Debbie in IL Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I'm truly not sure how to even ask this question. We would like dd 14 to take some AP courses at home. She is more history / language oriented that math/science. We are using MFW Ancients for History / Lit; Rosetta Stone Spanish 1; finishing up Henle Latin 1. What would be my first step (or steps!) to prepare her for AP exams? I do hope this makes sense. This is our first year teaching high school - we start Monday. I am prepared but beginning to get nervous. :tongue_smilie: Thanks for any help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 First I would go over to the College Board's website to read more about AP, recommended text books, course content, etc. Then I would use the search function on these boards to learn more about AP in general and any specific exams in which you are interested. Your library should have some of the prep books on their shelves which will also give you an idea of scope and sequence for AP courses. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie in IL Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 Jane, thanks so much. I appreciate your reply. I hadn't thought of checking the library - I did check at Borders yesterday (good excuse to stop in there!) and looked through quite a few. Heading over to College Board now. Again, thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1bassoon Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 My dh trained to be an AP teacher in Music Theory. My understanding is that he could not call his course "AP" unless he was specifically working according to their guidelines???? I could be wrong, but you might just want to call it Honors history on your transcript? Thinking out loud, here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie in IL Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 Ah - that's interesting. I will definitely look into that, Heather. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in AL Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 :iagree: You have to get your course syllabus approved by the college board to be able to call the class AP on your transcript. You can still call the class honors, and have your dd take the AP tests she prepared for in May and include the results with her college portfolio. AP classes are college level courses, so the test will test each subject at that level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie in IL Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 Michelle, just doublechecking that I am understanding this... So, if I have already chosen curriculum that will work for dd - not having that approved by the college board - I could use that curriculum and have her take the test, just not call it an AP class on her transcript? But, the AP test scores would still go on her transcript? If I'm getting that right, that sounds perfect. We could use the AP test prep books to prepare and fill in any gaps. Thinking out loud here...is it just my "choice" to call a course an honors course? I guess I'm asking what makes an honors course... Thank you so much for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Michelle, just doublechecking that I am understanding this... So, if I have already chosen curriculum that will work for dd - not having that approved by the college board - I could use that curriculum and have her take the test, just not call it an AP class on her transcript? But, the AP test scores would still go on her transcript? If I'm getting that right, that sounds perfect. We could use the AP test prep books to prepare and fill in any gaps. Thinking out loud here...is it just my "choice" to call a course an honors course? I guess I'm asking what makes an honors course... Thank you so much for your help! What we did for AP Bio: we used a recommended text (Campbell). My son performed IRL or online the twelve mandated College Board labs. My son prepped for the test using two different prep books, then took the exam. On my son's transcript, I am listing Biology. Elsewhere on the transcript, I am listing his AP score. Since I did not have my syllabus approved by the College Board, I cannot call the class "AP Biology". But this does not prevent me from listing my son's score. Honors? Now that is an entirely different subject. Search for a recent thread on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie in IL Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 I'm adding a search for Honors courses to my to-do list...that list that is becoming ever-so-long, 3 days before school starts! Thanks for the information about how you handled your son's bio course. (I'm intrigued that he did labs online? I need to look into that as well!) I appreciate your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRILLIUM Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 You can call it Advance subject or Honors subject. I've actually used the Advanced designation because it implys the it is a second course. Honors course or usually of a similar level but with some more challenging or approach. So in honors Geometry you'd include a few more subjects or some problems that were of a high challenge level. One thing to keep in mind---is that AP tests are offered once a year all in a two week period. It can be quite a stressful time for kid and parent. It's a long test. They are quite a trail by fire for a kid that has not had many structured tests. We did three APs. Still I feel much calmer now that we can use CC courses---where your whole year will not be reflected by performance on one test your child took with a nasty cold. Just wanted to add this because I did AP's after AP class way back when. The stress was much less because I did have an AP class grade from a school with a solid acedemic record. I have been told by an admission councellor that AP scores are not looked at for admission for regular high school students---you need to make sure that the AP scores are noticed. SAt subject tests are another standardized method of establishing competency in a subject. There are also Cleps---I have not done these but they do have the advantage that there are more than one testing time so there is less of an all the eggs in one basket thing going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie in IL Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 Thanks for this! I like your points about the eggs-in-one-basket. Very true. Dd is used to taking standardized tests, but I know she would be nervous about an AP test for the reasons you mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latinteach Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 We are...finishing up Henle Latin 1. What would be my first step (or steps!) to prepare her for AP exams? Go to the College Board website to take a look at the Advanced Placement Latin info to get an idea of what the syllabus looks like. They recently posted a link to the new AP Vergil exam: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap-latin-course-description.pdf The AP Latin Literature exam that covered Horace, Ovid, Catullus, and Cicero has been discontinued. Right now, only the AP Latin Vergil exam is available, but the College Board plans to add Caesar to the AP syllabus in the next few years. (They haven't announced which work by Caesar will be on the syllabus: De Bello Civile or De Bello Gallico.) So you'll want to be aware of that. But right now, the only syllabus available is the Vergil exam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpupg Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 So, if I have already chosen curriculum that will work for dd - not having that approved by the college board - I could use that curriculum and have her take the test, just not call it an AP class on her transcript? But, the AP test scores would still go on her transcript? If I'm getting that right, that sounds perfect. We could use the AP test prep books to prepare and fill in any gaps. Thinking out loud here...is it just my "choice" to call a course an honors course? I'm not Michelle, but I don't see that anyone has directly answered your questions yet. The answers are yes and yes. And there is more info out there about the "honors" designation if you want to pursue it, but if you are teaching to AP standards, it certainly does qualify as honors. Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie in IL Posted August 15, 2009 Author Share Posted August 15, 2009 Karen - thanks so much for your answer. I really appreciate it. I feel like I understand this whole aspect of high school better now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie in IL Posted August 15, 2009 Author Share Posted August 15, 2009 Thanks so much! Thanks for the links as well - I'm headed there now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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