What is Pre-AP?
[ The AP Program Nationally ]
[ Difference between Pre-AP and AP ]
What is Pre-AP?
AP stands for Advanced Placement. Students who take AP classes are well prepared to take the AP examinations offered by College Board. Exams are offered in many different subject areas, such as English, Chemistry, Calculus, French, Spanish, and others. The exams are challenging, and they are developed carefully by teams of AP and college teachers. They are scored by trained consultants who teach AP courses or college courses in the same subject.
Most universities around the country will offer credit hours to students scoring 3, 4, or 5 on these exams (on a 1-5 scale). Many students find that they can save money and time by taking AP classes, doing well on the exams, and earning some college credits while they are still in high school.
AP courses help students to be prepared
for the rigor of class work in college, but they also prepare students
for other types of challenges. The teaching strategies typically
used in an AP classroom are the sort that will help students learn to think
for themselves.
In my classroom, the difference between these two classes will be the level of discussion that comes from the students. Much of what happens in my class will be discussion among students, guided by the teacher. I might bring the same piece of literature to three different classes in one day, and still I'll end up doing three very different things in all three classes.
Since I believe that the learning happens in the struggle, I will bring my students a problem and ask them to solve it. Each different class might come up with a different solution to the same problem. The solution itself is not what we're really after. It's the learning that happens as students work together to find the best solution they can. It's the learning that comes when we have to offer evidence in support of our ideas. So it might appear as if my classes are doing the same things most of the time, but each group of students--whether it's a Pre-AP group or not--has a different personality and a different chemistry all its own.
If you're a parent and want to know more about this, check out my teacher's page or contact me at school, or e-mail me. I'd be happy to talk with you about this some more, and I'd invite you to join us for school one day. Then you can see the difference for yourself.