Is anyone else in AP classes or Honors, or whatever the equivalent is at your school?
What're they like, and if you've taken AP classes before, and the test, what'd you get?
Also, venting if appropriate on the subject is more than welcome.

As for me, I'm in all AP or Honors level classes, the APs being Biology, Calc AB, and World. Last year I took AP Statistics and US History and got a 4 and a 5 respectively.

I think that the AP classes at my school aren't inherently harder, though the workload is larger, and they go faster, but the grading is the same standard. It all depends on the teacher. One exception being the difference between AP Calculus and Honors Calculus. Ohmigosh, totally harder.

I was recommended for AP Biology but I turned it down. :hmm: I am in all honors classes except Algebra II, I don't think you can be in AP Math classes in 10th grade in Oregon, I could be wrong though, seeing that I just based that off of a guess.

At my school, we can take any AP class as early as sophomores if we have all of the requirements and recommendations.

I'm in AP Language and Compostion right now. I got recommended for the class in my freshman year for my sophomore year along with AP US History, but I didn't think I would be able to handle either classes in my second year of high school. It's great so far, although my teacher is a little moody. I want to take AP Literature/Composition, AP Psychology, and maybe AP European History next year.

I'm in AP World History and Honors English right now, taking AP Physics, Lit, and Psychology next year, and I took Honors English and AP Biology last year. What's strange about AP Bio is that, because it's a class offered only to freshmen, we weren't allowed to take the AP Exam. The administrators at my school think that freshmen are far too immature to take it and therefore it's not offered, even though the class is taught.

At my school, AP classes have a very self-initiated feel to them. Oftentimes we have no paperwork for the duration of the chapter, and our grade for that period of time depends entirely upon our test grades. More often than not, we aren't given a study guide, but rather a set of five "focus questions" to answer in order to put the chapter in perspective. Therefore, it's the responsibility of the student to ascertain as much as he/she can from in-class lectures and do a bit of independent study within the textbook.

What really gets to me is that there are kids in AP and Honors classes who absolutely shouldn't be. The requirement for the Honors program is a teacher recommendation, and once in the Honors program, there is no requirement to advance into AP. Therefore, any student who has a good relationship with a teacher can get them to endorse a recommendation, and then they show up in class complaining that it's too hard and that they're failing. This attitude drives me insane- if you don't want to be there, then don't be there, because there are those of us that do.

Actually in my school there are no requirements to get into AP classes once you're a junior (assuming you have your prerequisites [like, you can't take AP Calc until you've had four credits of math]). No freshmen are allowed to take APs, any sophomore can take AP US History, and a sophomore can take AP Statistics with a recommendation, either from thier guidance counselor (which you can get as long as you're not an idiot, and that's done automatically) or their math teacher (which the counselor will get if they're in doubt).

AP classes seem to filter themselves pretty well though, as in sophomore year they are hyped by everyone as the most difficult and terrible thing in existence.

In my school, we only have AP equivalents for Math and Science courses, and they have them as early as 3rd grade (although the ones in HS are of course, much more challenging).

To get in, you will have to get into the Top 50 of the level for either Math or Science. Then, you will take a Theory Test, a Skills test and a Creativity Test. If you are among the Top 15, you will get into the AP, Top 40: Honors.

In my school, there seem to be very few AP courses in relation to most- we have AP math which starts in grade 8, but there aren't any more AP courses until science in grade 11. Grade 11's and 12's are allowed to take AP English exams, but there isn't an actual AP English course. There are a few more options in grade 12- like AP French, AP Spanish, AP Psychology and AP American History- but that's basically it.

I'm in AP math right now, and I'm hoping to take more AP courses later on. At my school, I think you need about an 85 or 90% average to get into an AP course, but there are no other prerequisites.

Ranta and Duderocks I think we're talking about different APs...
I'm talking about the ones from the college board that you can turn in to get college credit depending on your college and what you get on the AP test.

