<p>At D's school, she, like most kids, took 1 AP in 10th; 3 in 11th and 3 in 12th. Some kids take 4 or 5. APs traditionally are thought of as a way to show colleges that you want to challenge yourself academically. Interested in hearing feedback on how valuable they are, especially if the workload is so brutal it displaces time spent on other classes. Do any of the top schools let you use APs to skip intro classes? Are APs now a "canned" solution that will be phased out in future years?</p>
<p>Tired? They’ve been around since I was in HS. For most schools, they are the only advanced classes. Top schools will always see if their applicants are pushing themselves with what’s available. </p>
<p>As for brutal workloads, many HS students rise to the occasion and maintain top grades. Isn’t this a good indicator if a student can perform at rigorous colleges? Sure, for some it’s too much. </p>
<p>Top scores on AP exams allow one to skip intro classes, yes. For lesser schools, they’ll even award credit.</p>
<p>They aren’t in any death throes as far as I’ve heard.</p>
<p>My son is a new freshman at a top university. He took 13 AP classes during high school and received enough credit to be classified as a second semester sophomore. He also got to skip some intro classes. Looks like taking all those AP classes was worth it to me.</p>
<p>All of the colleges that S2 is applying to this fall have a counselor form that needs to be filled out explaining some basic information about his high school. All but 2 of his schools (his safeties) have a question regarding how rigorous his course load was; according to the guidance office they answer either rigorous, very rigorous or most rigorous based on the number of honors, accelerated or AP classes a student has taken in their high school career. I think AP classes with their year-end tests provide a baseline ala the SAT/ACT that colleges can use to compare students from different schools. I suspect that APs are here to stay.</p>
<p>As for the workload, I think that APs can provide a “lite” version of what you’ll be facing in college.</p>
<p>I’ve taken a decent amount of AP classes (1 sophomore, 3 junior, 2 senior/now), and my school also has those people who take 4-6 APs a year. I think the best advice is to only sign up for APs you know you can handle or enjoy. I didn’t take AP US History because I don’t like American history at all, so I knew the class would just be a “chore” to me. By taking AP classes that I actually enjoyed, I believe that I learned more. APs a great for students who feel that most high school classes are a breeze and want to actually learn. This probably varies from school to school, but I can guarantee that at my high school, I learned more from APs just because of the difference in learning/testing style (understanding/comprehension as opposed to mere memorization).</p>
<p>Like vinceh said, AP classes provide a baseline number that can show honestly how a student is doing since we all know of the teachers who seem to practically give out A’s despite how little a student has worked. Because of this, I also think they will be around for a while and will probably even add courses as the years go by.</p>
<p>I think there is an overemphasis on them. I say that as the parent of a student who attended a Sci-tech magnet where there were many non-AP advanced classes, including specialized tech classes, post-AP classes, (as well as base classes that are considered honors classes by the County in all core subjects). In many cases the AP classes are pushing asides the specialized tech classes, IIUC. And some students, hearing about the need for lots of APs (like 8 plus) for the Ivies, take far more than they need for the fine schools they end up attending. Schools that are fine enough, its hard to get credit for all those AP’s.</p>
<p>It’s well noted that the top universities rarely accept credits garnered through the AP program. (More specifically, I’m talking about HYP and maybe a few others). </p>
<p>I think it’s a great program that introduces the college workload to a growing student. It’s also pretty important in exposing a student to what kinds of subjects he/she would be interested in pursuing a career for. Many colleges will take AP credits, even those close to the top, but personally, I see the credits as a useful side effect, and not what AP is about. </p>
<p>I took 1 AP freshman year (biology), 3 sophomore year (chemistry, world history, statistics), 4 junior year (psychology, US history, English language, and calculus AB) and am taking 5 my senior year (although some of the following have more than one exam - physics C, economics macro/micro, English literature, calculus BC, government).</p>
<p>My son’s at Cal for engineering. They did take all of his credits which was one of the reasons he decided to go there. It definitely helps with registration times and he got a lot of the GE stuff out of the way.</p>
<p>Brooklyn, there are very few high schools that are that rigorous. Colleges are generally well aware of such top preps and their non-AP course rigor. At most schools, however, AP (or IB) courses are the most rigorous option.</p>
<p>They’re supposed to be college level classes. In my case, at least, the AP classes were taught by the best teachers and some of them were harder than some of the actual college classes I took during my freshman year. If they’re displacing the time spent on other classes, that might be indicative that a student can’t handle a rigorous courseload since they are supposed to represent the amount of work you’d do in a college class.</p>
<p>I took 7 AP classes in school and I came in with 16 credits (some of my scores weren’t taken). It was a nice cushion; when I had a rough semester AND I studied abroad and didn’t take any classes that counted towards my major, I was still able to graduate in 4 years.</p>