Hey,
So with finals wrapping up for me, course selections for next year are right around the corner (I know, our school has it weird where we choose schedules in January ugh). Anyway, most of the colleges I’m currently looking at (namely UC Berkeley and Georgia Tech) are pretty generous with AP credit. Considering that’s it’s cheaper to get credit for AP’s over college classes, I was wondering how feasible/realistic it is to take 7 AP tests senior year to grab that thicc credit?
They would be:
AP Physics C (both, probably going to be the hardest although I LOVE physics)
AP Economics (both, our school does one per semester)
AP Statistics
AP Computer Science Principles
AP Modern World History (self-studying with friends and former history teacher. Don’t really know what to think but hey, a 5 on Euro makes me hopeful)
I get that with college apps, everything will be a lot harder next year, although I’m currently in 6 AP’s rn and it’s managable. Tough, but I’m doing relatively well.
I’m in:
AP Psychology (wonderful class)
AP Computer Science A (still warming up to it but it’s pretty fun)
AP Chemistry (yay!)
AP Physics 1 (yay!)
AP BC Calculus
AP English Language (KILL me, god I’m working more for this class than all of the others combined)
Any input is greatly appreciated, thanks!!
If you are doing well in 6 right now, 4 should be pretty easy to do. Also, the AP classes you will be taking are (except for Physics C) much easier than the ones you are doing right now. Yes, Physics C is hard but you seem to be doing well in your AP science classes. Since you have already taken Physics 1, Physics C shouldn’t require as much studying which will free up time for college apps. World just got so much easier because of the change to “modern” and is basically half the length it used to be. I personally think that you can start studying after college apps are in (defo start them in the summer) and still get a 5, especially since you got a 5 on euro which is generally considered harder than world even before the modern revision.
It is feasible to take seven AP tests senior year. All the tests happen over two weeks in May and you’ll have college applications well out of the way several months before that. Also, there is nothing at stake except lost testing fees if you don’t do as well as you hope, so there is little-to-no downside to trying.
Whether it is a good decision to take five AP classes depends on the student. Except for Physics C, though, and possibly econ, you’re taking relatively easy AP classes. Your junior year of high school actually shows more rigor than your senior year. I’d be a little curious about how colleges might interpret that. I’m not sure how much it matters for Berkeley, though, since the UCs sort of have their own way of evaluation.
Have you done the homework to determine how many credits- and which subjects- will apply to your graduation requirements? Would you be able to take enough to cut 4 years down to 3 or 3.5? If not, then looking at this as a money-saving enterprise is pointless, as you pay by the semester.
If that’s the case, self-studying AP WH is probably not a good use of your time.
Yes, be sure to understand how AP credits works and what it means in terms of college tuition.
More often than not, while it allows you to start at a next-level course, frees up time to take electives, provides an option for a lower load semester, etc., it doesn’t actually allow you to graduate earlier. There are major-specific course sequences to take Soph and Jr years, and then Senior project courses that are all pre-requisites for each other. This is all very major-dependent x Engineering, Computer Science, STEM in general in particular.
And since you pay a flat rate by semester, not by credit, there really aren’t cost savings.
At the same time, some of the above-mentioned majors almost require Summer, Winter Break, or even 9th semester studies, which brings a cost, and AP credits avoid that.
So just be sure to understand the implications. 7 AP courses while filling our applications, making campus visits, will be quite time intensive.
Fwiw, my D has 20-ish credits coming in and still took 2 summer courses to be on track to graduate in 4 years in Engineering because she added an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Certificate.
Unless you graduate a semester early, or avoid graduating a semester late.
Of course, credit units may not be that valuable if the college does not give subject credit or advanced placement for the specific AP scores. For example, UCs give at most 8 quarter credits (5.3 semester credits) for physics AP scores, due to duplication. And UCB will probably give you no subject credit for physics 1, and one semester of physics at most (depending on major) for 5 scores on physics C.
Which is why I explicitly called out both “graduating earlier” and “9th semester studies”. 
@XtremeBlaze777 Thanks for the input! My main concern was with World History bc I didn’t really know how much the difficulty changed with the new revision, but it’s looking like it’ll be doable haha
@Groundwork2022 I see your point about the timing of the tests. I was just a little worried about the first half of the year, heh. The second half wouldn’t really be any different than the last few years of last minute cramming lol.
About your comment regarding rigor, I’ve actually exhausted most of the AP classes at my school. The only ones left I could potentially take would be the smaller classes that I’m not even remotely interested in, like Human Geo and Enviro, so at this point I’ve kind of boxed myself in, in terms of classes 
Anyway, I’m not a huge fan of padding “easier” AP classes for the sake of tAkiNg MorE AP ClaSseS, if that makes sense, I’ve always done my best to take classes I’m either interested in or ones where I’ve got friends to suffer with to keep myself sane, or both haha. Thanks a bunch for your input!!
@collegemom3717 @RichInPitt Ah, I suppose I should’ve done a little more research on AP credits, but I’ll try to be a little more clear about my circumstances.
Assuming I get into GT or Berkeley next year (fingers crossed!), the majority of the credits that I have/will get would go toward filling breadth requirements or first-year level classes. I’m not really looking to graduate early, I’m more considering double-majoring and I’d really like to graduate in 4 years, so my view was that I could fill some elective classes and maybe take summer classes if necessary so that I could graduate on time. Sort of like you guys said, my primary goal is to collect credits so I can avoid that 9th semester.
@ucbalumnus Oh yes, I’m well aware of the credit that UCB gives, heh. I get that Physics 1 and 2 don’t get credit; our school just introduced them and basically shoved everyone into that instead of the regular Physics class, and no one really realized that it doesn’t get you any credit anywhere until it was too late. TBH, I really like the class and I wouldn’t consider dropping it for that purpose, lol. Thanks for the insight!