I don’t understand how AP credits work, especially for nursing. If you go to a direct admit 4-year nursing program, and say you have credit for AP Pshychology which is required for nursing, do you just take 1 less class the first semester? Or do you end up just replacing Pshychology with another course? Do they really help, because a lot of colleges make you take a certain amount of credits to graduate. I trying to decide if it is worth it to take the AP tests.
The AP policies can vary between colleges. Usually, having AP credit will mean having to take one less class. That is particularly valuable because many nursing programs require more than 120 credits to graduate. I suggest figuring out which will be the hardest semester(s), and saving your lighter schedule for those semesters. For example, my daughter had one semester where she had to take two science courses which each had labs. She used AP credit that semester to take one fewer elective.
It gets more complex with core science classes. Even if you get AP credit, you may not want to skip important bio, chem and anatomy classes because they build upon each other. Another option would be to audit those classes, so you can learn all of the material without needing a grade.
For my daughter, her bio AP credit counted towards a basic bio class that was not part of the nursing curriculum. She still had to take the challenging freshman bio class that was part of the nursing curriculum, which worked out well for her.
My daughter also took online community college classes over the summers to lighten her load during the school year. Those online courses were not difficult, and she could take them while working full time over the summer.
Wow thank you so much! That answer is very clear and helpful!