Choosing Courses at FCHS

What Types of “Challenging” or Rigorous Courses Can I Choose from at Franklin Central High School? 

All of the courses offered at FCHS aim to expand your knowledge and skills in a particular area as well as prepare you for courses at the next level. However, there are certain categories of courses that are considered advanced in nature and require more from students in terms of workload, level of understanding, and expectations.

• Honors Courses—these courses typically require students to think at deeper levels than in their regular course counterparts. The courses may cover more material in a shorter period of time and/or dive deeper into topics. There may be increased expectations that students will work and learn material outside of class time to complement what is covered in the classroom.

• Dual Credit Courses—these courses are offered through a partnership between FCHS and a college or university. The FCHS teacher is trained and approved to teach the course content that corresponds with a campus-based course, and students earn both high school credit and college credit upon successfully completing the course requirements. Students enrolled in dual credit courses register with the partner college at the start of the course. Most credit earned in a dual credit course is transferable to other institutions.  Dual credit courses offer expanded options for students to explore potential areas of career interest at a higher and/or deeper level. 

• Advanced Placement (AP) Courses—AP courses are considered college-level courses because the content covered often mirrors the survey-level coursework taken at the college level in that content area. AP courses are developed in accordance with the College Board.  There is typically a significant amount of reading and writing that is required in AP courses, and students are definitely expected to spend time outside of class preparing for class. Throughout AP coursework, teachers are working to prepare students to take the AP exam at the end of the course (administered each May). Students may earn college credit from their chosen college or university depending on their AP exam score AND the institution’s AP credit policy. Often, students who do well in an AP course and on the AP exam are able to take upper-level courses in that content area upon arrival on campus. 

How Do I Choose Courses that are Appropriately Challenging for ME? 

• Choosing challenging courses that are both interesting AND a good match with your strengths WHILE taking into account the time and effort required to be successful in those courses. BALANCE is the key! 

When deciding whether to take a particular course or combination of courses… ASK YOURSELF: 

• Am I interested in this subject? 

• Is this a subject with which I have experienced previous success? 

• Will I be able to fully commit the time and effort required to be successful? 

• Taking account of all of my academic and extracurricular commitments, can I be successful in this course?

If you can honestly answer yes to these questions, then the course is likely a good choice. 

If you cannot honestly answer yes to these questions then you should: 

• Rethink your choice 

• Gather more information to make a more informed decision 

There is more than one path for taking challenging courses, and by taking the above into account you will maximize your chances of choosing the right path 

for YOU!

Do Not Take Courses Because: 

• your friends are taking them…what is interesting to your friends may not be interesting to you. 

• everybody says a course is “easy”…what is easy for some is not always easy for others. 

• you “heard” that you have to take the course to get into the college…do not believe everything you hear. Ask your counselor or go to the college/university admissions website to find out for sure what you need. 

• because a specific teacher teaches it…there is no guarantee you will get a specific teacher when you register for a course. Choose the course because it interests you and you believe you will do well, regardless of the teacher.