HC, I need your assistance. (nascent US high school education flame thread)

[giblets]

AP stands for Advanced Placement. Basically it's a program run by the College Board (the same people who administer the SAT) where they offer standardized tests in various subjects and grant a score ranging from 1 to 5. The College Board considers a 3 to be passing. Most universities will grant credit for completing a course to students who achieve a high enough score. (some universities might be satisfied with a 3 while others have higher standards) So for example taking the AP AB Calculus exam might get someone credit for one semester of calculus. With 10 or so AP exams someone can enter a university with as many credits as a sophomore.

AP classes in high schools are classes that are designed to prepare students for the AP exam. However people don't need to take AP classes to take AP exams.

[Hauldren Collider]

Does AP stand for Advanced Program or something else? As far as I understand, all these APs are not covered by and not required for SAT, are they? All the maths APs you have described are not covered by the high school program here in Russia, but we have 11 years of school + 5 years of college instead of 12+4, and I've taken them all in the first college year, so that looks quite compatible.

Yes, see gribbler's post.

I'm still quite interested in SAT. I've taken different practice tests on that college board website (Maths, Physics, World History and Chemistry), and found all but chemistry trivial. I gave up on Chemistry (and I was goooood at it at school), because the questions were nothing I expected. Here you can expect things like "if you completely oxidise 12 kg of graphite, how many liters and of which gas can you expect to produce?" or "you have substances A, B and C in three unmarked beakers. How can you tell them apart?".

The SAT IIs are subject tests and can actually be kinda difficult, but my experience with them was that they weren't hugely relevant to the subject matter...I only took Math II and Physics and thought they were a walk in the park.

But Maths was too easy. I haven't seen our new standardised tests (I know they have 3 sections, and the first one is comparable to SAT in difficulty), but my graduation exam was much harder. And the university admission exam was gruesome. I might be able to dig up some examples.

UPD: found a sample of the standard maths exam.
http://exam5.ru/modules/publication/article.php?id_cat=3&id=13

Yes. The math exams are really stupid and easy, in my opinion. I knew enough to pass them in probably 8th grade (last year of middle school in Virginia)

Note, there are also ACTs. The SATs are college placement exams, and the ACTs are a competitor. I've heard the ACT math section is a lot less retarded than the SAT, and some colleges require ACTs, some colleges require SATs, some will take either, and some will take both. I'd recommend taking a look at the ACTs. I've never taken one though.

[Hauldren Collider]

KH would probably bang his head into his desk from reading this

He would if he didn't have you on ignore.

[KrazyHorse]

Why would I ignore albie? He's a neverending source of amusement...

[Kuciwalker]

ACT:SAT::AMD:Intel

[onodera]

Note, there are also ACTs. The SATs are college placement exams, and the ACTs are a competitor. I've heard the ACT math section is a lot less retarded than the SAT, and some colleges require ACTs, some colleges require SATs, some will take either, and some will take both. I'd recommend taking a look at the ACTs. I've never taken one though.

Wikipedia says it wants my money and also that "The ACT is generally regarded as being composed of somewhat easier questions (versus the SAT)." I'll go look for a practice test online and report.
UPD: Yes, ACT Maths questions are less retarded. I even needed a piece of paper.