1. Required courses: American high schools have a wide range of courses. Basic required courses include English, natural science (biology, chemistry, physics or geography, environment and debate), social science (American history, world history, economics and psychology) and mathematics (algebra, geometry and trigonometry). ).

Second, elective courses: There are many elective courses in American high schools. Generally, American high schools require students to take certain credits. Common elective courses are:

Visual arts (painting, sculpture, oil painting, photography);

Performance art (chorus, drama, dance, film, band, orchestra);

Vocational courses (carpentry, metalworking, auto repair);

Computer/business courses (word processing, programming, image design, computer club, web design);

Sports (American football, baseball, basketball, tennis, track and field, swimming and water polo);

News/publishing (school newspaper, calendar, TV production);

Foreign languages (generally French, German, Spanish);

Family and consumer science, health (family economics, nutrition, early childhood development)

American high schools adopt the credit system. Generally, you can get an American high school diploma with 18-23 credits.

Three. advanced placement

AP(Advanced Placement) is a pre-university course, that is, a one-year college course in high school. AP exam is a national unified exam sponsored by the University Committee, and 60% of more than 20,000 high schools in the United States offer AP courses. Including Harvard, Yale and other prestigious schools, more than 3,000 universities in 22 countries recognize AP courses. After students enter these universities, they can deduct AP courses that have passed the exam from university credits and avoid taking relevant university courses, thus shortening teaching hours and saving tuition fees.

At present, AP exam has 19 majors and 34 courses: mostly computer, economics, English, British and American literature, American government and politics, physics, history and other subjects. AP uses a 5-point system, from 1 to 5 points. Scores above 3 points are accepted by most universities and can be credited to the university in the future. A few top universities require 4 or 5 points to get college credits. In 2003, Harvard University stipulated that only an AP score of 5 can be recorded in Harvard University.