honors or ace regular?s

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-28-2007
honors or ace regular?s
19
Sat, 09-29-2007 - 12:24am
My daughters used to go to an academic pressure cooker school.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-14-2003
Sat, 09-29-2007 - 7:22am

Find out if the school gives "weight" to the honors classes. My dd17 just got her gpa at 4.359 b/c of weighted classes. IMHO it is far superior to take the most challenging classes appropriate to the child than to breeze by for many reasons. First and foremost is that they are learning the important life lesson to always do your best and give your all to whatever you are doing, rather than look to do the easiest thing possible. Colleges absolutely look at transcripts and note the difference between a child getting a B in an honors class and an A in a regular class and will give the child "props" for having pushed herself academically. It shows character and drive. The kids also need to keep in mind they are there to learn something, not just accrue grades. What good does it do them to just sit around, mostly bored, for the next several years, when they could actually be learning something, getting excited about their world, and progressing to the next level of their education? Honors classes can lead to AP classes which put them ahead of their peers and can help them when they enter college, either getting them a few credits or allowing them to enter higher level courses and bypassing the easier, freshman level "bonehead" classes to get to the "good stuff". Most of all, it is never good for a child to underachieve. They should take the most challenging classes they can handle.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-28-2007
Sat, 09-29-2007 - 7:50am
Thanks.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2003
Sat, 09-29-2007 - 12:56pm

From everything I've ever read or heard it is better to get a "B" in an Honors class than an "A" in a regular class.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-28-2007
Sat, 09-29-2007 - 1:20pm
Thanks very much.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2007
Sat, 09-29-2007 - 1:54pm

It must be different in Canada. I'm Taking 3 AP classes ( Math, English and Social) and regular sciences. But when i apply to schools next fall i have to use my Alberta gr.12 grades which are looked at no different than if i was in AP or regular.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2003
Sat, 09-29-2007 - 8:53pm

Most high schools weigh the honors courses differently than the regular.


ie; A 90 in a College Prep regular Chemistry class is worth a 3.5; where as a 90 in an Honors Chemistry Class is worth a 4.0

Avatar for weberdns0
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2000
Mon, 10-01-2007 - 8:46am
Our school doesn't weigh honors classes in 9'th and 10'th grade but do in 11'th and 12'th grade....which does make me angry as my son took both honors math and Science classes....got B's in them.....but it hurt his QPA more because if he hadn't taken honors then he might have gotten A's in both.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-1999
Mon, 10-01-2007 - 11:17am

In our large public high school, there are actually 4 levels for the basic classes--academic, college prep, honors and AP and they are weighted.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2007
Tue, 10-02-2007 - 3:34am

Regardless of how colleges weight the grades, it is bad news to have smart kids in boring slow classes. There is an old saying, "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." A smart, bored student's mind is a set up for problems both academic and mischief-wise. The environment always rules. Put a smart kid in with way slower ones and either they bust out (read-drop out)

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-28-2007
Tue, 10-02-2007 - 8:05am
Thank you for your really smart response.

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