He should consider that if he drops pre-med, but goes into a major that requires calculus 2, and he goes to a college that credits BC against calculus 2, he will want to have the BC score.
I am aware of only one college that does not give credit for AP classes, Amherst. There may be others that do not award credit for AP courses and some colleges may require a 5 or 4 score to award credit but I think it’s very uncommon for a college not to award AP credit for some courses. Having said that, each college or academic department within each college will decide which AP courses to award credit for. Perhaps this is a gross oversimplification but I think with public universities having a lot of strong AP scores will allow you to graduate 1 or 2 semesters early which obviously saves money. For private colleges it is less about graduating early and more common for students to double major. For example, D was admitted to Notre Dame this fall with 11 AP scores of 5 or 4. She is going to be able to double major in Math and Poly Sci and also have a minor in Constitutional something or other. This will not save us money but if she decides not to go to Law School she is in a much better position in the job market as a Math / Poly Sci double major than just say Poly Sci. So, if your son will end up going to a public college, having strong AP scores in some subjects may save you money but it is less likely at a private college.
Caltech, Harvey Mudd? (Though they have their own advanced placement tests and procedures.)
Amherst gives no credit for AP scores, but some departments give advanced placement (e.g. AP calculus may give placement into a more advanced math course). Dartmouth is similar in that students do not get credit toward the 35 courses needed to graduate, but can get advanced placement in some subjects.
From the school’s point of view, a public school with mostly in-state students wants students to graduate as quickly as possible, so that each student uses as little of the in-state subsidy as possible. A private school which gets most of its revenue from tuition does not want students to graduate early.
There’s one other option. You don’t specifically study for the exam – which is not an absurd thing to do since you’ve taken a whole course that was intended to prepare you for it. Then, you just take the test and see how you do.
My son took 4 AP exams (and got two 4s and two 3s) and my daughter took 8 (and got 7 5s and 1 4). Neither of them specifically studied for any of those exams. They figured that they had either learned the material in the course or they hadn’t. They didn’t seem particularly stressed.
If you’re a senior, you have nothing to lose by taking an AP exam except the $90 and a few hours of your time. Your AP score will not affect your college admission in any way. (Colleges do not rescind admissions for poor AP test scores.) And who knows? You might score high enough to get credit or advanced placement.
I realize that I’m kind of pushing for your son to take the test. My reason is that some high schools very strongly want their students to take AP tests after completing AP courses. It makes the high school look good if a lot of students take AP tests (even if not all score high). If a student refuses to take the test, the teacher and other high school personnel might react badly. And your son still has to live through a few more months at that high school.
Another take the test with minimal study argument. He’s already has credit for his AB score. If it was a proper BC class which covered all of the AB material again, then he’s had that material twice and it represents about 60% (off the top of my head) of the BC test.
It may not take all that much for him to manage a 4 on the test, especially since there is probably time being spent reviewing in class anyway.
Thanks for the suggestions. I will run it by him tonight as today is the last day to register for the exams. Also, at his school, the last day for seniors will end in the first week of May (concurrently with the AP exams).
My S is bit eccentric in a sense that if he is taking a test (any test), he wants to do extremely well (for AP, that means 4 or 5). If he feels that he will not do well (as in last year’s AP Calc AB and AP Physics, he got 4 in both), he will stress about it. Much like the Marian’s kids, my S hardly studied for all of his other AP classes last year (and got mostly 5).
I am digressing here but it’s funny when it comes to my S in math. He gets most of the concepts in Calc and will solve, in general, most of the questions, but due to his “horrible” handwriting, he often makes very stupid mistakes (e.g. his 4s will often look like 9s, and 6s look like 0s, etc.) or he sometimes makes simple mistakes. From ES, I have tried to point this out and emphasized writing numbers clearly but to no avail.
My two sons took numerous AP classes/exams in high school. They did not use the credits for graduate early, as they had full tuition scholarships. But, those credits allowed my older son to graduate with two majors and two minors, and my younger son, who is currently in school, to double major and earn a minor. My older son’s major in economics and minor in math helped him land an assistantship last summer at law school. My younger son is currently interviewing for finance internships this summer, and even one of the branch managers at a bank remarked about his interest in mathematics.
So, sometimes the AP credit will open some doors to additional educational opportunities rather than early graduation.
You may not want to graduate early, but you may want to:
- Do a Co-op//internship
- Study abroad
- Do a 3-2 Master’s program
- Do research
- Take more lab courses and spread them out
- Double Major