Having grown up in Norway, our school system was (still is?) much more focused on lifting all boats, and making most pupils pretty decent and well-rounded at mo

Having grown up in Norway, our school system was (still is?) much more focused on lifting all boats, and making most pupils pretty decent and well-rounded at most subjects, rather than focusing resources on the most apt ones. But that's just how things are in general - our culture has always been focused on what's best for the masses. That said, I can't remember our math AP classes being any difficult. Whenever I read about HS students in other countries taking proof-heavy classes, I have zero recollection of that. We had a couple of Russian kids, and one Polish, in our HS class. At least the Russian kids told us that the math classes were much harder back in Russia, but that's about it. EDIT: To expand - we have two AP math classes in HS, and two AP physics classes. To qualify for STEM studies at Uni., you usually need two math AP + one physics AP. You get some extra "competition points" if you take more AP classes, some points for age, some for military service, etc. But that's about it. No entrance exams, no standardized tests, etc. The whole country gets the same exams, and for first-time applicants it comes down to your GPA + points from AP classes. For people after that, it's the same but all the different age points, military points, etc.