<p>If we took AP Biology or AP Chemistry in high school, would you reccomend (if the college takes AP credit) to skip the intro level of those courses? If you want to major in one of them.
I've heard both sides, one being that college will teach differently than high school so it's a good idea to start at the intro level and get used to the teaching style of the university also a good refresher and the other being that it'll help you get more credits in and help you out with your major earlier if you use your AP credit to skip the intro course. </p>
<p>What would you recommend?</p>
<p>This is going to depend on the student but more on the university they matriculate to. Different schools use different classes as weeders in different programs. This also depends on your students goals. A pre-med hopeful has to be mindful of the classes they are required to take in college, regardless of AP credit. My son took his Chem credits and never looked back, however retook Physics despite a 5/straight As. If he’d attended his second choice university his strategy would have been different, taking the credit for both and moving on. You really have to get advise from the university, preferably current students in the program and/or department heads. Advisors assigned at orientation or registration do not always have the depth of knowledge in each program needed to give your student very specific advice.</p>
<p>Also, when you matriculate to a college, you can check its web site to see if old final exams for the courses that you may skip with AP credit are available. If so, try them to see how well you know the material using the college’s expectations. Use the result to help you decide whether to skip the course with AP credit.</p>
<p>Of course, as noted above, be aware of special rules for pre-med requirements if you are pre-med, since many medical schools require actual college courses, not AP credit (though substitution of more advanced courses may be allowed; medical schools’ rules do vary).</p>
<p>It depends on how comfortable you are with the material. I actually skipped a decent amount more math/physics than I was given credit for and was fine starting in classes mostly taken by juniors/seniors (ignoring issues I eventually had to clear up about actually getting my degrees, but that’s a separate problem). If you can get syllabi for the courses you’re thinking of using your AP credit to skip, that may be helpful; you could also try attending both the intro and followup classes for the first few weeks to see if you can handle the upper level ones.</p>
<p>Of course if premed requirements are an issue you might just want to take them.</p>
<p>Take them again. Easy GPA boost, you’ll have an easier acclimation to college life, and med school don’t take AP credits.</p>
<p>Retaking courses you already know well is a waste of time and tuition, so it is better to evaluate your knowledge (using the old final exams at the college, or placement testing if the college has that) rather than automatically retaking all of your AP credit that the college allows you to skip courses with.</p>