Taking Challenging Courses
AP, IB, and Honors Courses
High school will play an important role in helping you decide what you want to be later on in life. Taking AP, IB, and Honors courses offers you an opportunity to master the skills needed to excel in college, and to explore your potential career interests and talents which can help you to begin thinking about your future career.
You’re in charge of what you do and how capable you become with dedication and practice. It is totally up to you whether you regard high school as something that is just required for you to complete over a course of four years, or you can regard it as both an experience and a tool you can use to help you figure out what exactly excites you and what you’re excellent at accomplishing. Hopefully, high school will play an important role in helping you decide what you want to be later on in life. And just think, taking AP, IB, and Honors courses can be a great boost to your GPA and high school experience because they are truly worth their weight in gold, especially when tied to your marketability as you begin your postsecondary college or career pathway.
Advanced Placement (AP) - Advanced Placement courses, also known as “AP” courses, follow a college-level curriculum with a typical college workload. Courses offered vary by high school. AP Courses, such as AP English Language and Composition and AP Spanish Language and Culture, are offered at many BCPSS high schools. Some colleges award credit or high course placement if you earn a certain grade on an AP exam.
International Baccalaureate® (IB)- IB Courses are offered at Baltimore City College and provide students the opportunity to participate in a challenging framework that encourages them to make practical connections between their studies and the real world. Specifically, the Diploma Program aims to further develop students who have an excellent breadth and depth of knowledge – students who flourish academically and who are also emotionally well-suited for an exceptionally rigorous class schedule.
Honors (H) - Honors courses often offer the same curriculum as regular classes but are tailored for students who are able to take on the more challenging classwork, homework, and projects. In many schools, students may be recognized for their academic achievement on lists published periodically throughout the school year, known as honor rolls, which can vary from school to school. In addition, students may become members of the National Honor Society or other honor society.
City Schools' new grading scale gives you the awesome opportunity to reward yourself by academically challenging yourself through your course selection and participation. Here’s something you may not believe about your high school education: You’re in control.
Beginning Fall AY 2015-16, City Schools took on a new format for looking at, calculating, and reporting your high school grades in teacher grade books, your student records, on your report card, and within your high school transcript. This new format is called the Baltimore City Public Schools New Grading Scale.
The table to the right shows how the percentage and letter grades for your high school courses are related and how grade point averages (GPAs) given on your high school report cards are then calculated. The great news is that this new grading system, launched during the 2015-16 academic school year, is also “retroactive,” which means that if you are currently in the 10th, 11th, or 12th grade, the new grading scale calculation will be applied to all of the grades you previously earned during your high school years.
Learn More: www.baltimorecityschools.org//site/Default.aspx?PageID=24409
Student Quote: “One of the best academic decisions I made at Western was to enroll in four AP courses and take all AP 4 exams. Not only did my GPA look great to colleges, I earned college credit, which saved me tons of money on my first year of college tuition.” - Angela J
You’re in charge of what you do and how capable you become with dedication and practice. It is totally up to you whether you regard high school as something that is just required for you to complete over a course of four years, or you can regard it as both an experience and a tool you can use to help you figure out what exactly excites you and what you’re excellent at accomplishing. Hopefully, high school will play an important role in helping you decide what you want to be later on in life. And just think, taking AP, IB, and Honors courses can be a great boost to your GPA and high school experience because they are truly worth their weight in gold, especially when tied to your marketability as you begin your postsecondary college or career pathway.
Advanced Placement (AP) - Advanced Placement courses, also known as “AP” courses, follow a college-level curriculum with a typical college workload. Courses offered vary by high school. AP Courses, such as AP English Language and Composition and AP Spanish Language and Culture, are offered at many BCPSS high schools. Some colleges award credit or high course placement if you earn a certain grade on an AP exam.
International Baccalaureate® (IB)- IB Courses are offered at Baltimore City College and provide students the opportunity to participate in a challenging framework that encourages them to make practical connections between their studies and the real world. Specifically, the Diploma Program aims to further develop students who have an excellent breadth and depth of knowledge – students who flourish academically and who are also emotionally well-suited for an exceptionally rigorous class schedule.
Honors (H) - Honors courses often offer the same curriculum as regular classes but are tailored for students who are able to take on the more challenging classwork, homework, and projects. In many schools, students may be recognized for their academic achievement on lists published periodically throughout the school year, known as honor rolls, which can vary from school to school. In addition, students may become members of the National Honor Society or other honor society.
City Schools' new grading scale gives you the awesome opportunity to reward yourself by academically challenging yourself through your course selection and participation. Here’s something you may not believe about your high school education: You’re in control.
Beginning Fall AY 2015-16, City Schools took on a new format for looking at, calculating, and reporting your high school grades in teacher grade books, your student records, on your report card, and within your high school transcript. This new format is called the Baltimore City Public Schools New Grading Scale.
The table to the right shows how the percentage and letter grades for your high school courses are related and how grade point averages (GPAs) given on your high school report cards are then calculated. The great news is that this new grading system, launched during the 2015-16 academic school year, is also “retroactive,” which means that if you are currently in the 10th, 11th, or 12th grade, the new grading scale calculation will be applied to all of the grades you previously earned during your high school years.
Learn More: www.baltimorecityschools.org//site/Default.aspx?PageID=24409
Student Quote: “One of the best academic decisions I made at Western was to enroll in four AP courses and take all AP 4 exams. Not only did my GPA look great to colleges, I earned college credit, which saved me tons of money on my first year of college tuition.” - Angela J
Did You Know? You will see your updated GPA on your first report card. You can also view your GPA in NAVIANCE, your online college and career planning tool.