Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors Courses?

Honors courses are courses that prepare students for advanced placement courses.  AP courses give students a grade bump of 1.0 to their GPA for that class.  (Example:  B = 3.0, in AP courses it is 4.0.  An A in an AP class counts as a 5.0)  Honors courses do not have the grade bump, but are necessary to get into an AP course in some departments.  Also, colleges and universities want to see honors and AP courses as they look at admissions and scholarships.  Click here for more information on honors & AP courses.  

Do honors courses receive a grade bump like the Advanced Placement courses?

No.  However, colleges and universities would rather see a student take honors courses over regular courses when available. 

Why is Spanish the only language offered at BCHS?

Over the past few years, we have asked students what language they would like to see offered.  Unfortunately, we have struggled with having enough students interested in one language to make a section.  Also, our Spanish department does an amazing job with their program and students.  This makes the competition this much more difficult to bring in another language.  Finally, staffing is another aspect to this to get the right certified staff for another language.  We are open to exploring another language in the future, but we will need a strong student interest to pursue this direction.  

Why doesn't BCHS offer Advanced Placement Spanish?

College Board offers another way for students to get college credit, and is especially helpful for foreign language.  This other direction is taking a CLEP test which allows students to earn more than 3 college credits such as AP courses. For more information, see the the CLEP page under the college board website.  

Should my son/daughter "test out" of a class?

Testing out is available, but is not the option we recommend.  When students do well in a particular area, we suggest that they take the honors and AP route to push themselves.  Our history of testing out has shown that the majority of students do not pass the test.  PE is a question that has come up in the past.  We prefer students take the summer school PE course instead of testing out, as the test out process is extremely difficult.

My son/daughter wants to take all honors or AP courses.  How many are too many?

Every student is different in what they can handle.  The best way to determine this is to talk with a guidance counselor as there are different warning signs that can help with what a student can handle. For contact information, click here.