To PreAP/AP
or not to
PreAP/AP
Pre-Advanced Placement &
Advanced Placement (AP)
courses
 Students
may choose to take advanced classes as appropriate
to their interests and academic strengths.
 Pre-AP courses
are open enrollment and are designed to
prepare students to be successful in AP classes.
 The AP program
offers students an opportunity to take college
level courses in high school and earn potential college credit.
Pre-Advanced Placement &
Advanced Placement (AP)
courses
 The
number of Pre-AP or AP courses a student can
take will vary with each student’s motivation, selfdiscipline, and available time outside of class.
 Recommended
1.
2.
pre-requisites include:
A grade of 85 or higher in a related academic
content course.
Scores at the commended level on the most
recent corresponding STAAR exams.
Characteristics of a Successful
Pre-AP/AP Student:
 Excellent
 Strong
study and organizational skills
interpersonal skills
 Persistence
 A strong
 The
in pursuing goals
sense of responsibility
ability to become an independent learner
 A desire
to be academically successful
 Proficient
oral and written communication skills
Expectations of an AP student from
an AP teacher point of view…
 Bigger
chunks of reading/Not Optional
 Writing

level beginning with AP US History, for example:
Write essays
 Problem Solving
5

paragraph minimum
DBQs
 7-8

Essay
documents with a problem to solve
Short answer
6
minimum Paragraph essays
 Grades
impacted if work load is not complete
GPA Policy
 Multiplier
 All
rule for Weighted classes in GPA:
Un-weighted
course grades
multiplied by 1.0
Weighted,
Pre-Advanced
Placement (PreAP) & Honors
course grades
multiplied by 1.1
Weighted,
AP & Advanced
Honors course
grades
multiplied by 1.2
students shall be required to take a minimum of four unweighted credits during high school to be used in the
calculation for class rank and the top ten percent. A student
shall complete three of the four required un-weighted credits
prior to the beginning of his or her senior year.
What Colleges are looking
for…
 Well-rounded,
 Four
balanced between academics and activities.
year students who model persistence and follow through.
 Depending
on the size of the college application pool,
admissions may consider one GPA (4.0) over the other (100),
un-weighted over weighted.
 LTHS
is a non-ranking high school.
Example:
Transcript
Or
Academic
Achievement
Record (AAR)
Example:
Example: