Grade 12 Academics

Frequently Asked Questions

HOW MANY ACADEMIC COURSES MUST I TAKE?

You must take five, but you can sign up for six. If you sign up for six, you should do so with the intention of remaining in all six for the full academic year.

WHAT COURSES DO I HAVE TO DO?

English Studies 12 or English First Peoples 12 is the only required course, all others are electives. The electives you choose must satisfy admission requirements for your program/post-secondary institution of choice.

WHAT COURSES SHOULD I TAKE IF I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO?

Take what you enjoy; if you enjoy a subject, you will very likely do well in it.

Some people might advise you to keep your options open. That is NOT always the best advice. You need to ensure that the options you keep open are practical ones for you. For example, taking Pre-Calculus 12 when you can only manage a C in Pre-Calculus 11 is a terrible idea!

WHAT DOES “KEEPING MY OPTIONS OPEN” MEAN?

Generally speaking, programs that have very specific admission requirements are in the Sciences, Engineering, and Commerce. They always require English 12 or English First Peoples 12, plus…

• Life/Health/Medical Science programs typically require students to focus on biology and chemistry. They also require Pre-Calculus 12 and very often Calculus 12.
• Physical Science programs typically require students to focus on chemistry and physics. They also require Pre-Calculus 12 and very often Calculus 12.
• Engineering programs requires Physics 12, Chemistry 12, Pre-Calculus 12 and Calculus 12.
• Commerce programs requires Pre-Calculus 12 and often Calculus 12.

The only specific requirement for a Bachelor of Arts degree is English 12. So, essentially, “keeping your options open” means keeping options open THAT REQUIRE HIGH LEVEL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS COURSES. Ask yourself the question: do you really love science and math… especially the really hard courses in science and math?

You must be cautious of this approach, though: you do not want to keep options open that are not practical.

SHOULD I TAKE SIX COURSES?

• The major reason to take SIX courses (and not have a Study Block) is that you love those courses.
• Another common reason is because you have to take five courses for your degree choice, but you want to take the 6th for interest. For example, an engineer would have to take English, chemistry, physics, calculus and pre-calculus, but might like to also take history.
• The last reason is indecision – “I’ll start with six and drop one before Thanksgiving.” This last option NOT recommended; it is not ideal because we need to build a timetable around your selections.

CAN I TAKE ONLY FOUR COURSES?

No. The Brentwood minimum is FIVE courses.

The only exception is for students who access the Learning Centre on a formal basis: they can take four classes and a block in the Learning Centre as their fifth course. That is an arrangement that has to be pre-approved by Learning Centre staff, so it is important that students currently in the Learning Centre discuss course selections with the staff in order to determine the type of arrangement that is best in Grade 12.

SHOULD I TAKE ENGLISH STUDIES 12 OR LITERATURE COURSE OPTION?

The obvious advantage of taking Literary Studies 12 or AP English Literature & Composition is that you get two credits for the price of one, in that you are assessed for and receive Ministry credit for both English Studies 12 and Literary Studies 12 or AP English Literature & Composition. Taking a Literature course option instead of English 12 or English First Peoples 12 is not appropriate for every student. Please look at the Course Information about English 12, English First Peoples 12, Literary Studies 12, and AP English Literature & Composition 12 to help understand which option is best suited for you.

DO I NEED A LANGUAGE 11 or 12?

A Language 11 or 12 is not required for graduation from a high school in British Columbia; however, most universities in the United States recommends that applicants have completed three years (Grades 9-11) of a second language, and sometimes even four years.

There are no universities that generally require a Language 12 credit for admission, that is unless you are planning on applying to a language course at a university in the United Kingdom, for example.

DO I NEED TO DO A PRE-CALCULUS 12 (AND CALCULUS 12)?

Pre-Calculus 12 is only required if you are going to take higher level mathematics courses at university. University math courses are required for commerce, science, and engineering programs, and thus you need to take Pre-Calculus 12 if you plan on pursuing studies in these areas. (First year math courses at university are normally calculus, hence it is a good idea to take both Pre-Calculus 12 and Calculus 12).

Beyond commerce, engineering, and science, studies in certain specific areas may very well require Pre-Calculus 12 and even Calculus 12. Higher level study in economics at university certainly demands Pre-Calculus 12 as calculus is part of the program. Psychology at some universities requires either Pre-Calculus 12 for admission or as a course pre-requisite for higher level study in the subject.

In the end, unless you are confident that you can get 80% or above in Pre-Calculus 12, we recommend against taking it. Pre-Calculus 12 is a very challenging course, and a low mark in it will not serve you well in the admissions process. Remember, the point of taking Pre-Calculus 12 is to be prepared to take MORE and HARDER math at university… do you really want that?

WHICH GRADE 12 COURSES DON’T COUNT FOR UNIVERSITY ADMISSION?

This depends on the university and the program. Most universities will have a list of Acceptable Courses somewhere on their website. If you are unsure, ask one of the University Counsellors.

