So is taking 4-5 AP classes the exact same rigor as being a full college student? How hard are APs compared to acual college?
Depends. College courses will pull from more resources, lectures, multiple texts, etc. It’s also hard to quantify an average college semester. It will vary from major to major and generally speaking, college ramps up in difficultly considerably second semester sophomore on, although there are weedout courses for freshmen. Depends on college as well.
How many hours did you study out of class for every hour in class? College will be 1:1 at a minimum and likely 3:1 or 4:1 for harder classes.
EDIT: reply to wrong thread. Sorry. See above.
Many AP classes are twice as long as their college-level counterparts, meaning they move half as fast and are therefore much easier. Exceptions being stuff like Physics C and Chemistry, which cover two college courses.
Based on my freshman and junior in college, APs were very easy. College is much more challenging, but they are both doing engineering.
It’s the same material but personally I found that I had more homework and quizzes/tests during AP compared to an occasional homework, 3 tests and a final for college.