Drop Spanish and just take the CLEP Exam?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

So I am currently a sophomore in high school, I come from a Spanish speaking household so I’ve been around the language all my life and I’ve taken Spanish in school since 7th grade. The way my school works, I was in a class with native Spanish speakers in middle school (7th and 8th grade), and was what supposed to happen was I would take two more years of the same type of class in high school which would allow me to take a four credit SUPA Spanish class a year earlier than everyone else.

However freshman year I was put into a normal honors class and my schedule wouldn’t work out so I could simply switch out. I was supposed to be put in the native speaker class this year but the same thing happened again. In order for me to take the SUPA class now, I would need to take an extra year of Spanish which I really don’t want to do and wait senior year.

My question is, would it just be better for me to drop Spanish after this year and take the CLEP exam sometime in the summer before junior year?

2

What scheduling problem prevented you from getting into the Spanish-for-native-and-heritage-speakers course?

What is SUPA, and what level of high school or college Spanish course is it supposed to be equivalent to?

3
  1. It would have required me to drop some important honors courses and electives in order to fit it in, it’s too late now regardless.
  2. SUPA is basically dual enrollment with Syracuse University (as per wikipedia - SUPA is an educational program that provides high school students with the opportunity to take Syracuse University courses in their own schools during the regularly scheduled school day. After successful completion of the course(s) they can request to transfer the credits they earn into the colleges/universities they attend after high school This is an example of a Concurrent Enrollment Program or Partnership (CEP).)
    In this case, its equivalent to Spanish III: Intermediate Spanish at Syracuse
4

Well, we don’t know what colleges you’ll aim for. But the higher the tier, the trickier it can be to take your native language as a “foreign” language.

That said, if you’re stem and have a legit conflict, some colleges will understand. But if this is just about pumping up the number of APs or taking some unnecessary elective, you may need to evaluate. Are you stem, thinking some of the vocational classes are critical? What are these important classes?

You can always find an online class, in order to continue. Or figure outhow to add a different language, if available.

5

Meaning Syracuse SPA 201? The first four Spanish courses at Syracuse are SPA 101, 102, 201, 202; see http://coursecatalog.syr.edu/content.php?filter%5B27%5D=SPA&filter%5B29%5D=&filter%5Bcourse_type%5D=-1&filter%5Bkeyword%5D=&filter%5B32%5D=1&filter%5Bcpage%5D=1&cur_cat_oid=15&expand=&navoid=1981&search_database=Filter&filter%5Bexact_match%5D=1#acalog_template_course_filter . Syracuse says that native or heritage speakers must take its placement exam before registering for any Spanish course; see http://lll.syr.edu/placement-exams.html .

https://www.syracuse.edu/admissions/undergraduate/apply/credit-transfer/ says that:

3 on AP Spanish = SPA 102 (so you can take SPA 201)
4 on AP Spanish = SPA 201 (so you can take SPA 202)
50 on CLEP Spanish, plus passing of oral test at SU = SPA 101 (so you can take SPA 102)
66 on CLEP Spanish, plus passing of oral test at SU = SPA 102 (so you can take SPA 201)

AP Spanish information and sample exam questions:
https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/apcourse/ap-spanish-language/exam-practice
CLEP Spanish information and sample exam questions:
https://clep.collegeboard.org/world-languages/spanish-language

You can try the AP and CLEP Spanish sample exam questions to get an idea of how your Spanish skills are compared to the exams and (by implication from Syracuse’s AP and CLEP credit charts) the Syracuse courses.

6

Unless you’re planning to attend Syracuse, the SUPA class isn’t really as great a deal as you think. Many colleges don’t accept transfer credit for dual enrolled classes that are taught at your HS - they only transfer credits taken AT the college. Many others don’t give credit for CLEP exams - you don’t take those and turn them into credits on a transcript. You best bet would be to take the AP exam, which is more likely to be accepted for credit, but even then you might be required to take the next class in sequence to earn that credit.

7

My school doesn’t offer an AP Spanish course but if it did I would take it, however I’ve been looking into which schools I’m interested in and will likely apply for, and the majority of them do accept CLEP for credit, also I’ve done some of the sample questions on both the college board website and some other sources and it seems like easy credit to be honest and a better option as opposed to taking two more years of Spanish.

8

The credit opportunity is different than admissions expectations. And the more competitive your target may be, th easier it is to sometimes filter kids based on dropping language.

9

Syracuse appear to think that AP Spanish is a higher level than CLEP Spanish, so if you can do well on the AP Spanish exam, a high AP score may be more helpful than a high CLEP score from both an admission standpoint and credit/placement in college standpoint.

If your Spanish skills are more advanced (in all areas, including reading and writing) than the level that the AP Spanish exam covers, then it seems to be a waste to take more high school Spanish courses or the SUPA SPA 201 course.

It does seem odd how slow the pacing of Spanish courses for heritage speakers is in your school system (2 years middle school, 2 years high school, then the SUPA SPA 201 course). One would expect that a language sequence for heritage speakers would reach AP level (approximately like SUPA SPA 201) in fewer than 5 years, since high school Spanish courses for non-heritage speakers typically reach AP level in 4-5 years.