Course registration patterns look to be consistent with past years

In early February, the guidance counselors began encouraging freshmen, sophomores and juniors to start browsing through potential course offerings for the next school year. Selections for all grades were due by Feb. 11, and students subsequently met with their guidance counselors from Feb. 14-18 to discuss and confirm their courses.

With the data the guidance office has gathered so far, guidance counselor Alinna Satake has not seen a major difference in course registration trends from previous years besides an increase in students putting off P.E. requirements until senior year. 

Some of the highest demand classes include AP Computer Science (APCS) and AP science courses. These classes have always been very popular, especially with APCS signups increasing through the last ten years. Satake said that if a student requests two AP sciences, they may not get both of them.

“For students requesting multiple AP sciences, don’t be surprised if you get a backup choice for your second choice,” Satake said. “There will probably be more signups than there is space in AP Physics C. That was the case for this year.”

 

New courses offered for next year

STEM Lab is a new course replacing the Intro to Engineering and Intro to Computer Science classes. Students in this course will take one semester of computer science and one semester of engineering.

Additionally, the Japanese program will expand from only having  Japanese 1 and Japanese 2 classes to also housing a Japanese 3 Honors class, which will only be available for students who took Japanese 1 and Japanese 2. However, due to declining enrollment, Satake is unsure whether the school will be able to sustain the program.

 

Class adjustments within the music department

Along with the new courses, there have also been small changes to some music classes. Honors Jazz Ensemble, equivalent to the current Advanced Jazz Ensemble class, has been accredited for honors credit to match courses between Saratoga High and Los Gatos High.

In addition, AP Music Theory is now being offered every year instead of every other year, as principal Greg Louie believes the school should make the entire course catalog available to students and see what they sign up for.

“If students are interested in taking AP Music Theory every year, then we want to offer it every year,” Satake said. “We hope to offer courses that are driven by student interest and student voice.”

 

Students continue signing up for high academic classes

As in previous years, Satake observed a pattern of students signing up for tough schedules with the expectation of being able to drop the classes if the workload gets overwhelming. 

“Especially when I was talking with students last week, I feel like there’s this idea that students are like, ‘Well, I’m just gonna sign up for insane classes and give it a try, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll drop,’” Satake said. “I want students and parents to know that that’s not always possible.”

For example, some students who wanted to drop from AP Calculus BC to AP Calculus AB this year were not able to do so because AB classes were already at maximum capacity. A similar instance occurred in the history department, as students were unable to drop from AP U.S. History to college prep U.S. History.
“It is really important for students to choose the courses that they need to take,” Satake said. “If a student comes in and tells us they’re going to take AP Calculus BC, the assumption is that they’re going to stick with it. We’re not calculating extra space in case a bunch of students want to drop.”

Satake encouraged students to make the best choice for themselves right now, rather than hoping to modify their schedule in August or September.

However, she also feels that students, especially sophomores who initially decided to sign up for a tough schedule and sports, have been more responsive about lessening their course load.

“I feel like students have been more thoughtful about the process [of lessening course load] than before,” Satake said. “I can’t extrapolate larger trends, but it’s been a positive experience for me. Usually in the spring, I tend to get more frustrated with students who I know are going to wind up dropping or struggling.”

Ultimately, Satake wants students to be able to articulate why they want to sign up for the classes aside from simply wanting honors credit or because of peer pressure. 

“It’s really hard to not sign up for the same things that your friends are taking or feel pressured to take the exact same classes, but you will be much happier if you’re not investing in classes that you have no interest in and you’re taking classes that you actually care about,” Satake said.