1. Advanced Placement Information Night

2. Tonight’s Program Benefits of AP College Expectations Student Perspective Parent Perspective Pre-AP Expectations In AP Courses Handling the Stress Earning College Credit Selecting the Right AP Courses

3. Benefits of AP Earn College Credit and Advanced Placement. Stand Out in the College Admissions Process. Demonstrate your maturity and readiness for college. Show your willingness to take the most rigorous courses available to you. Emphasize your commitment to academic excellence.

4. AP Students succeed at College The average student now takes 6 years and 7 months to complete an undergraduate degree. College retention rates from first to second year stand at 65.7%. That means 34.3% of college freshmen do not return. AP students not only finish their freshman year, but average completing their degree in four years. Currently one in five college students arrive at college with Advanced Placement credits amounting to a semester or more of college-level work. Colleges are well aware of these statistics.

5. College Expectations – Vicky Munoz, Counselor A strong schedule is more important than a high Grade Point Average. Colleges and universities examine a student’s academic rigor before his or her G.P.A.

6. College Expectations cont’d Advanced placement classes are necessary for students to be admitted to competitive colleges and earn scholarships. Taking AP courses is the key to helping students transition to college.

7. Student’s Perspectives Karen Kneifl (math) Current Seniors ◦ Zane Sutton ◦ Zach Whitham ◦ Kylie Kneifl Graduates ◦ Rachel Gehringer-Wiar ◦ Sarah Farley

8. Parent’s Perspective Gail Illg

9. Pre –AP Traits Lloyd Hoshaw (English) and Matt Heys (Social Studies) You may not have all of these traits/skills, but you should be ready to build them.

10. Pre- AP Check the Pre-requisites ◦ The skills in these classes are necessary for success in AP classes Problem solving ◦ What do you do when your internet at home is down? ◦ Who do you talk to when you are confused and its 8:00 at night? ◦ Approach your teacher with a plan or solution Finish what you start ◦ Homework

11. Pre-AP Continued Reading beyond comprehension ◦ Memorization is a given ◦ Interact with the text; read with a pen in hand Write with a Purpose ◦ You think about the best way to communicate your ideas through written language ◦ You understand that different assignments require different modes/styles of writing Ask questions ◦ You see connections between classes, readings, etc. ◦ Write these questions in the margin of your reading ◦ You approach the instructor with your questions ◦ You look up information on your own

12. Expectations in AP Courses Purpose – Kendra Person (Business) Needs – Mark Kevan (Science) Struggles – Anne Johnson (French) Solutions and Parent Tips – Mike Catron (English)

13. Handling the Stressful Times Vicky Munoz (Counselor) Successfully Managing Concerns and the Transition to AP Delay major decision making- especially when it comes to dropping AP courses ◦ Work with your student to resolve his or her concerns rather than jumping to the conclusion that the class is not a good fit. Help your student: ◦ be a problem solver- teach your student how to approach a teacher or counselor when there is a concern ◦ work through mistakes. For example, if a student falls behind on a reading assignment, work together on a plan for managing the make-up work. ◦ understand that he or she will adjust to the work load and expectations

14. Handling Stress continued Recognize the value of the AP course- not just the letter grade ◦ Students are often concerned that their grades will go down- especially during the first few weeks of the course. However, an examination of transcripts of Millard West students who have taken AP courses has shown that students’ grades stay consistent with the grades the students were earning in their classes prior to taking AP Courses. Since AP courses are allotted weighted grades, this means that the students’ weighted GPA will generally rise or at least be maintained.

15. Earn College Credit and Advanced Placement Receive recognition from more than 3,600 colleges and universities that annually receive AP Exam scores. Over 90% of 4-year colleges in the U.S. provide credit and/or advanced placement for qualifying scores.

16. Taking the AP test Students should take the AP test(s) that are given each spring. These tests are created and assessed by the National Collegeboard. Students may earn credit or advanced placement status for qualifying scores. The Millard District believes so much in the benefits to students from taking the AP test, that they currently reimburse students for a score of a 2 or better (5 is the highest score possible; 1 is the lowest ). Testing information will be available on the West website starting Monday. The Collegeboard website also provides information.

17. Dual Enrollment Several of our AP courses also offer our students the opportunity to pay for college credit through UNO at a significantly reduced price (currently $225 per course). The regular UNO tuition is $170.00 per credit hour totaling $510 for a 3 credit course. UNO pays for the student to take the AP exam. Students actually receive a UNO college transcript which they send to their chosen college. This credit is handled like any other transfer credit. Jacob Knutson is here as a representative from UNO to answer questions at the end of the presentation.

18. Selecting the Right AP Courses AP Commitment and Preparation Form AP English Language and Composition helps students prepare for the reading and writing required in AP courses. Most undergraduate degrees also require a freshman composition course. Most undergraduate degrees also require a Humanities course. Most of the social studies courses would fulfill this requirement. Other courses should be chosen on a students’ strengths and interests. If a student is majoring in math or science, AP courses won’t usually replace university requirements, but are essential for student success in these areas.

19. How many AP courses? We recommend that every student planning on going to a 4 year college take at least one AP course in high school. Currently both our juniors and seniors who take AP courses average taking two courses. Some students take four courses and some even six in a year. The amount of AP courses taken needs to be based on the individual student’s abilities and study habits.

20. Stage English Science Social Studies Math World Languages Music/ Computer Science UNO Business AP Teachers by Course

21. For more AP Information Go to Collegeboard.com Millard Website E-mail the AP Teachers Dualenroll.unomaha.edu