So I’m in a variety of AP classes, and while I wouldn’t consider them easy, I can study very minimally and scrape by with an A. Which got me thinking… are college classes similar in terms of difficulty? AP classes are supposedly college-level courses, but I highly doubt this at times: AP Microecon vs Econ 101? AP Bio vs Freshmen College Bio? What are your experiences? Which is harder? Which takes more time?
We have coloring homework last night in AP Bio…so that’s that
It really depends. There are some colleges, like community colleges, that have easy breeze courses. But other colleges and even different professors in the same institution can be the regulators of the difficulty. My personal experience was that AP is harder than college courses, but that’s because my college professors were very lenient.
Generally, AP classes ≤ College Classes in terms of difficulty. You’re still in high school, and there can still be district policies in place. For example, my school district’s policy was that if you made a grade below a 70 on any assignment, you were allowed to make it up if requested. That was policy for elementary through high school.
In college, this is completely optional depending on the professor.
Additionally, in high school you typically meet 5 days a week whereas college, you usually meet 3 or less days a week. More of the responsibility for class material is placed on you.
AP classes weren’t too different from college classes in my opinion, but I took my AP/dual credit classes very seriously. Only two classes in my undergrad have I seriously thought I was gonna die in.
AP classes vary tremendously, but it’s how you do on the AP exam that counts- and many schools don’t even make you sit the exam. Lots of people who get As in the class are are surprised to find that they get 2s or 3s on the AP. You can get a good idea of how comparable a college sees any/all APs is by which tests and which scores they accept, and for what classes you can get credits.
Varies depending on: subject matter itself (Social Science/Humanities/STEM/Arts/Foreign Language), the University (Directional State/Ivy League/Community College/Tech School/etc), student work ethic, professor, prior experience/exposure, and so on.
These have been my experiences personally thus so far:
College Calculus I and AP Calculus AB were about the same level of difficulty in my opinion – the AP version was slightly easier because my teacher was more lenient when it came to making up assignments and extra credit, but overall, my experiences in both were very similar.
AP English Language and Literature were more difficult than ENGL 101 & ENGL 102 – while I passed both exams with a 5, I was still required to take the “honors” version of ENGL 102 as a requirement for my University’s Honors College. I also tutor ENGL 101 and 102. The level of work expected in ENGL 101/102 paled in comparison to the amount of reading and writing I did in the AP counterpart. My AP English Lang. class had 3-5 page essays due once a week (in class and out of class), while my h.ENGL 102 course only had three essays for the semester - two of which were 4 pages and one of which was 10.
Environmental Science was a lot more complex in college than APES. I received a 5 on the AP Environmental exam but it counted toward a general science req. – I ended up taking a more formal introductory environmental science course for a separate gen ed. requirement. The topics that were discussed in the Intro course went into much more depth and had a lot more nuance than the subject matter in AP Environmental. We were also expected to retain a lot more interdisciplinary scientific information – Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geology, and so on (whereas my APES class had a more social scientific bent – Anthropology, Law, Politics, Economics, etc.)
AP Government and POLI SCI 101 were both very straight forward. AP Government was more interactive while POLSCI 101 happened to be more one-dimensional (huge lecture hall - listen to professor, do reading, take exam, repeat.) But neither were particularly difficult.
Like others have said, it depends. Some high school AP teachers are tough and teach difficult material, while others don’t quite match up to that standard. Some colleges or professor teach very easy classes, while other professors seem to revel in making a course ridiculously hard. Some subjects are by nature harder. In college you may also have to contend with the weedout classes, which would almost certainly be more difficult than any AP course.
I took a high level honors freshman general chemistry course this semester and it was MILES above AP Chem in difficulty and depth. We ended up learning a fair amount of physical chemistry, which was insane. I also feel that in college there is a smaller margin for error. For example, AP Calc BC probably requires about 75+% for a 5. My Calc 3 class required at least a 90% for an A (I screamed out loud when I found out that I’d gotten that A haha).
There is also a lot more self learning involved, making your own study guides, etc.
On the flip side, I found my Intro Psych course to be very easy.
For the most part, I find that college courses and tests have much more depth and detail than AP tests. For the classes that I took this semester, there was no way I would be able to minimally study and get As.
AP courses are supposed to cover college level material, though presented in high school format for the most part. However, be aware of the following:
- Some AP courses take a year to cover what a college course covers in a semester (e.g. calculus AB, psychology).
- Some AP scores are less commonly accepted for *subject* credit at colleges because the colleges commonly treat the material more rigorously than those AP courses (e.g. history, physics), or because the colleges do not have those courses at all (e.g. human geography). If you look at the AP credit pages of various colleges, you may note which AP scores are less commonly accepted for subject credit than others.
- College courses in general require more student self-motivation and time management; instructors will not monitor your progress or do as much to keep you from falling behind as they do in high school. Students going to residential colleges also will not have their parents telling them to do their homework instead of socializing with other students hanging out in the dorm.
