<p>My son is entering 9th & we need help/opinions with class planning.</p>
<p>His school offers AP classes and starting this year classes in which the local community college will issue credit. The "college" class will be given at his high school over the course of the full school year. He will receive a college transcript with a spring semester college grade -- not a pass/fail, but actual grade. The college classes are more interesting (more humanities & specific science)then the standard AP courses offered (basic science & english).</p>
<p>Problem is he will not be able to handle both AP & college courses in subjects because his school is small and the classes are scheduled to be held simultaneous.</p>
<p>For the 9th grade fall semester year he is slated to take 1 college course in a humanities area.</p>
<p>Any opinions on AP vs the college courses?<br>
Any of you taking AP exams without taking the AP class (he is leaning toward this)</p>
<p>The answer to your question depends on what types of colleges he is likely to be applying to in a few years and whether his intent in taking more challenging classes is to actually earn college credit (and potentially reduce college tuition cost) or just to show college admissions officers that he is capable of doing college-level work . </p>
<p>The community-college-on-high-school-campus classes (called “dual enrollment” classes in our state) will be accepted for credit at nearly all public universities. And they are definitely the best option if your son plans to attend an in-state school, since the community colleges usually have a direct transfer agreement with the 4-year universities in their state. Then there’s no question about whether or not he will get credit because it will be dependent on his grade in the class rather than how he scores on one particular test (like the AP exam). </p>
<p>However, if he plans to attend a private college – especially the most selective ones that are always being talked about here on CC – the AP classes are probably a much better option for him. It was our experience that none of the elite colleges my sons applied to would give them any credit for his dual enrollment classes. The attitude was that these were not “true” college classes since only high school students are in the classroom and they are usually taught by the high school’s teachers (albeit ones who may have had to pass some sort of screening or credentialing process) and not regular college faculty. Also, there is no way for the colleges to judge the level of difficulty of each dual enrollment class and how it compared to their own curriculum. </p>
<p>Because the AP classes have an established syllabus and a standard exam, it is much easier for colleges to use the AP test scores to judge how well the student really knows the material and to compare the performance of students from different schools. The elite colleges all have some sort of established policy regarding AP classes. Some will give you credit if your test scores are high enough, while others will simply let you use it to skip the intro class and go directly into a higher class in that subject. Some colleges will let you use the AP class to waive certain core curriculum requirements (for example, not having to take a foreign language if you scored a 4 or higher on the AP Spanish Language exam), which opens up more slots in your schedule for elective classes. Regardless of whether or not your son will get actual credit for his AP classes, high scores on his AP exams will certainly strengthen his college applications more than just having high grades in dual enrollment classes.</p>
<p>If your school only offers AP science and english, why not take those and take the rest as college classes?</p>
<p>The general consensus is AP is usually the better option, although both can be good choices as long as you show that your schedule is rigorous. At my school people take classes that are a joke, I think the most popular is “music appreciation”, that are less rigorous then most high school class yet are weighted higher, physics and calculus at the local college are considered easier then high school AP or even honors, every school and class is different but generally the but you don’t want it to look like you’re taking the easy way out. Schools also differentiate between classes taught at the college by professors and that open to college students and those taught in a high school exclusively to high schoolers, that might effect whether you can actually get college credit for a class depending on the school.</p>
<p>I liked the subjects offered in college level classes so I took 6 APs and 2 college classes, i am currently taking 7 APs and will have taken 4 college level classes by the end of the year. I’ve always taken the AP class if it was offered, then you can specialize with a college class (for example take AP biology, then take genetics for college credit).</p>
<p>You can still get college credit from AP classes, provided you do really well on the exam (4 or 5 only) and I know pretty much every college takes credit for most of those courses…I know the Ivies do.
I know a lot of colleges dont count AP Psych, so don’t take it unless you think it will help towards your future major.</p>
<p>As for the community college credits, I think that’s only worth it if you know for sure your son is going to a fairly competitive public college.</p>
<p>sophomore year I took 1 since that was all that was offered
junior year I took 4 in school and 1 online at FLVS (florida virtual school)
senior year I’m taking 6 in school, and I’m taking a 7th online. the school has one class for both government and econ so it’s only 5 class periods</p>