AP is usually really difficult and regular is a joke. but there is no middle class.</p>
<p>to get into the accelerated track you start in 7th grade with the courses. you can get in later but it becomes much more difficult and requires a ton of dumb testing stuff. not really that fair i guess...but there isnt anyone can do about it.</p>
<p>the phase 3 courses at my HS are considered "college prep".
the phase 4 courses are considered "honors"</p>
<p>At my school it's diff. for each subject
Eng-Basic, Comprehensive, College Prep, Honors, and AP (only seniors)
History-Career Prep, College Prep, Honors, and AP (10-12)
Science-Career prep, College Prep, Honors and AP
Math-Concepts and skills, college prep, honors and AP Calc</p>
<p>And there is a big diff. Different text book, more homework, more difficult tests. There is also the fact that the people in honors classes usually care.</p>
<p>It is confusing (and must make things interesting for college admissions people to figure out the apples and oranges of transcripts). Daughter's school (400 kids total 9-12, public school) has Basic, College Prep, Honors and several AP courses. What's different is the GPA weighting -- an AP course can net a kid a 4.5, Honors 4.25, "regular" 4.0. Of course, now that colleges aren't looking at weighted GPAs so much...</p>
<p>Still, the honors courses are definitely more academically challenging and move at a good clip. They were good prep for her entry into AP Euro this year....</p>
<p>"Of course the colleges aren't looking at weigted GPAs so much..."</p>
<p>Is that the case? If so, I'm sure they must then weight it informally by adjusting for "rigor", non?</p>
<p>i.e. 3.8 "rigorous curriculum" being more valued than 4.0 "standard curriculum".</p>
<p>At UC (Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, et. al), the "UC GPA" is a weighted GPA of academic courses for sophomore and junior years only, with a limit of eight semesters of +1 for some Honors and all AP. The UC GPA max, assuming one takes 5 academic courses each sememster, is 4.4. I suppose if one take only four academic classes one semester, it will be slightly higher max.</p>
<p>I believe the UC Regents have this AP limitation to level out somewhat schools that offer only 6-8 AP courses vs. those that offer over 20.</p>
<p>buzzardsbay: Interesting. At my school, only phase 5 is considered honors (although the local state U considers phase 4 honors).</p>
<p>My high school has one of the largest student populations in Canada and I suspect that has something to do with the 15~20 AP courses that are offered here every year.</p>
<p>For most standard courses we have the essential/principle, the regular, the honours, and the Advanced Placement designations to distinguish the level of difficulty (in ascending order). Though in the case of Grade 12 courses there are usually only the distinction between regular and AP.</p>
<p>Hope that offers some comparative perspective.</p>
<p>I go to a school with ~4000 kids.</p>
<p>We have a single AP class sophomore year, which is AP Chem, though some students choose to take AP Biology this year.</p>
<p>My school has hella (i'm from norcal) AP, Honors, Regular, and has a few fundamentals (for physics and chemistry, and some maths).</p>
<p>Even though my school is really large, we're ridiculously underfunded, but we still manage to keep all the AP/honors classes. Why? Because they cut electives. Oh, and they enlarge class sizes.</p>
<p>This year my Transpersonal psychology class has about 51 kids. My AP Lit class has like 40ish. AP Biology? High 30s.</p>
<p>Funny thing is that AP Econ only has 20. Mneh.</p>
<p>Anyways, the point is that students should take the most rigorous courses offered to them and within their capacity, and my understanding is that even if your kids are brilliant or have an affinity towards maths or languages, that they should still take the class and just work hard. No class is impossible for any able-minded student. If you're worried about that C in an AP course versus the A in the regular course, it at least shows that you're willing to take risks and not always opt for the easiest grade-whoring way out.</p>
<p>just my two cents, though.</p>
<p>2000 at my school. We have classes all across the spectrum. "College Prep English", "Honors" Chemistry, Accelerated Geometry and Alg2/trig, and AP classes. CP English is the exact same as the regular English classes at our school. Accelerated Geometry is the same as regular Geometry and Acc. Alg2/ Trig is the same as regular Alg2. Only difference is they give an "honor point" in the accelerated classes.</p>
<p><<ap world="" history="" in="" 10th="" grade.="" give="" me="" a="" break!="">></ap></p>
<p>I had somewhat the same thought. My 10th grader got a 5 on the exam though he thought he should have gotten a much lower grade. </p>
<p>Interestingly he loved the teacher at the beginning, but soon decided he was hopelessly biased and often made things up. My son has been a history nut for years and really does know his stuff, though I was doubtful that his writing would be up to snuff. </p>
<p>The truth is that the standard for AP World History is for an average US College - and that standard just isn't that high. </p>
<p>Our school also takes the opportunity to have US History (req jr. year course - AP, honors or Regents) coincide with an American Lit English course.</p>
<p>
[quote]
AP World History in 10th grade. Give me a break!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>AP World History is a break.</p>
<p>After enduring AMEROCENTRIC TEACHING OF HISTORY THAT IS INSULTING TO THE INTELLECT for nearly all your life since first grade, the course was refreshing.</p>
<p>Now, it really should be a two-year course, like US History, but damnnn the only problem with the whole syllabus is that people start so late. Start the damn thing early, man.</p>
<p>The course has its faults, but not because it is introduced at 10th grade. Probably the teaching of history needs to be improved all along elementary and middle school too. Adult Americans are unlikely to know the difference between Turks, Arabs and Persians, never mind third-graders.</p>
<p>AP is the new Honors. It just is.</p>
<p>galoison, in our school World History is a two year course, because NY requires two years of Global History. The first year is the same for everyone, but some kids get tracked into AP World for the second year. American History OTOH is just a one year course, which is plenty.</p>
<p>Glad to know NY less redneck than Maine. Here we are lucky to have any 10th graders taking AP world history.</p>
<p>D and S's school has regular and honors classes for academic subjects FR and sophomore years. According to class descriptions subjects will be studied with more depth and rigor. There are a few AP classes that could be taken those years as electives ie Statistics. By Jr. year(for most) there is a choice between regular, honors, AP, or a few college credit courses. </p>
<p>To make things more interesting our state recognizes different types of diplomas. For D's class of '09 there are 3 types: regular, Core 40, and Academic Honors. Son's class will have 4 types: regular, Core 40, Core 40 with Academic Honors, and Core 40 with Technical Honors. To be considered for a state college one must graduate with at least a Core 40 diploma</p>
<p>DunninLA: Exactly. Because Honors is a UC Regent's designation, it's possible to have a school (like my daughters) that only has those courses, and not other tracks. I mention it because people assume that if there's an honors course, there must be a non-honors course offered, too.</p>
<p>After taking standard English, I can tell you there is definitely a difference between honors and standard.</p>