Gen ed & AP Credit

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Maryland - College Park
1

First post here on CC… I’m an HS senior and I have some questions about AP credit and UMCP’s general education requirements I was hoping any current students or just anyone knowledgable on the subject could answer.

I’m looking at this chart
http://www.transfercredit.umd.edu/APGenEd.pdf
and there are exams for which certain scores would count for 3-4 credits, but that don’t fall under a gen ed category (under the last column).

  1. Is it beneficial to take these exams that have credit but that don’t fulfill gen ed requirements? I’m trying to decide whether or not to take (i.e. register, pay for, study for, and sit) some of the exams that go with my senior year course load. I’ve been told that they count toward your total credit count, but I don’t think not taking enough classes will be a problem for me. Sorry if I’m not getting something here.

  2. ENGL240 - is this a class that only English majors or anyone interested in taking the course would take? I ask because it doesn’t fall under a gen ed category.

  3. Sorry if this is obvious, but would “Related Course” (fourth column) be the course that the AP credit allows you to skip?

  4. I think I read somewhere that you can use a maximum of 6 AP credits per category (?), but I can’t find the webpage where I first read that, so I’m not sure if that’s accurate. What is the maximum amount of APs you can apply?

By the way: Does anyone else find it strange that an AP World History credit doesn’t fall under the history and social sciences gen ed category?

Thank you!

2

@millikan, RE your point 1), the reason people mention that such credits “count toward your total credit count” (whether or not you actually need them for your specific degree) is because a higher total credit count will put you further up in the registration queue, starting when you register for your second semester (i.e., you’ll be eligible to register earlier, depending on how many credits you have racked up). This can be helpful if you really want to get into a particular section of a course in order to fit it into your schedule, etc.

My son’s credits made him the equivalent of a 2nd semester sophomore by the end of his first semester, so he was eligible to register for Spring 2015 before some of his peers, and there were also some of his classmates who got to register a week or so before he did because of their higher credit totals. He’s a double-major, one of which is music (which blocks out a lot of time), so the extra flexibility is important to him.

That said, it may or may not be worth it to you, as you said, to pay the fees and spend the time studying for and sitting the exams if they’re not fulfilling requirements for your degree plan.