AP courses - confusing

ocauctions949

New member
As a parent of a middle schooler, I'm interested in learning more about AP courses for my son. After talking to several colleagues at work, apparently the students can start taking AP courses in different grades at different high schools. Also there appears to be no standard AP course list at all schools. Each school has a different list. At our assigned high school (Northwood High) it appears that there is a minimum grade for each AP course as well. Is that case for Uni High, Beckman or Portola High?

Can anyone share any helpful tips to navigate the AP waters?

Thank you in advance!
 
As for Beckman, AP classes start in sophomore year and you do need a teacher's approval to get into the class. Basically, if you're a good student with no behavior issues, you'll get into AP. AP students will also have summer homework before class begins in the fall.

Also, if your kid is taking AP classes thinking they'll graduate college early, keep in mind that not all universities will accept AP credit automatically. It  depends on the score they get on the AP exam. Certain colleges require you to get a 5 on the exam in order to obtain college credit, whereas others might accept a 3 or 4. My kid's friend took a boatload of AP classes and the only AP class that UC Berkeley accepted as college credit was AP English Literature.

Lastly, each AP exam costs $92. Be prepared to fork over moola if your kids takes a lot of AP classes.

 
ocauctions949 said:
As a parent of a middle schooler, I'm interested in learning more about AP courses for my son. After talking to several colleagues at work, apparently the students can start taking AP courses in different grades at different high schools. Also there appears to be no standard AP course list at all schools. Each school has a different list. At our assigned high school (Northwood High) it appears that there is a minimum grade for each AP course as well. Is that case for Uni High, Beckman or Portola High?

Can anyone share any helpful tips to navigate the AP waters?

Thank you in advance!

Consider scheduling an appointment with the school counselor.
 
Make sure your kiddo can handle the work load. A lot of the AP classes in my day were much heavily weighted in terms of homework, group assignments, exams, etc compared to regular classes or honors classes. All of that just for a chance at taking an exam. In some cases, it might be better to not pass the AP exam and just take the class in college depending on major and direction among other factors.

I remember some of my classmates getting low scores in other classes because one of their AP classes were killing them and taking up all their time and resources.
 
Definitely agree with the importance of taking the course in college instead of the high school AP version. By the way, any student may take an AP test; you don't have to be enrolled int the class, which is usually lots of reading anyway. Also, high school students can earn guaranteed college credits for free by taking community college classes. These classes are free for high school students and there is no test being offered by the College Board. You pass the class, you earn the credit, and it's accepted by the UC or CSU.

The school I am most familiar with offers AP Human Geography to incoming freshmen.
 
You're right. Taking community college courses in high school is a great option to get ahead. I took two courses at IVC while I was in high school and it was rewarding in the sense that I could network with peers from a variety of backgrounds (some transferring to UC/CAL STATE, some working part time/full time, mothers/fathers etc). This granted me an early look into what my future would be like. It was also not expensive back then. I have no idea about the free time.
 
AP courses are very difficult. If your kid planning to major in humanity avoid taking the AP sciences and math. One bad grade will jeopardize acceptances to the top colleges. Vice versa for future science or engineering major avoid AP humanities. Unless you are fine with Fullerton or Chapman then AP courses are really overkilled and unnesscesary.
 
Why don't IUSD high schools give a grade boost for freshman Honors classes?  One of my co-workers whose kids go to a high school in south county said that even freshman honors classes get a grade boost.  I know that UC schools have their own way of calculating GPAs, and maybe private schools do this too, but it seems to put IUSD kids at a disadvantage.   

For those kids that had a freshman and had assigned all honors (math, science, English, History)- what was your experience?  I am getting a lot of mixed feedback.  Some say only do Math/Science if you kid is math/science-only inclined.  Some say they are only allowing 2 courses if given all 4 as honors, as the workload can be intense.  Some say colleges prefer a child who gets an A in a College Prep (non honors) than a "B" in an Honors class. 

I would love to hear feedback/experience from parents of IUSD high-school students. 
 
I agree zubs!  My friend's kid had a 4.7 GPA from a south county high school and is going to Berkeley on a full ride. 
My high school had no grade inflation boosting- that was in the 1980s.  And it was on a 100 pt scale.  I know that there are ways to "adjust" these GPAs, but do the colleges/Admissions Committee really do this for everyone?
 
