I take the majority of my classes at my local university (University of Tennessee) because my high school does not offer AP courses. It’s a standard state university, but I’ve heard that AP tests are exceptionally rigorous. How will university courses with A’s at UT compare to 5’s on the AP’s?
I’m spazzing just a little while pondering what to do next year: continue at UT or self-study some AP’s.
<p>I would tend to think AP classes are a joke compared to UT.</p>
<p>I took Math 1B at Berkeley and AP Calculus at my high school. High school calculus was a joke compared to that taught in Berkeley.</p>
<p>I imagine that if you can pull off A's in college courses then you should be able to get good scores on the AP exams... Use review books to figure out how well you could do.</p>
<p>Well, my older son attended high school part-time as a homeschooler. He took AP Calculus at the high school, but that was the only AP class he took. However, he did take Japanese, Astronomy, and Engineering at the local community college. He not only ended up at Stanford, but they gave him credit for all those community college classes.</p>
<p>My second son took calculus at the community college, rather than doing AP at the high school, and found the cc class much harder than the AP. I think his cc grades will more than compensate for his lack of AP classes. (He is taking AP Lit at the high school, but that is all. He chose to take Statistics and Astronomy at the community college, after finishing calculus.)</p>
<p>If I were you, I would continue with the college classes.</p>
<p>Stay with the college classes because unlike AP, the grades you earn not only give you credit hours ( same as an AP test) they can also factor into your GPA at whatever college you plan on attending. Most colleges that I know of don't give you an actual grade for your A.P. scores that is factorable into GPA.</p>
<p>I'm glad to hear that AP's are a "joke" compared to college classes. I wasn't particularly looking forward to self-studying AP's. </p>
<p>That's surprising that Stanford doles out credit for CC courses. I've also taken a couple of courses at a community college and found that they were somewhat less challenging than my regular high school classes. Strangely enough, Stanford is the only top college that my local community college boasts of having taken its credits. I wonder if it's the same with other HYP caliber (well... not caliber but selectivity really) and below schools. I surely hope so! </p>
<p>I peeked at the College Board's sample AP Calculus questions; the sample questions are straightforward. There are no proofs, extensive calculating, etc. just the basic concepts.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say that APs are a joke compared to college classes... I think it depends on what college you're talking about. I don't know about the reputability of UT but I've taken classes at a regionally known full four year college and those are COMPARABLE to AP courses. Its a different type of teaching and a different type of testing. I've only taken math and social science courses but with my experience they're comparable and in terms of getting college credit: take college courses... it's a much better bet!</p>
<p>Vicks546, I don't believe that taking colleges classes would affect GPA at another college. Credit is simply transfered. There is no GPA based on classes taken at a previous college, that would factor into the new school. Maybe it's different else where, but im pretty sure that's how it works. Besides that, I'd continue to take classes at UT, and you'll be just fine.</p>
<p>College classes all the way, APs are meant to simulate the real thing, and college classes are the real thing.</p>
<p>here's my take, I did IB.</p>
<p>the classes in high school were more work every night, with specific assignments to do.</p>
<p>in college, you can be behind on reading or whatever, behind on your math homework, and it doesn't matter at all. Until you hit the exam and you get a D because you were behind, and boom, for 33% of your grade you just got a D.</p>
<p>I did more daily work in HS, but the tests in college require much more preparation time.</p>
<p>"Stay with the college classes because unlike AP, the grades you earn not only give you credit hours ( same as an AP test) they can also factor into your GPA at whatever college you plan on attending. Most colleges that I know of don't give you an actual grade for your A.P. scores that is factorable into GPA."</p>
<p>Kinglin's right, few schools factor transfer credit into their GPA, though you never know. You also need to look carefully at the websites of the schools you're considering. A surprising number of schools don't even give transfer credit for college courses that were taken to meet high school requirements, especially courses in your major.</p>
<p>Finally, at even the best of times, transfers can be tricky. My S will graduate high school with 69 hours of college credit this spring, but will probably only be able to transfer 25-30 of it to the school he'll attend next fall. Unfortunately his new school doesn't have courses that correspond to many of those he had to take to in college to graduate from high school.</p>
<p>"Unfortunately his new school doesn't have courses that correspond to many of those he had to take to in college to graduate from high school."</p>
<p>Strick, what kind of classes are you talking about? </p>
<p>"A surprising number of schools don't even give transfer credit for college courses that were taken to meet high school requirements, especially courses in your major."</p>
