..8 The Cailas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, May 10, 1995 Classes + (continued from page 1) ] rebate figured in, for the AP stu- . dents to take the tests. Students who register but miss , their exams without a legitimate + excuse will have to reimburse the + district. + . Juniors and seniors in the accelerated or gifted programs * may sign up for the AP program, . provided they have at least a 3.0 average, are able to work inde- ‘ pendently and have a recommen- + dation from their teachers in the . subject areas in which they wish ! advanced placement. “Some students take them for the prestige,” Griffiths said. , “Others take them because col- “lege placement offices like to see « them on students’ transcripts. Colleges will often allow students achieving a 3, 4 or 5 on the tests * to skip these courses their fresh- ‘man year, saving them some . money. Accepted AP courses also : reduce the number of required ‘courses in college, leaving the . students more room for electives.” | “Usually students take one or . two AP courses,” Griffiths said. “Very few take three. Because Dallas doesn’t have gifted or . honors programs, students can take these courses instead.” - vo AP's not an automatic advantage Equivalent to courses required of many college freshmen, Dal- las's AP courses are taught on the college level with extensive in- depth study. “Less than one per- cent of the students fail the courses,” Griffiths said. At the end of the course, AP students may take an advanced placement test for college credit, although the colleges don’t have to accept them. “The students’ grades on the AP exam may not be high enough for their college to accept,” Grif- fiths said. “Some colleges have stricter requirements for AP credit than others, but they are im- pressed by students who take AP courses, even if they don't take the AP tests. . AP courses help a student's ‘college application stand out. The vvalue is in the eye of the be- < holder.” School board member Dr. Rich- ‘ard Coslett, a product of an AP . program, likes the AP program but sees problems in the course ' prerequisites. +. “Not all of the requirements are : consistent for all of the courses,” ‘he said, “We need more consis- “téncy '~ different teachers have -different requirements.” .- He is also concerned about the ‘extra .5 per course automatically +added to AP students’ grade point (averages. : “Possibly we should add the ‘extra points only after they take the advanced placement credit ‘test,” he said. “Otherwise, it looks like the most important thing -about the courses is simply hav- ing them on your transcript.” Coslett said he had recently ‘spoken with the parents of a for- ymer Dallas AP student who is now a semester ahead of his college ‘class because he took AP courses «in high school. , “He saved enough space on his ‘college schedule to be able to take rextra courses, including a few on ithe graduate level,” Coslett said. ‘What students say :. Greg Nadzan, Abby Russin and ‘Ken Chappell, who graduated last year, took AP courses which they say have helped them in college. None took the AP tests. All three highly recommend the AP courses to upcoming students. “I took AP calculus and biol- ogy,” said Chappell, who is major- ing in accounting at the Univer- sity of Scranton. “When the uni- versity accepted me, I had to take a placement test and because of my scores could have skipped the first three semesters of math.” He chose to skip only one course, taking the others to help reinforce his knowledge. “My background from Dallas has been a great help,” he said. “There's a noticeable difference between what I learned and what my classmates learned in high school.” Nadzan, a freshman at Yale, is considering a major in biology with an eye to going into research after graduation. He studied AP English and calculus at Dallas but took human physiology and chemistry II in high school in- stead of AP biology. Some of his classmates took more AP courses, he said. The AP English helped me with grammar and writing tips, espe- cially when I'm writing term papers.” Greg Nadzan Dallas graduate, now at Yale “The AP English helped me with grammar and writing tips, espe- cially when I'm writing term pa- pers,” he said. “I didn't take the calculus exam because it wouldn't have helped me much. Yale ac- ceptsonlya4 orab. I want to take college calculus so I don’t miss out on anything.” Russin, a freshman at Colgate University, said she enjoyed her high school AP English and calcu- lus classes. “Although I got a lot out of calculus in high school, I signed up for first year calculus at col- lege,” she said. “I could have gone right into second year calculus, but I didn't want to miss any- thing.” AP English has helped her with the large amount of writing re- quired in college, she said. What colleges say Each college has a different way of looking at incoming stu- dents who have taken advanced placement courses. “The most important factor is the student's entire transcript, grades 9 through 12, especially their final grades in major sub- jects,” said Marge Esopi, admis- sions counselor at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus. Penn State also considers each prospective student's honors or AP courses, SAT scores and class rank. Although AP exam scores don't affect a student's admission, they can affect their credit for certain freshman courses, Esopi said. Students can skip freshman calculus, physics, chemistry or English literature and composi- tion if they score at least a 3on an AP exam. Students scoring a 4 or higher on AP exams can skip freshman “We need more consistency — different teachers have different requirements.’ Dr. Richard Coslett School board member REPUBLICANS & DEMOCRATS of Kingston Township 1 RETAIN Supervisor RANDALL (Randy) GLIDDEN Write-In positions 29-30-31 MAY 16TH BALLOT Write in instructions available Paid for by Randy Glidden 4 \ Great Idea For Mother's Day Give Mom or Wife or that Special Someone a Gift Certificate for house cleaning....Call today for details - delivery of certificate available. . . 675-1602 ™N , history, psychology, biology or English language and composi- tion. Wilkes University also pays the most attention to the students’ high school records, especially the courses that will affect their col- lege major, according to dean of admissions Emory Guffrovich. “For example, students who plan to major in engineering or pre-med should have taken many science courses in high school,” he said. “I would rather see a solid high schoolacademic background than anything. If they take the AP tests and score a 3 or better they can skip those freshman courses, but some take both the tests and the course anyway." AP courses can also be substi- tuted for elective courses outside the students’ majors, he said. For example a history major can substitute his high school AP English for a freshman course. “AP courses are a great help to the students - they show the students have a strong academic background,” he said. Lake-Lehman has link to Penn State Lake-Lehman also offers an advanced placement program, consisting of eight courses, ac- cording to guidance counselor Flossie Finn. English has 28 students, biol- ogy has 17, American history has 26, Spanish has 10 and calculus has 14 students, she said. “We also offer chemistry, com- puter science and European his- tory, but don’t run them if we don't have a large enough enroll- ment,” she said. Lake-Lehman students may also apply for scholarships to study at nearby Penn State, Finn said. Students may take any course they wish, as long as col- lege courses don't conflict with the students’ high school sched- ules and aren't simply substitu- tions for courses offered at Lake- Lehman. The district doesn’t include grades for Penn State courses in the students’ averages but notes them on student transcripts, Finn said. Ifa student scores a 3 or higher, the district picks up the tab. 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