<p>Howdy, I'm a first year undergraduate student at Texas A&M, though I plan to transfer either at the end of my first semester (this coming spring) or at the end of my first year to University of Texas. My question is, is it worth it to accept AP credit? Yes, it allows you to progress through college quicker and take class more pertinent to your major sooner, but if I were to take all the of the classes that I tested out of such as English, Psychology, Government, etc (totaling somewhere in the ballpark of 20 hours of material) I could set a much more stable foundation for my GPA. I'm not sure how it works at other universities, but here the required English classes (or at least the ones I'd be testing out of) are incredibly easy, so if I took the classes it would be just another A added to my repertoire. Yes this may mean I have to take more semesters in college, but is this really a bad thing? I'm a computer science major and a number of companies won't even look at your application unless you have above a 3.5-3.7 GPA, so considering the very realistic possibility that I may make low grades in the future, wouldn't it be the smartest thing to do to mix in the easy classes so as to ensure I have a decent number of As to keep my GPA up there? It may seem like an obvious question, but I'd like the input of this community just in case I'm missing something... thank you all kindly and I appreciate any and all answers!</p>
<p>I definitely would recommend accepting the AP credit unless you think you’d be too challenged in a class you’d test into with it. I would think you want to graduate in the shortest amount of time possible, and by not accepting the AP credit you risk staying past four years. Especially if you plan to transfer since it’s likely Texas won’t accept some A&M classes for credit, I would recommend accepting the AP credits because it would put you much farther along credits-wise. And people change their majors and take unnecessary classes enough as it is - I would think you would want to plan ahead for that and accept the AP credit so you’re already a bit ahead of the game.</p>
<p>As far as easiness, I know for me in college I’ve done the worst in the “easy” classes and best in the “hard” classes because if I go into a class thinking it’ll be easy, I just won’t try as hard and won’t be as engaged. I think it’s better to challenge yourself with classes because you will try harder and thus get a good grade…plus, if it’s a “hard” class, lots of other people won’t do well and there will be a curve.</p>
<p>Only if you took the AP class a long time ago and honestly think you are not adequately prepared for what you tested into would I not send the AP credit. This generally only applies for math classes, imo. English for example would not be a class I would reject the credit for (but I’m good at English and bad at math so maybe I’m biased).</p>
<p>Good luck :)</p>
<p>^^^fully agree. If you repeat courses you could get credit for you are not really maximizing your money or your time. There have been threads on CC about students taking easy courses or repetitive courses their first semester. Suprisingly it gives them false confidence and they don’t develop the study habits needed for college. It usually catches up with them second semester and they have a really hard time. If you take the AP credit and work hard, you may be able to ease up Senior year when you will need time to look for a job.</p>
<p>As noted above, there is a risk with some classes that you may not be ready for the intermediate level college classes if you use the AP credit for the intro classes. For example, at my son’s college, they tell students not to jump right into the sophomore level organic chemistry classes as a freshman if they have AP chemistry credit. Fortunately, they have a compromise offered - students can get their AP credit for intro chemistry AND can also take an accelerated freshman chemistry course for additional credit.</p>
<p>I only took two APs and they were both for gen eds instead of major courses. Glad I did so.</p>
<p>Generally, don’t waste time and tuition retaking stuff you already know.</p>
<p>That said, if the course you would skip is an important prerequisite to other courses in your major, and you struggled for a “passing” score of 3 on the AP test, you may want to consider starting over. If old final exams for the course you would skip are available, then you may want to review them to check your knowledge of the subject.</p>
<p>If you plan to apply to medical schools, check the medical schools on their policies with respect to use of AP credit for pre-med requirements (many do not allow it, or require substituting a more advanced course in the same subject).</p>