Aspies in or were in advanced classes

Post Reply New Topic

I wasn't that great at math at first when I was in elementary and 6th grade.

Like many 6 year olds I didn't know the difference between adding and subtracting. Later, I struggled even with long addition and subtraction, let alone multiplying and dividing. I couldn't even figure out how to use long division until I was 14. Pre-algebra looked easier than that and yet I struggled in something easy like that, well the earlier part of the course.
actually it seemed easier than arithmetic period. I nearly failed math in 5th and 6th grade because of lack in concentration, not doing homework and frustration with my own self.

I somehow managed to reach the upper levels of math though, I don't know. Problem is I don't remember most of the stuff after 1st year algebra. But yet again I made it to calculus, wt# was that about for me?

I completed 7th grade a week ago, and I was in a gifted program that is clearly not for normal children(as the requirements are ?96th percentile in ?3 areas on standardized testing and an IQ of at least 125), and I've been in it since 3rd grade. I had the opportunity to take Advanced English last year, but I decided not to because I wanted to take Choir instead(and that was a very wise choice, because the instructor gave me the award for "Best male student in 7th grade choir"). I did take Pre-Algebra, which in 7th grade, is considered an advanced clas because most 7th grade students take regular math class. I was also in Speech/Drama/Debate, which is sort of advanced because you need a C+ average or higher in 6th grade english to be in it.

I have my schedule for next year (8th grade) early (because I'm in special education due to my AS) and I am in Enrichment, Algebra and Advanced English, which are all advanced classes. I also have a study hall that is for me to do homework all by myself in a quiet room. Of those that are not advanced, I have Choir, Social Studies, and Science. Next year will be a wonderful year! Hahahahaha!

Chris

Hmm...I never could do well in terms of actually getting homework done, but I was a really good test-taker. Overall, I averaged about a B+ for my grades.

Honors Classes: Seminar (9th/10th grade english, world history&civics), chemistry, biology, geometry, algebra II, pre-calc, Latin III&IV.
AP Classes: Chemistry, English Language, US History, Art History (quit in midyear), Computer Science AB, English Literature, Psychology, Calculus AB, Environmental Science.

I hated English outright, and while I enjoyed AP Chem, my grades got ruined/lowered to a C when I lost one of my tests at a school I didn't go to after it was given back for study for the quarter test, and it became a '0.' The reason I lost it? I was at an academic team competition against this other school. Gahh!! !

When I was in elementary school in the 70's there wasn't much thought to different styles of education. If you weren't drooling and wearing a hockey helmet then you were main-stream. When I was in grade 4 the school tested me and determined I was hyperlexic. They couldn't do much about it right away, but when I went into grade 6 they placed me in an experimental literacy program. In high school (early 80's) I elected to take honours math. The curriculum for that course was designed so that it would progress about 50% faster than normal. People could transfer out if they fell behind, but after grade 10 nobody was allowed to transfer in because there would be a knowledge gap.

I'm sure that back then you were in typical HS courses, or the college courses. And I believe that was probably it. Unless someone here who was in high school between 30 and 50 years ago could give a better explanation.

I also guess that the "preppies" were back then know as the A/V club. Or the computer club, if the school happened to have any back then.

I can't believe that Middle school would have so many advanced classes, must depend on the size. When I was in mid. school, all we had were "accelerated classes" in the three subjects; language arts, social studies and math.
Math=1 year ahead of mainstream
L Arts= probably a couple years ahead (some material as mainstream but more complex)
SS= same topics and agenda as mainstream simultaneously (but more reports, presentation and research)

Science was offered at the same level for all the students and electives were offered at the same level. Therefore the classrooms were mixed with mainstreamed and accelerated kids.


Electives in my 6th grade year weren't chosen, we were place in a specific subject for a quarter, then transfered to a different one every new quarter. Of course they would call the elective courses "exploratory" because we learned what they were about.

In 7th grade the electives were chosen and were called "Introduction to ..." Learn what the subject IS. At least we got to choose our top 3 picks and placed in 1 of them hopefully number one.
What I didn't like was that if you chose an elective to start a school year, you only get it for one semester and then put in a course you didn't choose in the following semester, whether you liked it or not, with the same students.

Either schools should of let us keep the same elective for the whole year, or at the new semester place us in a course of our second choice elective, with new classmates, hoping it is in the same class period IMHO.

I can't believe they dropped electives in 8th grade due to budget problems, but other schools in the district carried them though, WTFWTAB?!