Here's the official website of the AP that I was asking about (because what you're describing sounds to me like a differently named Honors, which is just above average): College Board AP Central
Heres the list of the officially recognized AP courses, and I don't know which ones don't have tests. List

So, if we are indeed talking about the same thing, then your schools have calculus and statistics in third and eighth grade? Those are the only AP maths that there are.

Well, we don't really have AP classes here, then...Just an equivalent of Honors (although I would consider the classes for those in the Top 15 range as AP level work).

kudos to those of you who are in AP classes, I just don't think I could take the challenge. I'll just stick with Honors courses instead :p

FurryPanda- what we have is similar- in 8th grade, you can get into AP math, which means that you're doing grade 9 math, theoretically keeping you a year ahead. In grade 12, you're then doing university level calculus making it an 'official' AP course for university credit. At least, I think that's what you're talking about- correct me if I'm wrong. :] The same is true for the other AP courses at school (the ones offered in grade 11)- you're a year ahead, so you get university credit in grade 12.

My school has a mix of American and European higher level courses. That is to say, it offers some AP classes, but also the IB Diploma. [Yeah, we have an insanely hard curriculum]

I know I'm smart enough to take on full IB [hardest thing in the history of highschool; pretty much all college level courses], but I'm extremely lazy. ;D

So next year, I'll probably end up taking a couple AP and a couple IB classes.

I think what Ranta is talking about is the Pre-AP/AP "track." At my school we have Pre-AP beginning in 6th grade, which is a harder course. Assuming you don't get below an 80 semester average in the Pre-AP courses up to 10th/11th (differs for the subject) , you take an actual AP course with an AP exam.

I'm in IB French level SL (I naively signed up for it without realizing the credit wouldn't count for college) and our curriculum is basically the same as the accelerated level kids, only we have to send certain "orals" and written work in to the head honchos of the IB Corporation. Besides the huge test at the end of the year, another downside of the class is that I am stuck amongst kids in the IB CULT! I swear, at my school, the IB Diploma kids only associate themselves with each other -- they're in the same classes, do the same extracurriculars, EVERYTHING. It's a tad annoying, to say the least.

As for AP classes, I'm currently in AP Biology, AP European History, and AP Literature.

AP Bio isn't really hard information (maybe its just cause I enjoy it) but it definitely requires studying discipline. To do well on the tests, you need to read every night and learn study tactics that work well for you.

AP Euro is tres facile. Minus the DBQ and FRQ crappness, the class is basically reading and testing; repeat.

AP Lit isn't very hard either, because we read good books, have good discussions, and are tested on what we already understand. I have an amazing teacher and feel like I'm learning so much more about how to critically read!

Come springtime, though, life is going to get pretty hectic. gahhhhh.

I take all AP/honors when I can (some classes are only regular but are required to graduate). Last year my AP class was AP English Comp, sadly I only got a 2 on the exam so I'll have to take it in college. However, my brother took that class in college and he said it was so easy. His final exam was "Write two paragraphs. The first is what you learned in this class" and I can't remember the 2nd.
This year my AP classes are AP English Lit, I wish I could opt to not take the exam but they force us to at this school, AP Psychology, which I think I'll do good on, and AP Calculus BC, which I don't care if I pass because I'm going to have to retake it in college anyway since my career of choice is math based. I have around a 98% in calc, but (since my teacher doesn't know the material very well herself, the class was basically forced on her so I don't blame her too much) my teacher grades us very easy. We had a major curve on one test which made me have over a 100% on it xD I don't feel like I'm ready for that exam, and all 7 of us don't really care if we pass it, but our teacher keeps pushing more work on us to try and make us good enough for the test. She doesn't realize that the more work she gives us, the less likely we are to really try at it (copy from each other, copy from the back of the book, just plain guess, because we don't exactly have hours to spend on 40 questions each night that she hasn't taught us well and we don't know how to do).