ADVANCED PLACEMENT COURSE GUIDELINES:
Advanced Placement courses are designed for students who wish to be eligible to earn college credit while still enrolled in high school. All students should consider pursuing a rigorous course of study throughout their high school career. In fact college admissions representatives often share that students who enroll in rigorous courses and perform well academically enhance their chances of gaining admission to selective schools. Advanced Placement courses are the most rigorous courses offered at FHS. While each course has specific admissions criteria, ranging from teacher recommendation to a high grade point average, all courses do share similar prerequisite recommendations.
Students considering Advanced Placement courses should have a solid academic average with a minimum of an 85%-90% or better GPA overall average and an 85%-90% or better average in the specific academic discipline. Additionally, students who make the commitment to pursue this level of course work should understand the academic requirements will be more difficult than typical high school courses. Students should be willing to commit a minimum of one hour per day to an individual advanced placement course. While this is a serious academic commitment, the opportunity to earn college credit and become a well- prepared collegian is well worth the effort. Students who want to pursue this challenging opportunity should review individual Advanced Placement courses for specific admissions criteria.
All students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses are required to take the Advanced Placement examination in May. The fee for an AP exam is approximately $100.00. As a result of this nationally recognized difficulty level, AP courses are the only classes weighted at a 1.1. Students who do not meet the general guidelines discussed here should discuss their opportunity for success with AP teachers and their counselor.