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It's smart to have a look at the websites of schools you're interested in, if you're on the fence about taking a given AP.
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<p>While HarrietMWelsch and I agree that potential credit/advanced standing varies widely among colleges and universities, we have come to different conclusions about what that means for high schoolers. My observation is that the situation is in flux, with colleges and departments within the colleges changing their rules yearly about which courses they will accept, what the necessary scores are, and whether or not they will limit the maximum number of credits. Given that most high schoolers really do not know where they will attend college, or what their intended major will be, I think it is better to take or not take AP courses based on whether or not the class interests you, and if your total activity picture allows you to do a good job in the class.</p>
<p>In the end, my son's numerous AP credits have earned him a lot of advanced standing at his private university, allowing him to move ahead in the curriculum in a way that pleases him, and works well in terms of allowing him to do research at an early stage, but he did not take AP classes with that in mind. When it came time to choose from among various college choices, he did investigate the current rules and policies. Checking things out way ahead of time probably will not work, though, because your choices may be very different in April of senior year.</p>
<p>woody, I don't agree that AP Calc is not the same as college calc for everyone. My son took BC as a junior, then Calc 3 and differential equations at a university during his senior year. His background from the AP course was quite sufficient. He is currently in two advanced math classes as a college freshman and doing well (the last I heard).</p>
<p>S's school offered 1 AP when he was a student( it's up to 4 now) . He wasn't interested in Physics so he didn't take the AP class. He took a variety of university classes instead( from Calc to Political Theory) , starting in his junior year. It worked very well for S.</p>
<p>Interesting how the answers are all over the place. My D went to a private HS where taking APs was pretty much the norm and expected if one wanted to get into a good university (since the schools all look at the rigors of the applicant's courses in relation to what is offered). My D took three as a Jr and 7 as a Sr. It was a tough load but now that she has 30+ credits as a Freshman, she seems glad to have done it and also feels very well-prepared for the college workload (which feels--and is-- light in comparison.</p>
<p>My older son took 7 total (or 9 if you count like the College Board - see note below) 1 as a freshman (AP Computer Programming), 1 as a sophomore (AP Bio), 3 (or 5 if you count twice for the ones that have two scores) as a junior (APUSH, AP Calc BC, and AP Physics C - E & M) and 3 as a senior (AP Chem, AP Latin, AP Macro Econ). </p>
<p>Our high school has prerequisites for most APs, and occasionally exams or teacher recommendation requirements as well. They offer a boatload of APs - at least two dozen. Kids are required to take the exams and in most courses 75-90% of the kids get 4s and 5s according to teachers at teachers nights. (We have no complaints son got 5s on everything.)</p>
<p>Our younger son is doing AP World as a sophomore. This is the second year it's been offered. (Wasn't an option for big brother.) They did pretty well last year from what I hear. It's a very select group that is in the class - I think about 60 kids in a class of 700. I don't really care how he does on the test. It's such an amazingly good class and he loves it so much. He comes home every day and tells us about new ideas he's talked about at dinner.</p>
<p>Midmo, we might be more in agreement than you think. I didn't mean to suggest that students should base the whole of their decisions re APs on what credit may or may not be available, just that if they're having trouble deciding, it's worth taking a look at what might or might not result. After all, none of those credits/etc. are guaranteed when you sign up for an AP class. :)</p>
<p>And it's 100% possible that you've looked at the AP/IB credit pages of many more sites than I have. (I am not being the least bit sarcastic here.) Still I want to note that in keeping an eye on my daughter's school for a number of years, and several other schools that tend to be cross-admits/crossovers in terms of interest & selectivity, there's more or less of a core group of college departments that seem to have continued to offer pretty much the same credit menu, as it were, over at least the last five years. They tend to stay the same re the APs that kids look at as "the hard ones" - BC Calc, Physics, and the languages. </p>
<p>The bottom line, I think, remains the same: Take challenging courses because you want to challenge yourself, not to pad your resume and not because of what might result at the other end. But it doesn't hurt to know about rewards that might be available.</p>
<p>My daughter took 10 - World History, Human Geography, US History, English Language, English Literature, European History, Spanish Language, Macroeconomics, US Government, Calculus AB. As far as college credit goes, she received "credit" for 6 courses, but it doesn't seem to count for much at her LAC.</p>
<p>By the time son graduates, he will have taken 9 - US History, Latin-Virgil, Macroeconomics, US Government, English Language, English Literature, Calculus AB or BC, Computer Science AB (maybe also A), and either Chemistry or Physics. </p>
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It's a very select group that is in the class - I think about 60 kids in a class of 700. I don't really care how he does on the test. It's such an amazingly good class and he loves it so much. He comes home every day and tells us about new ideas he's talked about at dinner.