Courses like Entrepreneurship 12 and Financial Accounting 12 tend not to be on those lists of Acceptable Academic Courses when a university requires FOUR courses for admission. Some universities require five (or more) Grade 12 courses. In those cases, the fifth course can include a course like Entrepreneurship 12, Financial Accounting 12, or even a fine art course.

US universities will look at ALL of your courses from Grade 9 (or 10) to Grade 12.

Universities in the UK and elsewhere will focus their attention on your Grade 12 subjects that are most relevant to the course to which you are applying. They will consider your achievement in Grade 11 and 12 for admission but will make conditional offers on Grade 12 subjects.

DO FINE ART 12 COURSES COUNT FOR UNIVERSITY ADMISSION?

Typically only if you are applying to a fine arts program, but there are a few exceptions. For example, the new admissions policy at UBC states that a student applying for admission to the Faculty of Arts will have their fine arts courses considered in the application review.

Speak to your University Counsellor to learn more.

IS THERE AN ADVANTAGE TO TAKING AN AP COURSE?

AP stands for Advanced Placement. AP Courses are those administered by the CollegeBoard that are supposed to be equivalent to first-year university courses. Success is measured by exams that are taken in May. Rather than percent marks, the exams are graded on a five-point scale: 5 being the highest and 1 the lowest. A score of 4 or 5 may get you credit for the equivalent first year university course at most schools in North America. Often at very selective schools in the UK and elsewhere in the world, AP exam results would be required to be eligible for admission.

In all courses, taking the AP exam is mandatory.

Reasons to take an AP course:

• You are genuinely interested in deeper study of the subject.
• You are seeking more rigour in the subject.
• You may need the AP course to satisfy certain university admission requirements.
• Success on the AP exam may allow you to gain university course credit.

There is a myth out there that says that if you are applying to universities in the US, you need APs. You need to challenge yourself to a reasonable degree, and a way to do that is with AP courses. They are not, however, required.

The other side of that myth is that if you are applying to universities in Canada, you do not need APs. There are Canadian universities that consider the AP courses for admission and scholarship purposes, such as UBC, Toronto, and Waterloo. Regardless, if you are deeply interested in the subject, an AP course will likely give you a much richer experience and better preparation for further study in that subject.

When it comes to AP courses, the School approaches them with this mindset: students should not feel like they are being penalized for taking an AP course or a regular course.

IF I TOOK THE AP VERSION OF A COURSE IN GRADE 11, HOW DO I KNOW WHETHER I SHOULD CONTINUE WITH THE AP VERSION IN GRADE 12?

Ask your Grade 11 AP teacher for guidance.

You are always trying to strike the balance between the value of the enrichment that you will get from the AP course and the rigour that comes with it. And, you should not apply simplistic assumptions that are generally untrue, such as, “I don’t need AP since I’m not applying to the US.” AP matters elsewhere!

AFTER I’VE SELECTED MY COURSES, CAN I CHANGE MY MIND?

Yes.

After you select during the winter midterm, you will have until spring break to go into the Course Registration Form and change your selections. After spring break and through the spring term, you will need to connect with University Counselling to make changes.

New Students, you do this by contacting Mr. Rodrigues. He will be reaching out to you after you make your initial selections.

Returning Students, you will need to review and discuss your course selection in University Counselling regardless, but see your University Counsellor again to make a change if, after reflecting on things, you believe it is warranted.

HOW LATE CAN I CHANGE MY MIND?

We build the Academic Timetable during the summer based on your selections, so changes are best made before the summer. In fact, we will be expecting you to make any desired changes by July 15.

Inevitably, there are students who want or need to make changes to their courses in September. You can make changes, as long as the planned change works in your timetable and there is room available in the intended courses.

We require that you make any changes by Thanksgiving of the first term.

CAN I TAKE A COURSE ON-LINE?

Courses completed by Distance Learning tend to do a poor job at preparing students for further study in that subject, thus we DO NOT recommend taking a course by Distance Learning in a subject in which you intend to further courses. For example, we do NOT recommend students take a math course by Distance Learning if they want to take further math after graduation.

Generally speaking, we DO NOT recommend that students take a course by Distance Learning, particularly if the course is offered at Brentwood. Taking a course by Distance Learning would require careful discussion with the University Counselling team and, potentially, the approval of the Deputy Head, Academics.

SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT GETTING ENOUGH CREDITS TO GRADUATE?

No, unless you are starting at Brentwood in Grade 12, the number of credits a student accumulates for graduation is not normally a problem.

Ensuring that you have satisfied all aspect of the requirements listed in the British Columbia Graduation Program is another matter. Brentwood students rarely have an issue with these if they have been attending the school since Grade 10. Student who enter after Grade 10 need to carefully review their records to ensure that the transfer credits we can award cover all of the graduation requirements. If not, supplemental course work may have to be completed.

HOW DO I FIND OUT WHAT COURSES I NEED FOR MY CHOICE OF UNIVERSITY/PROGRAM?

Check the Admission Requirements pages of university websites. If the information is unclear to you, then ask your University Counsellor as they are an expert on that question!