<p>Just wondering... how much harder would be... for example, a college level Gen Chem course vs. the AP Chem test? How about other AP science/math courses for pre-med vs. the college ones? Is there a correlation between AP score/grade you'll probably get in college? I know that College Board says if you get a 3, for example, you'll get around a B-. Is this true?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Though AP classes are standardized in some ways, they vary so much that your question is really not possible to answer. Many students opt to use AP credit for humanities classes, but re-take science classes IF they are majoring in a science or engineering.</p>
<p>It depends on your school and specially how hard the department within your school is. I’d say a 5 is probably equivalent to an A. A 4 to a B, etc. Keep in mind though that you will probably have a lot more time to study in college than you ever did in high school. In high school you spend 8 hours a day in school and then you have very little time to study after school. In college you spend like 15-20 hours a week in classes, this gives you a lot more time to learn the material better. I made 4s on a lot of my AP tests (took around 8 AP tests and 6 of them were 4s). I then went on to make A lot of As in college. I have only made 4 Bs in college so far. I think the reason for that is not that I suddenly became smarter when I entered college but more that I had a lot more time to spend learning the material instead of wasting it on useless busy work that high school teachers give.</p>
<p>In general, AP tests and AP courses are much easier than the college versions. The curve on the AP test is tremendous. You can miss a ton of questions and still get a 5. Similarly, it is more difficult to get an A in a college course than your HS course since you’re competing against smarter kids.</p>
<p>^I think it depends more on the ‘college’. The AP courses in our high school are much more rigorous than the corresponding course at the local juco. OTOH, the same AP course is not even close to the rigor of the top UC’s. </p>
<p>OP: supposedly, a 3 = C in a college course.</p>
<p>bluebayou: I agree</p>
<p>Overall, I’m more w/Colleges in terms of the experience, say here. I don’t really think it (AP) matters too much outside of exposing oneself to more rigor than the norm for HS. For example, a person who takes an AP and fails the exam can still get an A in the college version, even at a rigorous institution where the course is indeed tougher than AP (for the most part). This mainly applies to stem classes though, where there is a comparison to be made in the first place. I’m convinced those equivalencies that college board lists overestimate the rigor of college or are assuming that it’s the same environment as high school w/harder content. Many courses have harder content, but the environment is so much more relaxed that it feels easy (and sometimes you actually learn the stuff because you have time to learn it for real, and not merely in context of some exam to be given). </p>
<p>Social sciences and history courses are generally taught far differently at say, an elite private college than in an HS AP “equivalent”. I specify because I go to one, and I also know some elite publics that do it much differently. For example, both may have largish lectures (but the elite public will be much larger), but the private institution seems more inclined to fit in more writing assignments, while many public institutions, for intro. social science/political science, courses may merely have exams because the class is so large and there aren’t enough TAs in the world to grade numerous writing assignments (public schools also seem more inclined toward multiple choice exams for big courses like that). Also, another key difference is that some AP courses will primarily rely on a textbook and perhaps 2-3 novels or something in history/social sciences (none which will necessarily be directly addressed on the AP exam) whereas the college course may have 2 primary texts (and in many cases, not simply ones meant to fill your head up w/facts. Some require reading between the lines to understand various concepts relevant to the course), perhaps some novels, and several other excerpts or even research papers to be read (again, I’m thinking smaller schools are more inclined to format an intro. social science/history course like this) and all of it is fair game on the exams. Also, know that any type of top school (public or private) seems to assume you have a reasonable writing ability. So even frosh courses that are writing intensive or involve writing assignments assume you’re at least okay at it. </p>
<p>And yes, colleges is right. The workload at most universities is less intensive than HS. The goal is to “perfect” exams and the reasonable amount of assignments that you do receive. Given the low"ish" workload and ample time, many professors do indeed set high expectations. And while getting a B is fairly doable, some expect awesome work to qualify for an A grade. Needless to say, getting a 5 on an AP exam does not tell much about ones ability to do any of this (managing perfection in a somewhat lower stress, but more distracting environment, and w/little initial insight on some profs’. standards and expectations).</p>
<p>Depends on you, your Hs, your UG and subject. There is no general answer to this question. D’s first Bio went thru AP material in 2 weeks, was weed out killer class, while Gen. Chem. was the easiest science even without AP (D’s HS did not offere AP Chem.), which landed her SI position.</p>
<p>K. I got a 3 on Chem, so I was kind of hopeless for college haha but I’ll put in as much effort as I can to get an A.</p>
<p>^^^ lol, I am like that too. I hate chemistry. I have always hated chemistry since high school. I never took AP Chem but I did take honors Chem in high school and I made Bs in those. In college I ended up with 2 Bs in Gen Chem (2 out of the 4 Bs I made in my first 2 years of college). I had to work really hard for those Bs considering how I had a weak foundation from high school (I was really lazy in hs) and how during Gen Chem lectures I would find my mind drifting to subjects that I did enjoy.</p>