AP Classes

I know this is a really random question, but I figured that it would go best in this forum since a lot of AP courses are relatively new. Does anybody have any experience with how much credit these will get you in college? I know it depends on the college, but if you have AP credits, do you graduate a year early or take classes you prefer instead? Sorry to ask so many questions, but I will have taken 14 AP courses by the end of my senior year, and I'm trying to figure out what exactly that will do for me when I head off.

Thank you!

EDIT: So far I've gotten 5's on all my exams, so I'll probably get some manner of credit for them.

I... just got random credit, so I'm half a semester ahead, as far as class standing goes... but nothing really counted for anything that helped me.  I took AP spanish, and that alone only got me out of spanish 101... And since I'm basically fluent (my dad is from Guatemala, I took 6 years of spanish in high school, my mom is a spanish teacher, etc), I wanted to get more than just that!  So I talked to someone in the department (in spanish) for about 30 seconds, and she stuck me in a 300-level class, and said that, as long as I got a B or better, I'd get all the credit from the 100 and 200-level classes that I had skipped.  I took AP calc, but I ended up taking the same class again in college, because they told me a 4 wasn't enough to skip it... which ended up not being true, because I know lots of people that got a 3, and still skipped calc 1.  So just be sure to talk to multiple people.  Of course, with 14 AP courses, I'm sure you'll have more things covered (I only took 3), so you might get out of some GER's...  It just really does depend on the school.  Good luck!

I may not be entirely correct, but I believe passing the exam at the end of the year with a score of a 3 or higher entitles you to a whole credit in that course in college. Say you take AP Psychology in high school and pass the exam, you will not need to take the base level of psychology in college, you'd move up to the sophomore year of the class.

That's what it did in my brother's case at least.

Simply taking the courses in high school does not give you any college credit besides it looking good on your application.

The people before me are correct.  Taking an AP class and passing the AP test with a score of 3 or better (for most colleges, not all) will get you out of the basic course in college.  If you've passed all 14 tests by the time you graduate, then you'll definitely be getting college credit for those and graduating sooner (assuming the college you go to accepts all of those AP credits).

all the credits transfer into to college. its as if you already took those courses in the college.

btw, 14 classes & 5s on your exams are impressive! keep up the good work!

I received 22 units of college credit for my AP courses.

(That was more than a semester's worth of classes I didn't have to take/pay for!)

=^..^= MOLLY

It totally depends on your college.  Mine didn't take half the AP courses I took, so there was no point in even sitting for the exams.  The others I got "elective" credits for... so there was no point in even caring which classes I had taken.  GRRRRR!

My sister got all her AP courses to transfer like real courses, that she'd taken for real credit, so she was a year ahead when she got to college.  She graduated a year early.  If money hadn't been tight, though, she could probably have ended up minoring in something random with all those extra credits.  I'm jealous...

Anyway, theoretically your guidance counselor should know which schools you're thinking about take which credits and how.

In my situation, part of the reason I went with the college I did is because they gave me good return on my AP classes.  I was able to skip some of what was called my 'core curriculum', which was very nice.  I went to a liberal arts school within my state, although I don't know if that made any diference for why they accepted all my AP stuff.

I never took a single AP class, and now I'm a semester away from getting my Masters.

Just throwing that out there.

It really depends on the school. Some will accept lower scores than others. Have you joined collegeboard.com yet? It basically saved my life when researching colleges, although in the fall I'll be attending the one down the street anyway. But point is one one of the fact pages on the colleges it will tell you if they accept AP credits or give you a link to the college's website listing what scores they take. In my case I got a 3 on the AP US test last year which would get me credit at some schools, but none at Penn State! 3 more tests to take this year though, in my better subjects. I'm pretty sure they will just move me up a level in the classes, though I can't remember.

