Are AP courses a scam?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I am a freshman looking towards next year and possibly taking AP Calculus. My school offers only two AP classes. As I read all these threads from so many taking lots of AP classes, I was wondering if I would be at a competitive disadvantage down the road. I was reading all I could about AP Classes, pro and con. I came across the following article.</p>

<p>AP</a> Classes Are a Scam - John Tierney - The Atlantic</p>

<p>What do you guys think about what the author said? If increasing number of colleges don't give credit for AP classes, what is the point? Unless of course, everyone is doing only to learn and not worry about impressing colleges or getting credit in colleges.</p>

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<p>My school only offers about 10 of them. I personally take a lot of ap classes because I enjoy the topics and the environment they are held in. I don’t take them for college gain or any other college reason though I know a lot of people do.</p>

3

<p>I believe they are. I dropped AP Lit after seeing what it was about. The only reason I’m still in AP Government is because we’re doing the We The People competition that I want to be in.</p>

4

<p>I don’t believe so. Even if they are, I’m still going to take them. I enjoy the environment of AP classes. Well at least APUSH since it’s been my only AP so far. I enjoy the knowledge. I also like AP’s for another reason. It gives the teacher motivation and purpose to accomplish something in the classroom. Of course there will always be some teachers that don’t necessarily “teach”, but for the most part, AP exams give the teachers goals to accomplish a certain amount of teaching by a certain date. In my honors world history class my teacher just did random stuff just because, but I have that same teacher for APUSH and she actually stays focused on the curriculum because she knows that if a good number of us perform poorly, it will reflect her.</p>

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<p>@TinnyT, That would be the reason states have state testing for core subjects. Which is a heck of a lot better than AP testing made by a company that’s in it to bring in money.</p>

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<p>I just found [Op-Ed:</a> AP Classes Are One of America’s ‘Great Frauds’ : NPR](<a href=“Op-Ed: AP Classes Are One of America's 'Great Frauds' : NPR”>Op-Ed: AP Classes Are One of America's 'Great Frauds' : NPR) which gives the CollegeBoard’s response to the Atlantic article. The spokesperson pretty much calls the writer of that article an idiot. I think the spokesperson is more than likely the more ignorant of the two though…</p>

7

<p>Well, my school pays for all of my AP tests, so whatever.</p>

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<p>@anmsestudent so does my school. It’s nice not having to worry about the cost.</p>

9

<p>Regardless of who pays for AP tests, why do you take the classes? I get the feeling that many take it to remain in the rat race. I don’t want to take 3 or 4 AP classes in one year (even if they are available to me at my school) if I am not going to sleep much and enjoy my high school years. I see many posts here where they complain about being overwhelmed with AP classes. Do Colleges prefer students with AP classes on their transcript? If I can take only two AP classes in 4 years of High School does it mean I should not even bother applying to top schools? I am not worried about getting credit for AP classes when I go to college. I will just take the classes in college I must take.</p>

10

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<p>No. Those tests are a joke and just shows how below standards some schools are. My original point still stands.</p>

11

<p>Colleges will NOT hold it against you that your school only offers 2 APs. To do so will be unfair. What they want is for applicants to take the most challenging curriculum available. This means take the 2 APs and any honors courses your school offers, and try to take additional advanced courses if possible, such as dual enrollment at a local college.</p>

12

<p>

How so? The writer of the Atlantic article makes claims without referencing data and uses anecdotal evidence, unlike the College Board’s response. I even clicked on of the links the Atlantic writer provides and laughed when I saw statements like this:</p>

<p>

[AP:</a> Good but Oversold? | Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/03/30/ap]AP:”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/03/30/ap)</p>

<p>As for my experience, I started off in college as a sophomore due to all my AP credits. I can sign up for classes earlier (this is a huge bonus), I have less general education requirements to worry about, and I can do things with my class schedule that would be very difficult if I had to take a bunch of required classes at the same time (I should be done with lower division bio/chem/ochem/physics at the end of 2nd year, which is unusual where I go).</p>

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<p>We gotta be honest here. We don’t HAVE to pay for AP. We can just take the course without paying for dual credit and AP exams. But what would be the point of taking AP exams if you know you’re going to fail the tests. However my state, Indiana does thing differently. It give u any math and science exams for free and reduced price on the rest (actually it’s a combination of my school paying as well). </p>

<p>However the manner of it being a scam is not so unbelievable. Look at the sat score. You have to pay 11 to send ur scores each. This is the part where everyone say “well u should had sent it while it was free.” I refused to send my scores if I don’t know what they are. Also they take around a week to deliver, for something that send everything electronically it is pretty slow. Don’t believe me, the rush scoring is a scam, u get ur scores sent in basically less time for a higher price. </p>

<p>AP on the other hand aren’t a scam. It’s not require to be paid for and is really bit essential to the college process.</p>

<p>Sent from my LG-VM696 using CC</p>

14

<p>Before I state my opinion on the matter, some facts about AP classes in my school:</p>

