Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment AP Calculus BC vs Honors Trig

Edwin, please ask to see a "previous syllabus" or "grade scheme" for the AP courses he's looking at, too.

That will be a glimpse at how crushing the workload is in those courses. What we found was that AP moved faster (good), but that it wasn't necessarily taught at a level that was deeper/harder intellectually (neutral, I suppose), but that there was a brutal increase in the volume of work expected out of the students in those courses. So sure, they were still doing one page essays-- but four a week, rather than the one in "honors" or the one every two weeks in "regular" English. Does that make sense?

DD really didn't learn to work smarter in those AP courses, but at least the pace didn't allow for procrastination (good)-- then again, I don't think they were great college prep, either, since they weren't really at that level. The work was definitely still secondary level in my opinion-- there was just twice as much of it.

I'll second HK's recommendation to look at the syllabus or network with parents who's children have taken the specific AP course *at the same school* your ds will be taking it at to see how the course is taught.


This is true for some of the AP courses at my ds' school, but not for math - Calc etc are relatively straightforward, and the workload (here) for the advanced math isn't really any more than it is for any other math class - for a kid who grasps math concepts easily.

Re the AP courses that require a lot of writing... I don't know if this is true everywhere, but the more I hear about our local AP courses of this nature... the more they remind me of the dreaded "teach to the test" rather than "think deep".


It's possible to get bogged down in a heavy-workload class that's not AP too - so many times it seems to depend upon the teacher of each specific course.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Lots of good advice. I would add that if your son wants to attend a school like Caltech, he should not lighten his course load for 11th and 12th. Colleges want increasing course rigor, not "slacking" as a junior/senior. Perhaps slacking isn't the right term, but DD17 wanted to lighten the load for 12th, but was convinced to do otherwise. She wanted easier science and math courses. Finally decided on AP Physics C for 12th and Linear Algebra (so not an AP math).

Are there other areas that he can explore instead of blowing through the math and science? Could be academics, music or athletics. Top colleges see plenty of applications from kids who took lots of advanced math and science courses, with math/science ECs. Both my older two take/took two languages through AP level, eldest was active in band and both play/played sports (varsity & travel). Not saying that is "enough" to get a kid into top schools, but he will be competing against kids that have done a lot outside of math/science.

Well we met with the school today, and have a good start. In regards to taking AP Cal without Trig/pre cal. They and most on the board suggested that DS12 take the Honors Trig/pre-cal. We went over this with DS and he wants to take on online self paced course before the start of next year. The HS is ok with that as long as it is WASC accredited. So in regards to that one I am searching for such a school. (looking at The Keystone School. I like Giftedandtalented however it does not seem to be accredited, the same with Alkes. CTY does not seem to be self paced) For the AP Bio, we are being moved up the food chain for a decision. So far so good, overall it went well. Thank you again to everyone.

AoPS is WASC-accredited. Do use the pretests.