Honors and Advanced Placement Courses

Holy Ghost Prep provides an environment whereby students and teachers positively challenge themselves and one another through a variety of activities both academic and extracurricular. As true education requires interaction, teachers and students thrive in an atmosphere of interaction and mutual respect.

Honors and Advanced Placement Courses

As each course in our curriculum would be considered an honors course at many other schools and as many academically talented students attend Holy Ghost Prep, Honors or Advanced Placement courses are not for everyone.  

For incoming students, enrollment is limited to those students who have performed well on our placement test, our entrance test, on standardized tests administered at their elementary schools, and who have achieved high standards of performance in their elementary school as evidenced by their elementary school transcript. 

For rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors, Honors and Advanced Placement courses are limited to those students who have demonstrated in their course work at Holy Ghost Prep a commitment to the highest level of achievement possible. Specific placement decisions are made by department members and their chairs, and are approved by the Placement Committee, in consultation with present subject teachers, department chairs, and members of the Academic Committee.

Any student approved for and accepting admission into an Advanced Placement course(s) must complete the full AP course (in most cases, two semesters) and take the corresponding AP exam(s) offered in the spring in order to receive AP credit for each semester of the course. A student with a “C” or below in an AP course may be asked to withdraw from the course. A minimum score of “3” on the AP exam is normally required for subsequent enrollment in an AP course in the same subject area. Probationary enrollment in a course may be granted if a student scores below a “3”. Any withdrawal requests from or probationary enrollment in an AP course are at the discretion of the teacher and Dean of Academics. 

Student Schedule Change Requests

In an effort to allow students a wide range of possible success, students may request schedule changes to fit their needs. Schedule changes are made at the discretion of the Dean of Academics and consider class sizes and appropriateness of a course for a student. Most schedule changes should occur during the summer. Schedule changes after September 15 for first semester and January 15 for second semester will generally not be made, unless the school views it to be in a student’s best interest to move to a lower level course within the same department and no courses from other departments are affected. To receive AP credit, students in AP courses are required to complete the full course and take the appropriate AP test for that course.