my school is so incredibly messed up with everything for ap and "advanced" classes and all that, so i'm wondering how it goes for you. Okay, my "specific" question is can you tell me how your school has the AP language arts classes set up (if they are available). I know you can sit for the tests without taking the class but technically aren't you only supposed to have one year worth of an 'AP' class for it to be correct? I mean legally. I'm not making any sense, but seriously, you should see this schools scheduling stuff, they're nuts. help!

You definitely do not have to have had an AP class to take the corresponding test, and actually, some school districts, particularly in the state of Missouri, will pay for any AP tests if you score well enough on the corresponding state test (MAP, TerraNova, or whatever test they use these days) earlier in h.s., regardless of whether you've taken a course in the subject. I'm pretty sure that's how it works - my h.s. paid for mine, as long as I told them ahead of time which ones I would be requesting. A guy at my h.s., another '00 Scholar, Kyle Ormsby, took the AP physics test without having ever taken an AP class for that subject - our school only had about 5 or 6 AP classes, and that surely wasn't one of them. Ditto for my friend John, who decided to take the AP U.S. History test - our school didn't offer an AP course in that subject either, and he hadn't had a U.S. history course since our sophomore American Studies course. The College Board (Is it the College Board that does APs? I can't remember off the top of my head.) will be happy to take your money.

As for AP language arts, i.e. the AP Lit. and Comp. & AP Language and Comp., I assume you mean, you certainly don't have to have taken the AP course. My friend John also took the AP Lit. and Comp. test along with us, despite the fact that he wasn't among the 10 students in our AP Lit class. Further, despite the fact that our AP English course was billed as "AP Literature", every student in the class took both the AP Lit. and Comp. and the AP Language and Comp. tests. We all did pretty well, too. ; )

It can be considerably more difficult, however, to attempt the tests without some kind of guidance beforehand, especially w/the English APs. If you either can't or don't plan to take an AP English course, I would suggest getting ahold of an AP reading list or two, reading many, if not most, of the books on them, and practicing timed writings of 30-40 mins. (This is what I made John do when he asked me what he should do to prepare.) Know that the Lit. and Comp./Language and Comp. are two very different animals. For the latter you will need to know parts of speech, obscure syntactical rules, and so forth, whereas the former is more your typical reading interpretation. See if you can consult with an English teacher who either teaches the course or is certified to teach it - we had a lot of teachers in my h.s. certified to teach various AP courses, but there wasn't enough demand, apparently, for those courses, so they went untaught.

Heh, and as for scheduling, you haven't seen a mess with scheduling until you've seen McCluer North's "hybrid block scheduling". They began experimenting with the new system while I was a sophomore, I think, and it made scheduling incredibly difficult. Some classes were blocked, some weren't, all according to individual teachers' whims. This meant that anyone trying to take the maximum number of advanced courses, as well as some sort of music class(es) and required electives would find it virtually impossible to take every course they were qualified for or wished to take. Ugh. That wasn't fun. I suppose, however, that things turned out okay - heh, many of the best teachers, who taught advanced courses, seemed to prefer normal 1-period courses to the blocked 2-period courses, so that, at least, was a plus. Apparently things are beginning to get better at North in terms of scheduling, however, with departments working together to both provide more AP courses and allow for easier scheduling for students who want to take more. [[grumble]] Wish they'd done that while I was there.

Heh, and speaking further of AP Lit, if anyone's debating taking it, I just want to throw in my two cents - that course was probably one of the best courses, if not the best course, that I took in h.s., in terms of preparing me for college. My oh my, it's amazing what a course like that can do for one's writing and ability to argue coherently and logically. Obviously the teacher will make a difference in one's experience, and I had an excellent teacher, but nonetheless, I maintain that the course itself is quite useful.

ah...the hybrid block schedule. they have that here at Lee's Summit North, and it began and still runs rather smoothly. however, this year they're starting "arena" scheduling for the juniors and seniors next year. what the hell is "arena scheduling" you ask? well, basically the juniors and seniors walk into the gym, look up during what hours specific classes are offered, and sign up for the classes and hours they want, creating their own schedule. the guidance office thinks they're being sneaky, but everyone realizes this is just a way for them to do half as much work. but yes, it is a pain for people who want to be in elective classes such as choir, band, drama, etc...because all the requirements must be met, and that might throw off some people's entire schedule. fun. <_<

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what the hell is "arena scheduling" you ask?

