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How many credits junior year if 2 APs and 3 honors?


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Our kids usually take 7-8 credits per year of high school, 3 of which are honors level each year.  Our oldest will be a junior next year taking 2 AP's and 3 true honors courses (per provider offering each course).  When kids start taking AP's do they still take 7 credits or do some kids cut back to 6 credits to help balance out the work load?  How many credit hours do your kids take when they start into AP and dual enrollment?  

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My kids only ever take 6 credits/year, plus ECs and a little bit of PE and music each day, so not exactly your situation so take this with a grain of salt ;)

But APs typically take 2 hours/day of work each so add that to 1-1.5 hours/day for honors classes and the current schedule you're looking at is 7-8.5 hours of schoolwork every single day. I wouldn't consider that "cutting back" at all!

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25 minutes ago, Momto5inIN said:

My kids only ever take 6 credits/year, plus ECs and a little bit of PE and music each day, so not exactly your situation so take this with a grain of salt ;)

But APs typically take 2 hours/day of work each so add that to 1-1.5 hours/day for honors classes and the current schedule you're looking at is 7-8.5 hours of schoolwork every single day. I wouldn't consider that "cutting back" at all!

 

That is what I was thinking too but I am not a college admissions officer... nor did I ever take AP's in high school myself (not offered) so I am seeking to find a balance between rigor, outside activities (swim team), teen social, and everyone's sanity.  Your response is appreciated.  :) 

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1 hour ago, sewpeaceful said:

 

That is what I was thinking too but I am not a college admissions officer... nor did I ever take AP's in high school myself (not offered) so I am seeking to find a balance between rigor, outside activities (swim team), teen social, and everyone's sanity.  Your response is appreciated.  :) 

I never took any either, like you they weren't offered, so it was all new to me too. My oldest (senior this year) took 3 APs throughout all of high school, kept to 6 credits/year, and got accepted to 3 universities, 2 of which are very competitive for his major (although not anywhere near Ivy League). He is my most academically gifted and motivated student so far ... not sure I'll push to have the others do any APs at all since they shine in other areas and want to focus their time/energy on those passions.

One of my friends IRL had 2 kids graduate with no APs at all, 6 credits/year, and had no trouble getting accepted where they wanted to go. Hope that helps!

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My kids do dual enroll credits but we balance it by life and what they need rather than by number if that makes sense.  

I think what has worked best for us is to work backwards from graduation.  So, you look at what you need for admittance into a program/school.  Subtract what you currently have, then look at what is left.  Then split it based on activies.  

Let me give you a concrete example:

4 years of English
3 years of Math 
3 years of Science
3 years of social studies / history and a semester of government
X years of Foreign Language
Then whatever best showcases your kiddo - for example we did extensive lit. for my oldest and Latin.  My second did pre-engineering classes, an internship, additional math.

Then work back.

Child above, currently a sophomore.  She is heavily active in Mock Trial from January-ish to April.  I knew her junior and senior years will be full with dual enrollment credits.  So we hit foreign language (Spanish I and II freshman year and Spanish III and IV in her sophomore year via outside classes.)  Obviously Biology, Chem, Physics are basic.  What is the major?  Consider the AP classes as either replacements or in addition to.  A dual enrolled class, like a CC one semester 3/4 credit college course is a one year's worth of high school class.  
Since we know that she will be in Mock in the second semester, we stacked three CC classes in the first semester (Human Anatomy - she plans on nursing, Comp I, and a US History course which will count for her full year of history.)  Her second semester she will only take Comp II unless she finds the Anatomy class easy - then she'll take Human Anatomy II. 

So, essentially we don't do it by number of credits.  We did for DS #2, but we didn't take into account his "outside of school" workload and it really stretched him uncomfortably.  

So, making a four year plan, while being willing to flex to the needs of the student, is very valuable.  Because if kiddo is doing great with the classes she has, you can stack on another to make her "resume" (transcript) look more attractive.  But, if you know she is going to do an internship, volunteer opportunity (major related), some kind of heavy extracurricular activity,  or something else, you might be best served by offering some credit for that on the transcript and doing a class less.

Does that make sense?

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