It really depends on the school's policy.  You can usually find that in the school's website in the prospective student section.  As for me, I got credit for 3 AP classes out of the 6 that I took.  My school didn't take AP US History (4) or AP World History (5) my year... so that was a complete waste of time.  BC Calc (3) got me out of the Calculus I requirement, AP English (4) got me Liberal Arts elective credit (but not for my English requirement, mind you), AP Spanish (4) got me more Liberal Arts credit and let me skip to the 200 level classes, and AP Stats (3) was useless because they only gave credit if you get at least a 4. 

Since you got 5's on yours, I'm sure you'll get a lot more credit than I did.  However, it really comes down to how selective the school that you're looking at is, and on their particular policy.  If I knew that my school wouldn't take AP US nor AP World History, I would have taken AP Gov and AP European History isntead.  Overall, I could have graduated a semester early with the 3 AP classes credits I got, but I decided to take it easy and take less classes per semester instead.  Taking 12 credits for almost half of the time I'm in college gives me lots of free time!!! 

I guess as a word of advice, make sure to look at your school's requirement.  There's no point working your ass off senior year trying to get a 5 on the AP Physics Mechanics and E&M when you know your school's only going to give you 3 lousy credit hours for it (unless you're a science or engineering major...).  Save your $80 for college and focus something more productive... like trying to think of ways to keep "busy" after the AP exam... :D  Anyway, good luck on your AP test and college hunting!

Okay, for those of you have done the AP deal and got into college how would this go

AP US (3)

AP Composition (4)

and this year I'm taking

AP Psych

AP Euro

AP Econ [Micro]

AP Econ [Macro]

AP Government

AP Lit

does anyone know about how many credits I'd get [I mean I'm going to assume I get a 3 or better on those exams considering I'm doing pretty well]

.

As a bio major for a 4 in Biology I got to skip one semester of Intro to Biology, for a 5 you skipped both. For a 3 in calculus I got to skip the one semester of Intro to Calculus but I still needed to fill my math requirement with another calculus class. For a 5 in English I got to skip all intro English classes entirely. Shamefully I got a 2 (!!!) in AP History (I hated that class) so go no credit and was forced to sit through a whole year of that god-forsaken subject. Granted this was in 1991 but still ...... 

Awesome; thank you guys very much for the info!

Sorry- one last question: if I got a 5 on an exam, but I want to take that course again in college, would I be able to? Specifically, I know I will most likely have forgotten Calculus by the time I get around to college (I took it last year), so would they let me take the intro course again?

Thanks again!

Original Post by phoenix121:

Awesome; thank you guys very much for the info!

Sorry- one last question: if I got a 5 on an exam, but I want to take that course again in college, would I be able to? Specifically, I know I will most likely have forgotten Calculus by the time I get around to college (I took it last year), so would they let me take the intro course again?

Thanks again!

Yes, at least at my school they would definitely let you take it again. But, you wouldn't get credit for the AP class obviously. Like, you'd get a credit for it even if you skip it, but still only one credit for retaking it. Does that make any sense, haha?

That was a while ago, but I took some AP classes and it didn't amount to much at all.  You pretty much still have to take all of the college classes.  In high school they pump it up as though you are going to have fewer courses to take....don't remember 100% but I think that is a bit deceitful on the HS end.

OK, sorry this is so long, but i promise you it has some good information!

 i don't want to tell you "oh, college will/will not accept your classes" yadda yadda yadda because it really does depend on the classes and the college. but i don't want to just say that either, because that's COMPLETELY unhelpful and if i just said that i would have no reason for posting this. so! my advice would be:

-figure out which college(s) you're looking at (maybe you already know)

-think about possible majors/minors that you'd want (and remember, once you pick a major, it's NOT set in stone. you can change at any time. sidenote: when i went into college i had this preconceived notion that choosing your major is this HUGE deal and once you choose it, you're stuck with it. but it's nothing like that. you could, theoretically, at any moment in time just SAY a random major and that would be your major at that moment. i thought it was gonna be like a big official thing or something...but maybe that's just me...) 

