In the book Designing Your Life, the authors recommend conducting what I used to call informational interviews. Locate people, generally using LinkedIn, and contact them as a high school student who wants to learn more about their field. It takes some stamina and tolerance for rejection, because while many of us want to be helpful to the next generation, many more are just too busy to respond to student inquiries. It may not result in an internship in the short term, but by demonstrating interest and asking informed questions will go a long way toward impressing important people and building his network. Or it could show him that one of his areas of interest is no longer very interesting, IYKWIM. Just know that it can be more difficult for students to find jobs, so as long as he recognizes that and doesn't get discouraged, I would recommend taking that approach.

Whoa, seriously?

1.) They aren't worth nothing, but if you aren't planning to take the test, you can select a course of study that best matches your student's interests, rather than adhering to the college board curriculum. AP tests can't be taken online. 2.) Yes. See some previous threads with several of bemoaning trying to find a site to take the exams. 3.) I believe you can elect to not show the exam scores to your schools. I think you can even have it wiped from your record. So the risk is low, really. 4.) Kids in regular school often can't take their APs until junior year, because they are often required to take regular science courses as prerequisites. However, while those prereq's certainly make those classes easier, they aren't always necessary. My dd started with AP CS in 8th grade since it has a reputation for being a relatively easy AP. Then she took AP chem as a freshman, and is now taking AP bio and AP stats since AP stats also has a reputation for being easy. I prefer to spread out the APs over several years, rather than cram them all into jr and sr year. 5.) APs are longer and more difficult than SAT subject tests, which are only an hour, all MC, and offered several times a year. APs are only once a year, and have short answer questions in addition to MCs. I'm not sure about the details of scoring except that it's 1-5 with a 4 or 5 being very good scores. 3 is marginal, but can still qualify for credit at some schools.

I'll only add that you need to be careful about selecting which AP classes you'll want to take. There is AP physics 1 and 2 and AP physics B and C. There are 2 AP computer science courses which are currently being discussed here on another thread. Some are more rigorous than others and some will not be awarded credit by a university, so be certain of what you are signing up for.

I would argue the word "simplify" is vague. Which is simpler: 7(10a + 3b) or 70a +21b? I could make a good case that the simpler express has the 7 factored out. Or I could make a case for converting to the sum of 2 terms. What does simplify mean exactly?

dp

Upon learning that there would be a "curve" on the exam in which the difference between 100% and the highest score would be added to every student's score: dd says: "That's not a curve. That's a linear transformation!" The process for creating a bell curve distribution of scores.

I'm not sure that AP CS Principles is a good choice after Java. (There are a few threads on CC on this topic.) Has he taken an algorithms course?

She might also ask if she could contact a current undergrad or grad student in their department to learn more about the department and opportunities for research.

If you have experience in technology or business, then you can list yourself as a mentor. Otherwise, my dd recommends finding another mentor. Your daughter should be registered, and you yourself only need to register if you plan to mentor her. HTH!

Registration for the Technovation Challenge is now open! This is a competition for girls ages 10-18 to create a mobile app and a business plan. Teams of 1 to 5 girls can compete together, and they provide a curriculum to learn how to program in the Android environment and deliver a compelling pitch to investors. My daughters participated in this last year, and would love to advise new teams. It was a tremendous experience for the whole family. Students can compete individually or on a team. The team can be local, or members can coordinate with each other remotely. There are in person pitch competitions, or you can submit your entry to online judges. I'm happy to answer questions about Technovation. Kindly post to my thread on the General Education list.

Registration for the Technovation Challenge is now open! This is a competition for girls ages 10-18 to create a mobile app and a business plan. Teams of 1 to 5 girls can compete together, and they provide a curriculum to learn how to program in the Android environment and deliver a compelling pitch to investors. My daughters participated in this last year, and would love to advise new teams. It was a tremendous experience for the whole family. Students can compete individually or on a team. The team can be local, or members can coordinate with each other remotely. There are in person pitch competitions, or you can submit your entry to online judges. I'm happy to answer questions about Technovation. Kindly post to my thread on the General Education list.

Registration for the Technovation Challenge is now open! This is a competition for girls ages 10-18 to create a mobile app and a business plan. Teams of 1 to 5 girls can compete together, and they provide a curriculum to learn how to program in the Android environment and deliver a compelling pitch to investors. My daughters participated in this last year, and would love to advise new teams. It was a tremendous experience for the whole family. Students can compete individually or on a team. The team can be local, or members can coordinate with each other remotely. There are in person pitch competitions, or you can submit your entry to online judges. Please post here if you have questions!

