Pros and cons of taking AP class before 9th grade

[crazyforlatin]

I'm in California and would like to keep UC schools as a possibility.

 

The natural progression is for DD to take AP Latin in 7th grade with Lukeion, which offers Cicero and Caesar as alternative classes. DD prefers to take AP.

 

She's learning the 5-paragraph essay at Wilson Hill Academy. And I'll enroll her in a few Bravewriter classes from this summer to next spring.

 

AP grades are weighted (no idea how to calculate this) but since she is in middle school, her grade won't be on a HS transcript. Yet her AP score can be used for college applications.

 

I'm sure she'll have more AP classes, so one AP class in middle school wouldn't do much either way, perhaps?

 

I also need to keep in mind that should she go to PS she may not be able to take an AP Latin class. The system here is very difficult to navigate. As it is if she goes to PS, I'm not even sure if we can enroll in AP Spanish and AP French as a 9th grader in order to take the AP exams (apparently some schools don't allow kids under 10th grade to take an AP class). She's at the stage where she can take both APs in 8th grade or at least take AP Spanish.

 

I was hoping to get a list of pros and cons of taking AP exams prior to 9th grade.

[MarkT]

I would just wait until 9th grade for AP. Maybe do "honors" level before then.

[OnMyOwn]

If she's that advanced and you don't think she'll have trouble with the essay portion of the exam, I'd let her do it. Even if you spend a year doing something else for Latin, she'd still then be ready for it in 8th, right? The schools near us will give credit for foreign language credits in middle school. Is that not the case where you are? She may not be able to list classes as "AP" in middle school, but if she has strong exam scores, who cares? Like you said, she's probably going to take plenty of other AP classes in high school. I guess the only thing that would make me hesitate is if the school will not give you the foreign language credit earned in middle school and your dd didn't want to continue with a language well into high school. I guess in that case, I'd hold off on letting her hit the AP level in at least one of her languages, so that she hits it the year the school will allow her to take it and give her credit for it. Jmo, of course.

 

ETA: Is it going to be a push for her to write a timed analytical essay? That could really make or break her success on the exam. If so, I would give her another year to develop her writing skills and let her take AP Latin then. Something that might be stressful in 7th, might be easy for her a little later.

Edited March 3, 2017 by OnMyOwn

[EndOfOrdinary]

Lukeion's Latin 3 requires three(iirc?) analytical grammar essays. It is a major part of the class. They focus on intensive translation and AP Latin prep. You could enroll her for 7th so she can practice.

[crazyforlatin]

Lukeion's Latin 3 requires three(iirc?) analytical grammar essays. It is a major part of the class. They focus on intensive translation and AP Latin prep. You could enroll her for 7th so she can practice.

It requires 4, but those are word study essays, much easier than analytical essays, in my opinion. It's good preparation.

[Roadrunner]

The only con I see is PS might not count it toward the GPA.

If your district is anything like ours, you might be very constrained with what classes are and aren't allowed for freshman and sophomores. They seem to relax once kids reach the junior year, but APs here are limited to 1 the first year and 2 the second year of HS.

Another con is what do you do to maintain and/or improve those languages if she has already completed AP before entering high school. PS won't have anything beyond those. Can you do DE? DE isn't really an option here for PS kids due to scheduling issues. On the other hand, what would be the point of taking high school level foreign language course if it's all review. It's hard to work extra given homework work loads in PS.

I don't know. I would probably go and take those PA exams if she is ready.

[Lilaclady]

I will let her do it. Plansrme's dd had AP's from middle school and that allowed her to place higher when she went to public high school.

[3andme]

If your dd plans on continuing Latin after 7th grade, I would suggest waiting until 8th or 9th grade to ensure the best score possible. If not, I think it would be best to take it while her skills are still fresh. I wouldn't make any assumptions about what a high school's policy will be, they vary widely. I would contact a counselor or look at the academic planning guide online if available to determine the actual policy.