@twogirls, finding the first 1-2 semesters of college easier than high school is common enough for high achieving students- esp those in academically strong high schools- that students are often warned about relaxing too much- b/c they are often taken aback by semester 2-3. This is common in competitive colleges, where students are coming from a variety of backgrounds and the first semester or two work loads and expectations are often softened a bit to let everybody get their feet under them. I got that warning back in the day, and my Ds have been told the same thing by their high school.
D’s private high school has stringent requirements to get in to AP courses. Because of that, the courses are taught at a very accelerated level. While they do have a year to cover the material rather than a semester, most of the AP courses are pretty rigorous and require quite a bit of reading and analysis outside of class. Our zoned public high school has very lenient requirements to get in to an AP course - and if the student doesn’t qualify, if the parents request a meeting with the principal the student will be allowed in the class. The intent is good, to expose more students to AP caliber classes, but the reality is that the courses are then taught at a lower level because not all students in the course are truly ready to cover material at a college level. D’s school requires every AP student takes the AP exam, and has a very high pass rate. The local public school does not require students take the exam, and those that do have a much lower pass rate.
Many of D’s friends have said that college is easier than their high school was, even several years in. D hasn’t had that experience, but she is in an honors program at a Jesuit school that requires an enormous amount of reading, critical analysis, and writing of papers. Had she not had the rigorous AP courses in high school she would not have been nearly as prepared for college.
There have been some families who have left this high school because they were upset their kids did not qualify for the AP level courses. By switching to public school, the kids were able to take AP. But from what we’ve seen, their AP experience was not as challenging and did not do as much to prepare them for college.
It’s really impossible to apply any kind of general rule to something that varies so wildly from school to school.
Our HS requires every AP student to take the exam in order to get the weighted credit. Our school has a very high pass rate as well. D is not relaxing this semester; she is aware that the classes will eventually get more difficult and she continues to work hard. I agree with Collegemom.
Several have mentioned that ease/difficulty of HS AP vs. college is going to vary on the HS, the college, even by teacher. I agree. One other variance…A student who took an AP class in HS and has to repeat the college level course or take a similar class will most likely find the college class “easier”. Not necessarily because it is (though as mentioned it could be), but because the student has all the knowledge gained taking the AP.
There’s a huge difference:
An AP class is 9-10 months of classes, with 5 periods a week.
The same content is covered in college (and, depending on the college, it may even go more in-depth) and it’s 4 months with 2 or 3 periods a week.
Therefore, the pace is MUCH more intense in college - even community colleges go faster (even if they don’t go as much in-depth).
I’ll counter that some AP courses (Physics, US History, Chemistry, Comparative/American Government, Macro/Micro Econ…) will count as two 16 week semesters of college work while at my HS you would cover one half of the material in 9 weeks.
Lower division courses to me are on the same level as AP. Just like in high school you can get all of the work done in single sittings, skim for the key concepts / go through review books and be good for the tests.
It depends on the course/subject. In general I would say college classes are slightly easier, at least stuff like Psych 101 vs AP Psychology for example or English AP vs English 101/102, liberal art/GenEd type classes.
Science/Math I think there is no clear winner. I do think AP Calculus in high school is actually harder than in college though.
^I guess it depends heavily on the college then. But for admission purpose, the pace of a college course (even community college) is considered much faster and requiring much more autonomy than a high school class, and as such, is especially appreciated.
Way back in the eighties I thought college was easier (AP didn’t start being offered until the year after I graduated). In my case the material being covered faster didn’t affect me much. I was good and skimming and writing, which was enough to get me through. I didn’t find college particularly enjoyable, so I would never have graduated if it hadn’t come easy for me.
@MYOS1634 at schools on block schedule, 8 90-minute periods are spread over an even and odd day. Each individual class is 2-3 days a week, for 90 minutes each time.