Many curves for AP Exams are pretty ridiculous. In physics c, 60% is a 4. In bio, 75% or so is a 5. This can’t possibly be true in college classes, can it?
Some large college courses are “graded on a curve” because the instructors do not want to have to finely calibrate the difficulty of the tests to a pre-set absolute grading scale. Sometimes, a test in such a course is quite difficult, so that a 50% score may be curved to a B grade.
AP classes are honor level high school classes-no more than that. I know of no AP course that is close to an actual college class. Some school systems are beginning to realize this. Some excellent school systems have stopped offering AP classes and some college have backed off of offering as much credit as they had been for them. I know there is now resistance in some mediocre state schools to giving credit for 3s. Of course, the fact that any credit is given for a 3 is absurd since students can get 3’s by getting a 65% on the final of some tests. Someone I know who took calc in an elite tech school said that all of AP CalcBC is covered in a few weeks. APs were driven by the private company called the College Boards wanting to make a mint off the hides of public schools in the US. It was outrageous and I’m glad to see some districts pulling their curriculums back from the greedy hands of that company.
I think depends on the teacher. Some of the AP classes at our D’s HS require that the students be prepared and cover all the material. Others not so much. D took a semester long AP Psych. which covered half the material. She will need to self study the other half of the course. Her AP Bio and Chem teachers do a good job of covering everything and how well you do in the course will correspond pretty well with both test results and how you would do with similar courses in college. D13 got a 5 in AP Chem and was required to take 2nd semester Chemistry in college to fulfill her Chem Lab requirement to get into her major. She said the class in college was pretty easy for her because it was mostly review. The biggest difference was in the Lab portion.
AP calculus usually is equivalent in material covered to college calculus (except at Caltech and Harvey Mudd, where their “calculus” courses are proof based and more like real analysis – and they specify regular calculus taken while in high school as a prerequisite).
Hard to believe. Caltech and Harvey Mudd cover the same material in a quarter/semester (not just a few weeks), but at a much deeper level. MIT considers calculus BC the equivalent of one semester (not just a few weeks) of its calculus, which is accelerated compared to normal, though it also offers a “with theory” option for those who want to go into it at a much deeper level.
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/ap/ap_history_english.pdf indicates that AP had its origins in a collaboration between elite private high schools and elite private colleges. Perhaps the wider availability these days means that they are no longer elite enough and hence must be disdained by elitists?
Of course, the addition of many “AP lite” courses helps them make such arguments. Students need to be aware that not all AP courses are equally rigorous or have equal value in getting advanced placement in college.
AP Bio is taken over a year. College Bio is taken over a semester.
Wait until you take the AP test to see how you do…if you get a 5 you should be in good shape.
If a 2, then you need to work harder in college.
Yup. My physics class last semester had exam averages in the 60’s. Very generous curve there.
My experience was that AP was overall significantly easier than most college classes. I also came from a not-so-good high school, so take that for what it’s worth.
That said, I’ve had a couple complete blow-off classes in college. And I’ve had classes that weren’t blow-off classes, but that I was naturally good at and found very easy as a result. A lot of it has to do with both the professor/teacher and how good you are with the subject, and that goes for both AP and college classes.
One thing that AP helped with in the long run was with writing essays quickly. Thanks to taking AP English and having to write in-class essays very often, I’m good at getting an essay written quickly, even if it’s not the highest quality. For your typical paper, this means I get my thoughts down quickly and then have plenty of time to edit until I’m happy with the result. For essay exams, it helps immensely because I’m already used to quickly writing an essay.
So while AP classes themselves may not have been as difficult as my college courses, they helped in other ways (besides the credits).
My daughter recently commented that HS was much harder academically than college (she is a freshman), however she recognizes that this will change as she gets more into her major. She took honors biology in HS and last semester she took biology 101 and did not find it to be hard at all. As a matter of fact she commented that much of it was a review from HS. She attends what is considered a pretty competitive college.
Re: #17
Was her high school academically elite among high schools, or was it a high school that tended to pile on lots of work?
I would call it a very very strong public high school. I would not call it elite and they did not pile on a lot of busy work. In 9th grade she took honors biology and the teacher encouraged the class to take the subject test. She went in without studying (other than for the class) and got a 750. In 10th grade she took honors chemistry and many of the parents felt it was taught at the AP level. Once again she took the subject test in 10th grade after taking honors chemistry and received a 770 without studying any more than what she did for the class. She did work very hard in HS - she also works hard in college but says so far it’s “easier.” This will change as she gets more involved in her classes. She showed me a book that she bought for her English class and on the back it says “reading level grades 7-10.” Last semester she had an English class and told me that her 9th grade English class was harder. FYI she attends a top public. I do not get it…but I know it will get harder based on students I know who graduated already.
I want to add that she loves her classes and feels she is getting an excellent education. She is very involved and has many many opportunities at her fingertips. The fact that she says HS was harder just seems weird to me…