Do AP Classes ACTUALLY Prep you for College?

As title states. I will be graduating with 13+ APs (all of which are 4’s and 5’s but AP Computer Science, which I’m not going into). I am super worried about college (sp. bc I will be a pre-med at a pretty tough school) and was wondering if courses like AP Physics AP Chem and AP Bio actually prepare you. Or the coursework is so hard that it’s very far beyond it.

I am capable of studying for 6-8 hours at a time, and I am willing to put the work in. I just want some opinions on people’s own college experiences! Thank you so much in advance for reading! :smiley: :smiley:

College science courses expect high school level science as the prerequisites. So having AP level courses in those subjects would be a bonus.

But since you are pre-med, expect to be in classes full of grade grubbing competition for limited A- or higher grades*. Many students try to game the pre-med weed out process by repeating their AP 5 scores in.

*Pre-med grading scale:

A = acceptable
B = bad
C = catastrophic
D = disastrous
F = forget it

Remember, most AP classes are a semester’s worth of a college class spread over a year. The pace will be a lot faster, most likely. Yes, having taken all of those classes will help, at least from a, “Hey, I kind of remember that” perspective. Of course, it also depends on whether you’ll be graded on a curve and how smart the other people are (who also probably took those courses in HS) sitting in those classes with you. @ucbalumnus knows how bad it can get at a school like UCB. A lot of it is learning how to study for these classes/subject/teachers. If you are willing to adapt when necessary and put in the time, you should be OK.