Ooh, this really speaks to me. MIL will want to discuss scintillating topics like whether eggs are healthy or not, and why the doctors can't just make up their mind. First they say eggs are good for you. Then they say they are bad. Who am I suppoesd to believe? Talk, talk, talk, it was so irritating. My parents never talked to me so much, so it was weird for me to try to look interested for long intervals of time, let alone think of an appropriate response to something I just didn't care about. I just wanted some quiet so I could read the newspaper.

Sorry, what I meant was it isn't clear to me whether every last a-g requirement is in fact a real requirement. I have heard of students being admitted to UCs without every single a-g fulfilled. But I'm not sure what else they had going for them on their application. And I'm not sure whether the absence of a geometry class on a transcript would in fact automatically disqualify you from a UC. So, it's a small controversy, but important for those of us who don't necessarily want to follow all those pesky rules.

Well, maybe. I had thought this too, but in California one of the a-g requirements that you can't test out of is geometry. You need to have taken a geometry class to (and this is somewhat controversial) be admitted to a UC. According to other parents, if you don't have it on your transcript, it's like it didn't happen, even if you have higher level math there. It's ridiculous, but there it is, so check with the colleges that interest you, call their adcoms and see what they recommend. To get around this, I have heard parents recommend organizing your transcript by subject instead of by year. Or as pp's here have written, to include it in 9th grade, but indicate that it was taken earlier. But check with your colleges.

My kids are allowed to do it in their head if they get the right answer. I have seen some pretty amazing kids in MathCounts who can do fairly complicated multi-step calculations in their head at lightning speed. This is a useful skill to have, and it can demonstrate deep insight...if they get the right answer.

I second fostering. If your local animal shelter sends out animals for foster homes, do take advantage of that program. It's a hoot! We've had quite a few kitties pass through our house before being adopted. And it's fairly good experience because families need to weigh their charges regularly, monitor them for illness, and administer meds when needed.

I wouldn't worry about "enabling" your ds. Sometimes solving difficult math problems requires a leap of faith: just try something and it might deliver the solution or it might not. But you'll never find out unless you try. And some students won't try unless they know it will deliver the solution. If you keep modeling problem solving strategies for him, eventually he may have the epiphany that I did in high school. I watched as my teacher wrote out a solution and I was mad at myself because I had thought of that approach but was too afraid to try it. I resolved to never fear again. Model problem solving for him and I bet he will eventually pick them up himself. Also, try to teach Socratically. Point out a method that was described in the text and ask whether he thinks he could use it for a particular problem. Even better is to demonstrate an attempt at a solution that fails, then regroup and try another solution. I say stick with BA!

...and...I now have my new year resolution: to be more like justaque and see the good in people. I'm not being sarcastic either. I truly need to learn this.

Coursera also has a course on dog behavior. Also, look for Nova videos about animal behavior and intelligence. It's fascinating!

I didn't know about that rule. This year I have 6 students and last year I had only 5 students. And that's been typical for my site. In any case, Maria has been very accommodating and I'm sure she'll offer you an exception. Since I never knew about the rule I never asked for one. Good luck!

I have many criticisms of the education system in the US, but one thing we do excel at is giving people second chances. Not that it's easy, but if you mess up early in life, there are community colleges and vocational schools that can rope you back onto your educational track. I just met a guy who went off to college only to "party too hard" so he enrolled in the army, got them to pay for his undergrad and med school and is now a successful radiologist. I think med school in many countries is only available to those who achieve and achieve early. One more critique of the BBC documentary. Did anyone else notice that after they administered the exam to the S Korean students, they were asked to volunteer whether the exam was easy or difficult? Was it too much trouble to actually grade the exams and compare them to the English kids' scores? Who is going to publicly self-report that they did poorly on the exam? (I don't doubt that the S Korean kids did extremely well compared to the English kids, but why didn't they just score the exams?)

Thanks, Sebastian. Is it the CA that is quirky and time-consuming for recommenders? Is there any way to smooth the process for them? What a terrible thing to have happen to your ds! I'm guessing some schools don't use the CA for recommendations if you are asking recommenders to use multiple systems?

Thank you for this thread, Sebastian! On the subject of being nice to recommenders, is there a place on the CA where they submit their recommendations, or are they sent individually to the schools? Do they complete online forms, or write up something themselves? Finally, what are appropriate gifts for recommenders, both those we know IRL and those we are only acquainted with electronically (via an online class)?