<p>My son can get 18 hours of college credits at U of South Carolina because he scored 5's on 3 AP exams. I have heard conflicting explanations of what this actually means.</p>
<p>For example, if 120 hours are required for a bachelor's, does my son need to only take 102 hours of classes? That would seem logical.</p>
<p>Or, does he still have to take 120 hours, and having the credits from the AP just frees him up to take additional electives, make it easier to double major, etc?</p>
<p>Take a vacation orpay for a semester of Grad school. he graduates early.</p>
<p>Sounds to good to be true, but I won't argue.</p>
<p>really depends on the school. some schools, ap credit can fulfill a core req, or place you out and into a higher level</p>
<p>btw, when do ap scores come out anyway?</p>
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btw, when do ap scores come out anyway?
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<p>They've been available by phone for awhile now, and depending on where you live, you should recieve them in the mail within the next week if you haven't already.</p>
<p>Please don't think of me as one of those bragging parents that children have complained about in other threads, but my son started at his school with 30 AP credits. Some of those were applied as core credits. Some gave him the ability to start at higher level classes. He could have graduated in three years, but chaned majors. He needs to do a fourth year for his engineering reqs.</p>
<p>Congrats, LWMD!</p>
<p>I hope my son has that many credits, too, when he graduates. Hopefully he will pick up another 12 his senior year. I believe he is taking AP classes in Computer Science, US Govt, and English.</p>
<p>As a student, let me say that AP isn't everything.</p>
<p>On the surface, yes, AP seems like a fantastic idea. Great! Save time AND money? How can this be any better?!</p>
<p>In your case namtrag, it depends on if your son can actually apply the credit towards courses that he needs for his major. For example, if your son were an English major but scored a 5 on the AP Music Theory exam for six hours of college credit, obviously that's useless. For a "core" class, something like BC Calculus or AP English Lit/Comp, you have a better chance of getting credit.</p>
<p>Back to my original statement: yes, AP scores can help place you in higher classes and save you money. But, whether this is actually advantageous or not is up for debate. Skipping the pointless "required" classes makes sense, but skipping something that may actually be useful (a biology class for a biology major, for example) isn't necessarily good. Sure, the person will be ahead, but they pay the price of potentially missing out on important knowledge. I think that AP should be used as something to put on apps, and nothing for. The fact remains that AP classes are still high school classes taught by high school teachers, not college classes taught by professors.</p>
<p>I see what you mean, Alex. But I think if you use the AP credits to get requirements out of the way that are not in your major, that's a good thing. In other words, there may be a requirement to get some liberal arts classes as a math major. So my son's 6 hours of history credits could get that requirement done, and allow him maybe to take 6 hours in a second major, say French.</p>