Please don't misunderstand my post above. That's simply the reality of AP for most courses these days. It's not to say that students like our kids can't use them to learn material at that genuinely high level.
My DD most certainly did use Physics that way. She's also used Literature that way, and similarly with (now) statistics and composition... it's just that it isn't required in order to earn an A and get a 5 on the AP exam at the end of it all.
OUR expectation is that she WILL engage deeply with the material presented and master it. At least the curriculum allows for that and (mostly) doesn't punish it the way some standard high school offerings do. So AP still is a pretty good idea for HG+ kids. It's just that they aren't typical students in those classes, and they may well be irritated with the amount of busywork involved.
I do think that kids ought to be allowed into AP on some kind of different basis than seems to be the case in a lot of districts. Too many kids who don't have any history of that kind of ability are in them, and also far too many high-ability kids ARE NOT, because they can't stomach taking a year of the "regular" class prior to the AP offering.
(That seems to be most common in APUSH and AP science classes.)
Kids who are suited to AP don't need two passes at that material to learn it, and the ones who aren't probably won't find even that adequate. Gaaaa.