There's a balance needed in taking these classes, some take a lot of time. 
The problem with the non honors or ap courses is that they may learn nothing on those easy classes.
Also, schools do look at the ap courses as your kid being ready for the transition to college versus acing bunch of easy classes. 

Back in the day, you only need a passing score of 3 out of 5 to get credit in most uc's, but a 3 won't give you credit for the class itself.  Like if you got 3 in calculus, you'll get 4 college units (or whatever the amount is, will count towards the minimum required for graduation, but won't get credit for calculus course itself)...
 
I'm a independent counselor who has worked with quite a few students from each of the Irvine schools. The advice I give each family truly depends on what the student's abilities an goals are.

From a competitive admissions standpoints, not all AP classes are created equal. Some classes are valued more than others. Also, as a previous poster mentioned, not all passing AP scores will receive college credit. Having met with many different college deans, I've also now learned that a score of 5 on AP Biology -- for example -- will not exempt a student from having to take Intro to Bio. Rather, s/he will receive elective credit. Each is assessed on a school by school basis.

Also, the whether or not a student received a grade boost is meaningless when it comes to college admissions. Many schools recalculate GPA according to their own standards anyways. This idea of AP classes is quite a loaded topic, and it's only after years of research and attending conferences and meeting with different college admissions representatives that I am starting to fully understand the picture.
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
AP courses are very difficult. If your kid planning to major in humanity avoid taking the AP sciences and math. One bad grade will jeopardize acceptances to the top colleges. Vice versa for future science or engineering major avoid AP humanities. Unless you are fine with Fullerton or Chapman then AP courses are really overkilled and unnesscesary.

I am re-visiting this thread after a long time. Ihs, your post and others' here totally reflects my own thoughts. We very recently wrestled with the decision on what to do about A.P. and Honors classes ourselves. It may be hard for some parents to understand, especially here on T.I., but we actually decided not to accept all of the A.P. and Honors courses that were assigned to my son for the coming fall. Tiger Parents everywhere are cringing reading this, I know. We kept only the honors course that is relevant to his future major along with electives more aligned with his interests. A lot of careful thought and consideration was put into this decision.
 
SoCal said:
irvinehomeshopper said:
AP courses are very difficult. If your kid planning to major in humanity avoid taking the AP sciences and math. One bad grade will jeopardize acceptances to the top colleges. Vice versa for future science or engineering major avoid AP humanities. Unless you are fine with Fullerton or Chapman then AP courses are really overkilled and unnesscesary.

I am re-visiting this thread after a long time. Ihs, your post and others' here totally reflects my own thoughts. We very recently wrestled with the decision on what to do about A.P. and Honors classes ourselves. It may be hard for some parents to understand, especially here on T.I., but we actually decided not to accept all of the A.P. and Honors courses that were assigned to my son for the coming fall. Tiger Parents everywhere are cringing reading this, I know. We kept only the honors course that is relevant to his future major along with electives more aligned with his interests. A lot of careful thought and consideration was put into this decision.

to protect your son's ego or yours?
 
We would do the same thing as SoCal.

It's important that our kids are not overloaded with academics. If they can handle the workload, that's fine but I'll let them determine that.

Maybe the high school I went to was too easy, I took a ton of AP courses and I never felt overwhelmed by the assignments or the homework. The only time I had to spend any significant time outside of school hours for work was studying for the "boring" social studies/history classes. All the science/math related stuff was cake... but again, I didn't go to an *Irvine* high school.
 
WTTCHMN said:
Because you posted here as a sounding board. You shouldn't be surprised when the peanut gallery starts throwing peanuts.

I was acknowledging the previous commenters with my own feedback rather than the other way around. Please seek Prof. Zub's or Dr. YellowFever's instructor approval for A.P. Trolling to improve the quality of your pot shots.
 
I would say AP classes/tests are MUCH easier than taking the equivalent class at at top UC (ie. Berkeley or UCLA).  If you know you're going to have to take freshman English, Math, Physics, Chem, Bio, etc., I would definitely recommend getting it done through AP tests or through community college during the summer.  Remember that everything is based on a curve in UC and getting an A or B is not as trivial as it was in high school. 
 
Back
Top