<p>How about classes that are offered everywhere e.g. English composition and first-year calculus? What would it matter if one of my classes also filled a high school requirement? Don't AP classes fill a high school and college requirement simultaneously?</p>
<p>it depends on your AP teacher and also where you're taking the college class at. i know a friend who's at johns hopkins who says math is so easy because he had been so well prepared by his h/s ap calc teacher. i know students who did well in my h/s' ap calc, one of the toughest classes there, yet are having trouble at berkeley and caltech math. as for me, i miss my ap us history teacher, i havent found a single professor in college who is as good as he is. really depends on who your AP teacher is.</p>
<p>AP doesn't even compare to a calc class at a top college, I have taken 4 classes at U Wisconsin and they were 10 times harder than AP calc, and I got a 5 on the exam. Also Stanford doesn't take college credits that you use for graduation, the only reason that they took the community college classes you mentioned is that the credits you recieve wern't applied to highschool graduation.</p>
<p>BTW the calc sequence at UW is designed to weed out engineering majors who "just can't cut it", so they make those classes some of the hardest on campus. It was very difficult, my first test I had a a 32% on and that gave me one of the top 10 grades in a class of 150 (the top grade was a 98%)</p>
<p>i took Math 2A and Math 2B at UCI, were not difficult at all, got A first and A+ in Math2B (they have A-,A and A+). The average grade was 70 % in class of ~50. Cornell and Brown promised credit, MIT and Harvard not.</p>
<p>"Also Stanford doesn't take college credits that you use for graduation, the only reason that they took the community college classes you mentioned is that the credits you recieve wern't applied to highschool graduation."</p>
<p>Well, since my son was a homeschooler, those community college classes DID count toward high school graduation. They were listed on our homemade transcript, right along with the PS classes and the ones he did at home. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>"Unfortunately his new school doesn't have courses that correspond to many of those he had to take to in college to graduate from high school.</p>
<p>"Strick, what kind of classes are you talking about?"</p>
<p>My S's school offers/requires more traditional classes in history, literature and social sciences. Instead of "American History Through 1865", the school he'll attend next year is more likely to offer/require things like "The History of Revolution in Latin America". Different approach. </p>
<p>His hard science and math courses will transfer reasonably with little or no problem. Courses in his major won't transfer, again, because their program is structured differently (different names, a mis-match on what material is covered in which course) and because the deans in his major are very selective about what they'll accept as transfers from other schools.</p>
<p>We were greatful to discover that he won't have to repeat any courses, and that, even if a course doesn't transfer for credit, they'll place him in the appropriate level course based on his prior experience. For instance, he'll go into sophomore level courses in his major even though none of the courses he's taken so far transfer. We were very pleased with how they decided which courses to start him with.</p>
<p>The single biggest downside to transfers is that our school doesn't give standing based on transfer credit. That is, they'll consider my S a freshman the first year and a sophomore the second no matter how many hours he transfers in. That affects when he'll be able to register for courses and gives other students priority over him when classes begin to close. </p>
<p>This sort of thing varies from school to school so you have to either dig through their website or ask how they handle it.</p>
<p>well for us normal socially invloved full time high school students, if you take a class at a college and your high school gives you credit for it, those college credits you recieved can not be transfered to Stanford. Thats the bottom line, I heard it from 2 seperate admissions counslers at Stanford</p>
<p>It depends really. Community colleges can vary in how difficult their classes are, so given a choice between CC and AP, I think Universities would view the AP classes as better because at least the AP exam exists to rule out any school-to-school differences. Classes at a four year college, however, probably rank higher or above AP classes for the admissions people.</p>
<p>"the classes in high school were more work every night, with specific assignments to do."</p>
<p>This all depends on the school. At my school, I take 3 AP classes (Lang and Comp, Chem, US History) as a junior and find that all assignments in these classes (and many others) are long term--I have yet to have an assignment due the next day--rather, they are long assignments due on the day of the test, or not due at all--they must only be completed for your own good. If you are behind on your work, the teacher won't care, or take points out of your "homework grade," but you will be screwed for the exam. I have been told my graduates from my school that the AP and other college prep classes were great preparation. It really does depend on the school...however, taking real college courses has got to be better than trying to simulate them. </p>
<p>Good Luck.</p>
<p>Matt</p>