<p>HasJay Mathews looked any other than the AP and IB exams?</p>
<p>A-Level are also supposedly harder and AP's are still seen as equivalents.</p>
<p>I'd say that APs are overrated because they're usually watered down one semester introductory college classes.</p>
<p>IMO, APs are only good for college credit, and in many schools, the credits won't matter as you will be foreced to take certain classes anyways. Plus, it is a one-day test, anything could happen to you that day that will affect your score, so they don't have too much weight on them.</p>
<p>I actually have started to see some schools except AP exams in lieu of SAT scores. So take it for what its worth.</p>
<p>To throw in my $0.02 on the original question...</p>
<p>Depending on the topic and the level of the non-AP class, I'd probably take that one. In many cases non-AP electives, especially in science, are complete BS, but there are also some schools which are lucky enough to offer advanced non-AP courses. For example, pretty much everyone I know decided to take AP Chem next (junior) year because "I heard colleges like APs," "Well, I don't like chem very much, but it's okay, and I need more APs," etc. I got the best grades in honors chem this year (hated the class though, except for a few topics), and I'm often one to jump on the AP wagon, but I'm taking Intro Organic next sememster, which has the reputation at my school of being at least as hard as the AP class. Many people I know hated inorganic chem just as much as I did, yet they're taking a whole extra year of it just to "impress colleges." Sad.</p>
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Most demanding curriculum available means that you are taking AP level courses.
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<p>This is probably generally true, but for several of the more wealthy or magnet schools (TJ, my school Stuy, Montgomery Blair Magnet etc.) this is not the case.</p>
<p>I agree with the general sentiment that APs are watered down, certain ones more than others. If I do decide to be a physics major, as I'm thinking right now, I have no idea whether I'll take the credit for C--if it were just based on knowing AP material I probably wouldn't, but at Stuy the AP classes are generally taught at a higher level than the test.</p>
<p>Ironically I self-studied Psych this year, but it was not (really!! honestly!) because it's "easy and looks good," I like the material. Great, now the colleges will think I'm taking all my AP classes to "impress" them. Wunderbar. <em>Hopes I don't come off that way</em></p>