I wish my school had offered latin, I would've gone for it, but we didn't though. We only had three languages; Spanish (taken by the majority), Native speaker spanish (lots of them, probably read a lot of old Castillian literature, like Don Quijote, in old form), French (of course, taken by a few, mostly by the preppies) and Portuguese (taken mostly by portuguese students).

Amongst science classes, we did have the usual biology, physics, and chemistry but we also had an aerospace course for those in the aviation program. I wonder if they still have the program though.

This coming from a soon to be IBer.

Math Studies - Easy. Basically precalc w/ basic statistics and probability.

Math Methods SL - Precalc w/ more advanced concets as well. It gives you a nice generality of mathematics, but it doesn't prepare you for anything but the IB test. You will not pass any AP exam unless you do some outside study.

Math Methods HL - You have to be quite smart for this one. Let's just forget we mentioned it before my brain fries.

Eh, I'm not an aspie, so I'm n ot going to bother with my schedule. I don't even KNOW what my schedule is yet... XD kind of nerve-racking.

I'm in all the possible honors classes (math, science, english, history) and I get straight A's

A few of my classes here and there throughout middle school and high school were advanced placement, but I never really paid attention to which ones. In elementary school, they put me in a little gifted program thing that was shorter than regular class and occurred separately, but I did not enter that as early as the other students who were in it. Although my memory fails me, I am told that I was initially denied entry because of my refusal/reluctance to answer questions. As time went on, though, my grades spoke for themselves, and I was permitted to enroll in advanced placement classes as I (or my family and teachers) saw fit.
Is anyone other than the college admissions staff concerned with my personal advanced-placement history, though?

From freshman to junior year, I took all of the available advanced classes (science, math, English, history). Toward the end of my junior year I became disillusioned with our school's advanced classes. Most of them gave you more work to do, not necessarily more challenging work. For example, if the regular algebra class had to do 10 homework problems, we had to do 20. Also, the teachers had this attitude that we were supposed to be perfect at everything just because we were honors students.

I stopped taking the advanced classes because of all that hoopla. (That, and I didn't fit in with my classmates). It was one of the reasons I decided to take college classes during my senior year.

My 7th grade daughter will be going into honors english and social studies ths fall. She is excited and pleased that they have finally recognized her intelligence yet she is a bit scared about i ttoo.
Laure

I took "honors" classes during my first three years of high school (when I was going to a *shudder* Catholic school), but I don't think it really made that much of a difference.

Now let's talk subjects.

- English: it depended on the teacher - with some I'd ace the class, with others I'd get C's and even D's.

- Math: I was great at Algebra I and II, but mediocre at geometry. Then, in college, I failed precalculus, and got a C when I retook it.

- History: I usually got mediocre grades in the subject. I was never very interested in it, and lacked the motivation to memorize the facts and dates as a result.

- Science: Biology wasn't too bad, but I struggled big time with chemistry and physics.

- Art/Music: Aced all these classes.

- Spanish: I did well in the two years of Spanish I took, but I can't say I remembered much from them.

- PE: Again, depended on the teacher. One thing I gotta credit the Catholic school for - they generally judged you by effort in PE class. However, at my second (public) high school, I failed to meet certain physical standards, and therefore I got a C even though I almost always brought my gym clothes, did well on the written test, and generally was an active participant in class.

I wonder if the Advanced courses had a college feel when it came to coming up with opinions and debating. Though I haven't been to college, I was told that in many courses there is no "right answer" during opinion sessions. So I wonder if Adv. classes in HS utilize it a lot more than mainstream classes?

We got streamed for the main subjects in lower school (maths, english, science) and we got to choose which topics we wanted to do in soceity and environment. I was in all the advanced streams, and those streams lead to what you were able to choose for your TEE subjects, as long as you got the required grade. I did pretty good in all of them, it was easy to get straight As in yr 8 & 9 because they marked you based on your attitude and as long as you could do the work and worked in class you were pretty much guanranteed an A.

At the school I currently attend, yes. I have always loved science and have been accelerated (though haven't tested well) in all my science classes. I've finally figured out that the best science teachers are the ones that generally know the most about what they teach. Math has always been good, too. I knew how to add and subtract 3 or 4 numbers in the millions digits before I started actual school, so I did a lot of independent study. Same thing with English work in the early years.

About the whole "right answer" thing, it is much more that way in an English/history type class rather than science or math, but need I point out the obvious every time?