(6) arena scheduling=hell <_<

our school started doing that a couple of years ago "because it will prepare you for the way things are in college." question for collegers, is it really like that? I think like aubrey said, the admins do half as much work. Our counselors go out to lunch from 10.30 to oh, maybe 2 everyday.
I really hope it works well for you guys (it's not good here!). For us, you have your schedule planned out and then when the bell rings you take of running like satan himself and knock down anyone in your way because first come to a class is first served. classes close at thirty students or twenty five maybe, but like last year i didn't get into an AP course because I'm a slow-butt. not really but i didn't try cheating. after i missed that one i ran up to the bathroom outside my next class to make sure i got that one :r . sounds like you're doing that in one room VERY GOOD IDEA. good luck, just had to share my "stadium scheduling" (as my dad calls it) tramas.

haha...i'm scared. :ermm: and yes, we are all doing the scheduling in one room, but it still won't be fun. my school's enrollment is supposed to increase by 200 next year, so teachers are expecting to have 30-40 students per class...and that includes the IB classes i'm taking. my IB drama class is going to have 30 at least. why does EVERYONE want weighted credit?...well, besides the obvious reasons.

As far as I know, a good many universities, including WU, have online scheduling. At the very least one consults with one's advisor or turns in a physical piece of paper requesting certain courses. Geez, what a hellish scenario that would be, with thousands of students all trying to rush across some crowded room to try to find their way physically among tables for thousands of courses...it just wouldn't work.

Who the hell decided that that was a good thing for h.s. students to experience? [[shakes head]] Even at my h.s., with the messed up hybrid scheduling, we still got to figure out our schedules beforehand by looking through the course catalog, consulting with our advisors, then submitting forms with the classes we wanted to register for. Most of the time things worked fairly well with that process...

At WU, you still have to rush to get into classes you want to take, in a sense, but it's definitely more organized than that. Each student is assigned to a random time on the hour or half hour within a certain day, at which time they are allowed to begin registering for classes. The day you get to sign up for classes on depends upon how many credit hours you have amassed at that point - those with the most credit hours, within a certain range, are appointed to begin on the first day of registration, those with credit hours falling into a slightly lower range go on the next day, and so on, with current freshmen generally beginning registration on the last day allotted. (The credit hour ranges roughly correspond to the number of credit hours one is expected to have earned at each class level.) Prospective freshmen register last of all (when registering for fall semester, that is), during the summer, and thus have little chance of getting some higher-demand courses.

Of course, current students can also have better or worse chances of getting into courses, depending upon luck of the draw, so to speak. Many people skip class if they have a class at the time they're scheduled to begin registering, just to ensure that they get into, or at least get onto the waiting list for, classes that are in high demand. I skipped my 9 AM Women's Studies course last semester because I got lucky and had an early time (for a freshman, anyway). I still got waitlisted for Fiction Writing, Playwriting, and Drawing. (Maybe one of those was fall semester, but nonetheless - those seem to be popular courses.) It's simply too bad if you're a freshman and you've got a 7 PM registration time...However, registration continues for a couple of weeks after that date, so you can take time to search for other courses to fill the void in your schedule left by the courses you couldn't get.

Apparently most people eventually get to take the courses they want, though. With a new set of courses each semester, rather than each year, there are definitely more opportunities to get what you want.

Speaking of everyone wanting IB or AP courses, weighted credits, &c - I think that's simply mirroring a trend that's been gaining momentum in the U.S. for some time now - somewhere along the line someone decided that everyone should not only get a high school education, but go to college, as well, because of course college is the standard by which all things are measured, including one's standing in life... [[sarcasm]]. Hence many kids go to college for little reason other than a slight desire to do what others are doing, live up to societal standards, and be able to get a well-paying job. More and more people take AP courses because of this push to be bigger, faster, and stronger, at least in a mental sense. This trend overlooks, of course, the fact that some people simply do not have a need for such pressure to excel, and that attempting to adhere to such unreasonable standards can be detrimental to one's mental health.

Even to me, it's always seemed rather self-evident that college, and likely even graduate school, was my future after high school. Much of my efforts, and probably much of you guys' efforts right now, were concentrated upon making it to the next step. But when does one stop to think about what happens when that next step is achieved? This blind pursuit of the "next step" that is college can lead to a loss of feeling for one's true passions and aptitudes -- not in all cases, by any means, but this does happen. Also, on the flip side of the same dilemma, when one plans too much for what one will do in college or afterwards, I think one often merely paves the way for one's own discontent when one realizes that he's committed himself too early to something that he does not truly wish to pursue. Does anyone know what I mean?

If we were in Britain, or many other countries, this dilemma wouldn't present itself. We might want to get into a good university, perhaps, but the pressure would be lessened because it would not necessarily be expected. We would instead be expected to go on a year-long holiday/hiatus and find something useful or enlightening to do.

Social psych tells us that when things that were originally play are made the subject of rewards, they become just as much drudgery as other work and toil.

True, I generalize - but only to illustrate a point.