Honor/AP Points

[eleanor]

[color=darkslateblue] For those of you who don't know, many schools often give students in honors/AP classes an extra amount of points to their final grade in the classes. At our school, it's seven points. Basically they just add seven points to our finals semester grades on our report cards, but colleges [b]rarely[/b] consider them when going through applications.

Anywho, there has been much debate in our area as to whether or not the seven points should be allowed. Our newspaper recently published a story stating that the seven points would be taken away from honors/AP classes.

My opinion? At first, I was pretty angry. I had gotten used to the idea of getting seven bonus points because I was taking harder courses, and they should have just let everything alone. On the other hand, colleges don't ever really look at them, so why should I be worried? I'm still pretty split on the idea.

I'm currently talking all honors/AP, and next year I'm taking four APs with one honor class and newspaper. I keep telling myself that the seven points don't matter in the end, but the fact that they changed the system is still bugging me a [i]lot[/i].

Comments?[/color]

[Retribution]

[size=1]It's basically the same way for me. While I don't feel like getting into the specifics, the exact same scenario just took place at my school. I was annoyed for a while, as I enjoy being praised for taking harder classes than most, but after a while I realized that the points really didn't matter at all, and I got over it.

It always sucks when a huge change occurs, especially in regards to grades, since our entire lives are built around them (well, mine anyway). My only advice would be to take it as it comes, and take comfort in the fact that you'll be a step ahead when it comes time to apply to colleges.[/size]

[kalon]

We still get 3 points added for honors and 5 points for AP classes. I plan on taking all advanced classes, too. The extra points should count because you work harder when you could be taking regular classes. I am not really experienced when it comes to what colleges look at, though, because I am an idiot freshmen.

[Marron347]

[COLOR=DarkRed][FONT=Courier New]That's kind of weird, I think, that they would no longer offer the extra points. They haven't messed with the AP classes at my school.

I had the impression that when you took an Advanced Placement course, and you passed the test at the end of the year with a 3, 4, or 5, you got six credits that mostly every college considers credit for whatever subject you took. So, I don't understand why you'd say that colleges don't care about AP credit.

Am I missing something here? Who told you colleges don't consider them?[/FONT][/COLOR]

[_Kenshin_]

In my school we don't get honor points just trophys if we get honors, but we get the points back from our ap classes. I don't know why I got in ap. All my classes are ap, no fun... Physics, chemistry, biology, history, french, english grr at least next year I won't be taking history then I think I'll go for gym.

The whole reason I'm in ap is to get extra points so... then if they don't consider them WTF am I doing???

[Drix D'Zanth]

Despite benefiting from having taken AP classes, I don't think they should earn college credit. Looking back, high school cannot truly replace what most upstanding colleges and universities can offer. High school is supposed to prepare students for the highest institutions of learning, not substitute for it. And even in the case of AP/Honors credit, high schools often fall short of that goal. A case could be made for dual enrollment programs (which I didn?t do), where you actually enroll at a college class taught by a PROFESSOR/PhD. I think AP/Honors classes (especially with the ever-inflating number of students taking them) should be reserved only in helping colleges consider a student for admission and nothing else.

[Boba Fett]

[color=green]Where I go to school, no extra points are given for AP classes. Instead we have a weighted class rank system. So a student who takes AP classes and earns an B will have the same class rank as a student that takes a normal class and gets an A.

If you don't take AP classes, you don't have a prayer of being in the top 50.

This system is being abolished next year, and students will get no advantage for taking AP classes other than not having to take a final exam (they take the AP tests instead).

I figure students should take AP classes because they enjoy the subject or have a special interest in it, not just to boost their grades or class rank.[/color]

[AzureWolf]

[COLOR=red]Believe it or not, the origin of the extra points or weighted system is pretty shallow. After Honors/AP courses were instituted, you would frequently find the valedictorian of a school being someone who did not take these courses. So the snooty attention-seekers whined and whined and whined. Certainly, the schools didn't want students to avoid these courses (yes, a truly tough choice - get people to notice you as a smarty-pants valedictorian, or learn something for yourself :rolleyes: ), so enter the point system.

I think it's good that people are starting to realize the stupidity of the point system, and also the fact that it only serves to sour things when you get into college anyway. Face facts: life isn't fair, and in college, biz-tech majors are always going to get similar grades for significantly less effort, knowledge, and competence. And more importantly, people in high school and beyond should really consider why they are going to college.[/COLOR]

[Sara]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]I went to a very small high school. Only two official AP classes were offered (U.S. History and English Literature), although if you "felt confident" you could register for AP tests in Calculus, and perhaps the 4th year language courses.

None of our classes were weighted, and we didn't receive extra points for taking them. Most people just used them as a way to get the teachers they wanted. (The AP History teacher was greatly preferred to the other history teacher.)

A couple people were really upset because we didn't have a weighted grading system, and the public schools in our area did. They complained a lot (they were straight-A students anyway, so I'm not sure what the issue was), but nothing changed.[/size][/color]

[bellpickle]

[SIZE=1]In my high school, Honors classes raise your grade by one point and AP classes raise it by two. (So an A in Honors is a 5, and in AP, it's a 6.) Since those points factor into a student's GPA, it definitely has an effect on the colleges' decisions. Also, as Marron347 mentioned, if a student passes with at least a 3 on the AP exam, they get college credit for that course.[/SIZE]

[eleanor]

[color=darkslateblue] Colleges don't look at weighted GPAs. They look at raw GPAs, but also consider that you took honor/AP classes.

I'm sort of over that fact that they're taking away the extra points. The sad thing is (or the good thing) that I know a great handful of people who take all honor/AP classes and get the highest GPAs without the extra points.

I know that you should take AP classes only if you're interested in the subject, but I personally think that's a piece of advice many students ignore. If I only took AP classes that I were really interested in, I'd have 2 AP credits throughout my whole high school. I'm not particularly ashamed of taking AP classes I don't enjoy.
[/color]