Same or similar courses or content, or different?
If the courses or content are the same or similar, then the comparison is about pacing, format, rigor, transferability, etc…
But if they are different, there are other variables to consider. Also, college courses may cover higher or lower level material than AP material (e.g. in math, intermediate algebra is lower than AP level, while multivariable calculus is higher level).
Same here. Son was accepted to Berkeley with not so perfect gpa, however, he took rigorous aps, comp sci, calculus bc, physics E M… and got all 5s. Personally I think ap scores helped his acceptance.
Really depends on the school both high school and college as to which is best. DD ended up at OU as a Meteorology major, although OU said they would take “unlimited AP/DE credits” she could only apply 30 AP credits towards her degree but she could apply up to 60 DE credits.
Both boys knew they would stay in state in Texas so they took Texas Government as DE as there isn’t an AP class for that and it’s a required class for Texas colleges.
Our highschool was know for having a crazy hard AP American History class so my boys (after watching their sister almost have a breakdown over that class) took it DE instead of AP,
For my daughter’s major OU required her to complete the entire cal sequence either before admittance on at OU. AP credit would only count for CAL I and II so she took Cal III DE so she wouldn’t have to repeat CAL I and II.
Oldest son wanted to take Philosophy which wasn’t offer at his high school so he took it DE over the summer.
All of this to say there are lots of reasons why to pick DE vs. AP.
My kids had both DE and AP credit in various proportions. It’s really not so straightforward as just saying AP is better. In our district you could take AP lang and AP lit and only get credit for one of them at the state U (and many other universities) in the freshman English sequence, but DE English was just one year and took care of the entire freshman English sequence.
We didn’t have any particular trouble getting either kind of credit accepted at the two privates and one public (all OOS) that my kids attended (and it was a lot of credit for a couple of my kids) except for the APlang/lit thing where only one of the two was accepted for credit even if both tests were passed. Honestly I don’t think AP vs DE affected admissions much if at all either.
One other consideration is that a poor grade in an AP class affects the high school gpa but a poor grade in dual enrollment or a CC course may also affect the future college gpa.
Here’s a related question: say the kid does some DE courses that the school doesn’t offer, and takes the May AP exam (in the subject equivalent, such as Calc BC). In Grade 11/junior year, these AP marks (especially 5s) can help a student’s application to colleges.
But what about grade 12/senior year? Say they take DE cc Stats - what benefit is there to still taking the AP equivalent test in May of graduating year, when they already know where they are going to school? (Keep in mind AP test registration is mostly being handled in the fall of each year now; so a student won’t know which college they are attending since the application process is taking place.)
None, assuming the college accepts the DE credit and assuming the student doesn’t transfer to another school later.
Genuinely unclear here - but aren’t some schools only taking AP credits and not DE ones? (With the use of credit being either a) not having to take a class again or b) placing into a higher level of a subject, such as math, English, foreign language.)
For example, my understanding is that an AP test score will help a DE student ensure there’s credit for a class at the school that they ultimately attend.
And, unfortunately, students don’t know in the fall, when AP test registration is encouraged and mostly done now, where they will end up attending college. So the student doesn’t know if their future college will take AP credit, DE credit, both or neither.
The question asked was what is the point in taking AP scores exams in senior year once the student knows where they’re going. My answer is to that question. By May 1, when they commit, the student should have looked up the transfer policy at the committed school. If they accept DE credits, don’t take the AP exam
If you want to rework the question to ask if the student should plan to take an AP exam for a corresponding DE courses in senior year before results are released, then the answer changes. There are 3 options: roll the dice by not registering for the Aao exam and hope the college accepts DE credit or register for the test and end up not taking the test (and losing the fee depending on college acceptance notification date) or register for the test and take the test
Only matters if the college accepts AP credit but not transfer credit for the college course taken while in high school.