If I got a bunch of 5s on my AP test, and then self reported them on my application, a lot of colleges require you to then submit your official AP transcript scores once you get submitted. Once you send the official AP transcript scores, do you have to claim credit for them? Like once colleges know your official scores do they force you to have credit for the class?
It depends on the school’s AP equivalency policy. If you are enrolled, submit your score and it meets the requirements for receiving credit, you’ll automatically receive the credit/place out.
If for whatever reason, you don’t want the credit, you’d have to talk to your academic advisor/registrar official. But you’d have to be crazy to not accept the credit.
Thank you
Some grade-grubbers prefer to repeat in college the courses that the college allows skipping with their AP credit. If such grade-grubbers are pre-meds, it is better for them not to get the AP credit, so that they do not have to mark “repeated course” on their medical school applications.
There are some colleges that charge more for upper division status. If a student brings AP credit but does not use it for any useful subject credit or to help graduate a semester earlier than otherwise, the AP credit may push the student into upper division status with higher tuition earlier than otherwise.
As @izrk02 said, it depends on the school. My daughter’s school (Rice) gave credit for 4s and 5s but allows students to take the class again with no indication of it being a “repeat”. My daughter is a mechanical engineering major and chose to take Physics (Mechanics) again even though she received a 5 on the equivalent AP test. She felt it would give her a stronger foundation in a subject that is critical to her degree. (Personally I wouldn’t have retaken it but that was her decision.)
Your daughter probably did the correct thing. Getting that foundation in college is important. Same with calculus.
Regarding repeating AP credit for which the college allows advanced placement:
A. A student unsure of whether to take advanced placement may want to try the college’s old final exams for the course(s) to be skipped to check the student’s knowledge by the college’s standards. This will allow a more informed placement decision rather than assuming that it is always better to repeat the AP credit (which can be a waste of schedule space or tuition if the student knows the material well).
B. Pre-meds need to disclose repeated courses or AP credit on the medical school application even if the college does not show the repeat on the transcript.
At quite a few engineering schools where my daughter applied, students were told to think long and hard about placing out of fundamental courses like Physics, Calculus, and Chemistry.
Much as CB would like you to believe that a HS AP course is “just like a college course”, I can assure you that your typical high school AP Physics C course bears a pale resemblance to MIT/Purdue/GT/etc. Freshman Physics.
Many students took the class as a Freshman and no one considered them “grade grubbers”.
Ds was advised (by his advisor) to not use AP credit to place out of the intro classes in his intended major so that he had everything in his foundation when he took the next (required, and notoriously challenging) level. He was glad he did.
He happily used AP scores to place out of classes that met distribution requirements.
A friend had a D at the same college. She didn’t follow the advice my son was given and skipped the intro level in the same intended major. She struggled so much at the next level that she decided to major in something else.
It differs from school to school and by discipline. I would definitely get input from an advisor, especially in classes that build on a base.
Re: #7 @RichInPitt , #8 @gardenstategal
Why would a college publish an AP credit chart that allows a given AP score to get subject credit and advanced placement when its advisors tell students to retake the course? If it does not believe that AP credit is enough to place out of one of its courses, it should not list it as being able to, or require additional placement testing, or offer the subject credit only for specific situations (e.g. general education, but not for taking a more advanced course).
My D20 will be taking Physics this upcoming year even though she got a 4 on the AP, simply because she doesn’t feel confident in the material. Her teacher didn’t do much after school buildings closed, and if not for her engineer dad tutoring her through the next 2 months, she likely wouldn’t have even attained a 4. It doesn’t make sense to start engineering curriculum in college feeling insecure in knowledge of basic physics.
How confident in your knowledge do you feel?
This happens quite frequently in engineering. They want you to take “their” math or “their physics” which by the way is always much harder then their AP course. Every engineer told me to have my son retake Calc from 1-3 100% of them. He had Multivariate in high school so Calc 3 and got an A in it. His Michigan counselor told him the same. He told me afterwards that it was not easy at all and he is a known “math” kid. But got a great foundation now and it proved out. Not grade grubbing at all. Plus, some kids don’t do well with the AP format. For whatever reasons it’s a bad format for them.
My son’s AP credits certainly satisfied the school’s requirements for FL at a certain level or demonstrated adequate knowledge of calculus for someone who wasn’t going to pursue a STEM degree, but he felt there was a lot of additional info, and some additional methods, in his intro classes in economics than he’d seen in his AP courses (and he’d had 5s on those tests.)
I don’t think it’s unreasonable for a school to allow a kid to exempt out of FL for a 4 on the Spanish AP exam, especially if the student had no interest in additional language study AND at the same time recommend that a student who was planning to pursue higher level studies in Spanish that they repeat Spanish 4 to solidify certain skills that would be necessary for higher level classes. This is not so different from requiring completion of a prerequisite with a grade of x or higher to go yo the next level. Without the threshold, you passed the class. But not well enough to go higher.
I think it depends on where you want to go with the subject as well as the school.
I can’t begin to count the number of engineering students who recall the worst experience of their academic career was opting for the “higher” math class as a result of AP exams, DE credit, etc.
If they say that, then they should not list subject credit and advanced placement for AP scores up front on the web site, or list the circumstances where that may not apply (e.g. whether one will be taking a more advanced course, etc.).
University of Michigan lists the following AP credit for engineering students: https://admissions.umich.edu/apply/freshmen-applicants/ap-ib-credit#Engineering . If they want students to repeat from calculus 1 even with a 5 on AP calculus, shouldn’t they remove the granting of subject credit and advanced placement?
Rather than guessing placement based on how confident one is*, it would be better for the student to try the college’s old final exams for the course(s) that are allowed to be skipped. That will give real information about how well the student knows the material from the college’s point of view.
*Often, strong students are not that confident, while not-so-strong students are overconfident.
Purdue allows for the AP credits to count for general distribution credits even if you repeat the course (it’s also common at Purdue for engineers to not skip ahead although there are many that do after taking past exams). It doesn’t help with graduating sooner but can help with getting higher “standing” for things like priority course registration and housing.
I’d be particularly careful this year as AP made it clear that they were truncating the information they would be testing on in some subjects to deal with students being out of the classroom in March. If it’s a foundational course, I’d be extra cautious about being sure everything was covered in your AP class.
That is why trying the old final exams from the college’s course that can be skipped is a better way to make a more informed placement decision than just assuming that one should repeat one’s AP credit, as often advocated here.
No clue. He was able to use his AP credits for other things though. Again, he has taken all the high level math that he can get and as a senior doesn’t seem to be ahead or behind. He can graduate after this fall but wants to finish his two minors. Also some might just go ahead to something else. But in retrospect the kids that have done that some are repeating or not doing as well as they thought.