<p>-We have a grant that pays for all of the exams
-We have to take the exam if we take the AP class
-I’m not sure how other schools do it, but at my school, there is only 1 class for each AP (example: AP World only has one class of 25 kids or so, not two or three) so we have to apply, write an essay, etc., and be selected.</p>

<p>That said, I do not take AP classes to get potential college credit (that is an added bonus). I do not take AP classes to stay in the “rat race” of being the best, or to weight my GPA (weighted GPA determines if a student will graduate with honors or not). In fact, my high school got rid of rankings a few years ago. Regardless, I could care less about my class rank, more about my GPA (personal satisfaction, not because I want to be the best). </p>

<p>I take AP classes because I’m guaranteed to be in a class with peers who actually enjoy learning and are pretty intelligent (see point 3 made in my facts statement at the top), and people aren’t asking me what the answer to everything is. More mature kids, smarter kids, etc. I also enjoy the challenge of AP classes. Whether or not it’s an actual college level class (And believe me, my AP World teacher sees to it that it is like a college level class)</p>

<p>As a freshman last year (freshmen cannot take APs at my school), I was in the “advanced” classes (which anyone who checks “T/A classes” (what my school calls the advanced classes but not yet honors [only certain classes are considered honors, none for freshmen]) can take) and in every single one of them, kids would always come up to me and say, “What’s the answer to this? What did you get for that?” It was very exasperating, and made it so the classes were not very beneficial. The kids in them were immature, rude, and frankly, many didn’t try. They were not dumb, but they put no effort into their work. </p>

<p>So AP classes, for all their tears and toil, are very worthwhile to me. Probably makes me sound pretentious, but I’m not saying I’m smarter than all the others who are not in AP classes. But my classmates and I work hard, are mature, and yes, we probably do have an above average intelligence level. Just as I’m horrible in math class, there are those who aren’t the best at x subject and shouldn’t be in the AP class for that, just as I will never take AP Calc.</p>

<p>I also enjoy the challenge of AP classes. There is an incredible difference from my math class to my AP World class. In my math class, people are always talking, blatantly being rude and mean to the teacher, and getting in trouble. In my AP World class, we are focused and work hard. We can have actual debates (yes! Very possible, unlike other classes in which kids would have no idea what they were talking about), work hard, have projects, etc., with mature individuals. One time when we were taking notes, we got off topic for 10 minutes and talked about the Sistine Chapel. </p>

<p>Notice the difference in what I’m describing?</p>

<p>For me, college credit and an extra point to my GPA are just added bonuses. I take the classes because the kids I’m in them with are a heck of a lot better peers than a lot of the kids outside AP classes, and I enjoy the challenge. I go in English class and know every answer. I go in AP World and get stumped on the question 5/10 times, but I’m still happy.</p>

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<p>They are a scam. They take place in a high school building with high school students. They’re often taught by someone with a BA only, not a professor. The problem is there isn’t much else for colleges to fall back on when trying to assess “rigor.” That’s fine so long as they don’t offer credit.</p>

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<p>Its not a scam. Scams are things like Ponzi stuff and *HELLO GULLIBLE PERSON! YOU ARE THE 1,000,000 VISITOR IN THE LAST 3.76 SECONDS!!! CLICK HERE TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE!"</p>

<p>AP classes are slowly becoming useless</p>

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<p>^See my post; useless is an opinionated statement, to me they are not useless.</p>

<p>But as far as saying that they are completely college level classes, yes that part would be a scam. </p>

<p>They are above Honors classes but below college classes.</p>

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<p>I agree completely with CE527M. Taking AP classes, for me, is more about the environment. The possibility of college credit and a higher GPA, are just bonuses. I’ll give an example. Honors world history, was so incredibly boring. Everyday we were given one assignment and then the teacher would go sit behind his desk and go on the computer. I switched to AP after 1 quarter. </p>

<p>Besides that, they prepare you for college. Most people don’t know how to do MLA or APA formatted papers. In college, those are generally the only ways to write a paper. AP classes teach you that. (Not just AP Lit/Lang. I had to write an APA style research paper for APES.) In my dual enrollment class, people were so confused by the APA style. It really helped that I had already written a paper in that format.</p>

19

<p>

What you stated doesn’t have anything to do with whether AP imparts the same amount of learning as in a college class or not (non sequitur). The question should be whether AP tests covers the same material at the same depth, which is independent of those aspects you mentioned.</p>

<p>Besides, many universities allow high school students to take their classes (if they’re willing to pay) and many college classes are oftentimes not taught by PhD professors (such as writing, calculus, labs, community colleges, etc.).</p>

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<p>Not sure if I would call an AP course a “scam,” but I don’t think they are the equivalent of a college course in terms of rigor. In particular, a lot of schools offer Calculus AB and Calculus BC as two year-round courses (i.e. it would take two years to complete single-variable calculus). Most (not all) colleges offer Calculus AB equivalent in 1 semester, and Calculus BC in one semester (i.e. 1 year to finish SVC). MIT squeezes the AB and BC parts into one semester.</p>