-look at the course catalogue for each school - it will tell you what classes the school offers, so you can compare the APs you've taken to classes the school offers. and write everything down/mark pages with classes you think would be comparable.  

-go to each one and visit an academic counselor with specific questions (ie: bring a list of all the APs you've taken and the scores you've received AND the marked-up course catalogue that you went thru). while you're there, talk about the majors/minors you are thinking about. the counselor will (hopefully) be able to tell you how you could accomplish that in X years. (and it's a possibility w/ all your APs is, you could maybe get some random minor by taking, like, one extra class b/c of all the credit you have already...maybe) IF YOU CAN'T VISIT, AT LEAST CALL AND/OR E-MAIL. *oh, and get whatever the counselor says down in writing. have him/her sign a paper that says what credit you'd receive. that way, if you go to that school and later they're like "sorry that doesn't apply. you can't get credit" you can say "look *#%@^, i got this signed paper that says i can get credit for it. suck on that!" (but less explicit....) 

then, just keep thinking about what each school said. with as many APs as you have, this could just be another factor in deciding which college you should attend.

most AP classes don't apply to anything over 200 level (sophomore level) classes. majors require a bunch of 300 and 400 level classes, so you might start college at the sophomore or junior level, but you'll still have at least 2 years (probably). 

also, keep in mind that college isn't ALL about trying to get out faster. it's not just about the label of your major, but how much you KNOW that counts. (that's one thing i've discovered anyway.) in HS, you mostly just learn for the class so you can pass the test and get on with everything. in college, it is (or should be, in my opinion) a lot different. you get to take the classes you WANT to take because you're interested in it and you will probably be pursuing a career in whatever it is. because of this, it's really about how much you learn, not the grade or the label. if you skip out on too much of college, you'll miss the "college experience" (which i personally don't care too much about) but you'll also miss out on learning a whole bunch of stuff, about yourself and about the world. AP classes are great, but they're still not really college courses. 

in reply to whether or not you should re-take calculus, i would say yes, absolutely. it would be better to re-take calc I then jump, unprepared, into calc II. plus, if you've already taken AP, you'll probably have a leg-up on the material, so it might be an easier class for you. maybe (if you like math as i do) it'll even be fun! and then you can tutor the hottie who's struggling ;) :) 

not to be too cheesy...but college is a time to grow and learn about yourself, not just academically. you really learn a lot just about the world and life by being at college, in the dorms, in the dining rooms, at sporting events, at theatre performances, etc etc etc. plus, if you skip too much college, you'll have to start life in the "real world" sooner...and no one wants that! haha. but really, if you graduate a lot sooner than "normal" (sorry, i hate that word but i have to use it here...) you will be younger than a lot of your "colleagues." that can sometimes put you at a disadvantage, cuz you will have had less life experience. and i don't want to be negative or discouraging, but some employers don't like to hire "younger" people because they don't have as much "life experience."

in conclusion (hah! finally, right?) i'd say first off, research EVERYTHING! that's always a good first step. and just don't be too eager to get out of college. maybe you'll get your major in 2 years, but that can give you room to do other things. you could double major or minor in something completely random and fun. (many employers...depending on your career path) like to hire "well-rounded" people. OR (this would be my suggestion, if finances work out) you could study abroad for a semester or year! how sweet would that be?! 

so yes, that's my advice. if you wanna PM me with more specifics, i'll try and help you out a bit more. a lot of this stuff is really case-dependent, so if i knew more about you i'd probably be able to give better advice. so yeah! good luck!!! 

I took AP Government and AP US History in high school and got 4's on both exams. Unfortunately, I was a science major and wasn't required to take any history classes to graduate so they didn't translate into anything for me.

Just like everybody else said, it depends on the school you go to and what you want to do in college/your career.  I didn't read all of what kaloriekat said but from what I saw it was good advice! Take it! 

yea, and i just want to second the statement about how important college is beyond just the academics. i am a senior and only have one semester left and i am still learning more about myself every day. don't take your college opportunities for granted!