St. Joseph's Academy

Department members, in consultation with the Principal, establish criteria for student entrance into courses carrying honors or advanced weight. A student seeking departmental recommendation for these courses must meet all established criteria.

HONORS, AP, and ACC?

How To Choose

Some students at St. Joseph’s Academy are recommended, by their teachers, to take Honors, AP or ACC courses. Criteria for recommendations usually require an "A" or "A-" in the current course in that discipline, followed by each department’s own additional requirements, as stated in the Curriculum Guide. Once recommended, the student and her parents decide whether or not to register for the recommended class. All Honors, ACC, and AP classes are more challenging and carry a GPA weight of 4.5. The main deterrent to a student accepting the recommendation of her teacher would be the St. Joe imposed limit on the number of accelerated classes a student may take. Students may take no more than four classes at the level of Honors, ACC or AP.

Colleges and Universities like to see applicants who have challenged themselves while in high school, so taking a weighted class is always a good idea. Students need to know however, that Honors classes require more time and more work and a student will not be allowed to drop a class beyond the first 7 days of the class. Students need to make sure they are not overloading themselves.

Honors courses are more challenging courses; they carry extra GPA weight, but they do not carry any college credit or potential for college credit.

ACC (Advanced College Credit) courses are more challenging courses; they carry extra GPA weight, and do carry college credit IF the student pays an additional fee to St. Louis University. If the student pays the SLU fee, she then has a transcript at St. Louis University which will reflect the grade she earned in the course at St. Joe. These classes, sometimes called 1818 courses, may or may not be accepted by the college or university a student ultimately attends. Many schools will accept 1-8-1-8 college credits on a limited basis, some schools will accept all of them, and some will accept none of these credits. Therefore, a student should contact any potential college or university prior to registering with St. Louis University to determine that school’s policy on ACC acceptance.

AP courses are more challenging courses; they carry extra GPA weight, and carry almost universal acceptance for credit at colleges and universities - provided the student has scored an acceptable score on an AP exam. These exams have a fee of $82.00 that goes directly to the College Board. AP scores range from 1 to 5 with 3, 4, or 5 usually acceptable to many, but not all, schools. Some schools require a 4 or 5 for credit to be granted. Check with individual schools for their AP acceptance policy. Any student taking an AP class anywhere in the U.S.A. will take the same exam as every other student on the same day and must earn a required score in order to receive college credit. This uniformity gives AP the credibility colleges and universities like.

Honors/AP/ACC – some classes carry all designations because the course bears the opportunity for either AP or ACC if fees are paid or it can be taken just as an Honors class. The student selects the designation for the course.