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<p>Ouch, this hurts. AP Euro in our school is hardly selective: 25% of the sophomore class take it. There is <em>no</em> discussion at all! The teacher lectures and shows powerpoints. The packets are interminable. S is disappointed; he really hoped for lively intellectual discussion and feels let down by the course.</p>
<p>^^^I should have added the rest of my thought: my own ancient experience and observation of students suggest that second semester calc can be a struggle even for those students who take first semester at the same university. The subject matter is a bit different.</p>
<p>I'll bet your son does fine in the end.</p>
<p>At some parent session I attended at my son's university, the dean went over the various calculus options for incoming freshman (it is an engineering school within a university). The incoming freshman are all over the place. The consensus advice seemed to be to retake calc from the beginning if you did not have a good strong grade and a grade of 5 in your AP class. Even if you took BC, they suggested many would be better off repeating the second semester. And in all cases, everyone was given the option of dropping down after a few weeks if they chose "unwisely". </p>
<p>Clearly not all hs AP Calc experiences are the same. My son's class was taught by a math PhD. Perhaps it made a difference.</p>
<p>midmo, similiar experience here...My S took AP Calc. AB as a junior,made a 4 on the exam, took AP Stats as a senior. Registered for Calc.1 his first semester at his engineering university...had a foreign grad. student he couldn't understand and was failing. Advisor told him to drop the class since it wuld be silly to take a poor grade in a class he already had credit for (due to AP). S dropped the class and boldly signed up for Calc. 2 for spring semester. It was a real struggle. S spent many days with the prof. during his office hours. He perservered and came out of it with a "B". He was thrilled. S says at his uni. Calc. 2 is known as one of the weedout courses for engineering majors. He has heard that Calc. 3 is easier than 2. Thankfully he was not required to take 3 for his major.</p>
<p>Older S is an engineering major, just finished DiffEq. He started <em>over</em> with Calc I, II, III, DiffEq. Younger S started over too. It makes it more palatable, I guess, that tuition is free here, so it doesn't really matter whether or not you clep out of a class. But it's nice to get the GPA boost, and to get an extra strong foundation in math, if you're going to have to go on to use and build upon that foundation. I'm a huge believer in firm foundations in math.</p>
<p>CMU gives 2 semesters of credit for the BC Calc, but also has a placement test. Their theory is that if you can't remember enough to do well on the placement test you should repeat. But they schedule the three levels of the math and computer programming classes that freshmen are likely to take so that it's easy to go up or down the scale and they encourage you to do so if you feel you are placed incorrectly. My son isn't repeating any material in math and is doing fine.</p>
<p>I think in general kids should take the exams even if they think they won't be accepted by the college. Rules change, kids transfer and I actually got credit in grad school in a roundabout way for having those AP credits on my undergrad transcript. Saved me a bunch of tuition.</p>
<p>WashDadJr's school wouldn't let sophomores or freshman take AP classes. He took six total -- three each in 11th and 12th grades. He could have done a couple more but I encouraged him to take one "just for fun" class every semester, and he did.</p>
<p>As for calculus in college, WashDadJr scored a 5 on the AB and BC tests, and is cruising in second-semester calculus as a first-term freshman. My friend Kevin and I have a theory that everyone has a natural limit for math. For me, differential calculus was about as much as I could visualize. Kevin bailed after his third year as a math major at Caltech. So far, WashDadJr has never struggled with any kind of math ever. I don't know where it's going to be a struggle for him, but I doubt it's going to happen this year. (It kind of ticks me off. I had to work in every math class after trig, and he's like a math fighter pilot -- Mr. Cool. It's not fair. Grumble.)</p>
<p>D1 took nine. One sophomore year. Four each Jr and Sr. years. D2 will end up with a very similar number.</p>
<p>As I recall, D1 scored eight 5s and one 4. She didn't take college credit for any of them. The college is fussy about what they will allow, and she didn't want to shorten her college experience.</p>
<p>son will end uo with 9 AP/IB classes. Others have many more. I have suggested that they limit the number of AP's kids can take. The problem is that it is AP or fairly low level at his HS. Also, since his college admissions will be based on how much he took advantage of what was available, he would have to take advanatge of a lot. Easy to say don't do anything just to get into college, but harder to actually disregard that when making decisions.</p>
<p>As I posted earlier, D's school offered 3 and she took 4 but at her school they did offer a maximum of 8 "dual-credit" courses from the Community College (none of which did D a bit of good at her LAC, although she would have been @ a junior entering UT-Austin or A+M). I believe D also received credit by examination for two more courses- freshman English, as she took Brit Lit on-line instead. Do schools that offer 10 or more AP courses also offer the dual credit courses or is that a rural/small town Texas thing?</p>
<p>BTW, I did recently find out that her dual credit transcript hours will be added in for GPA purposes on her AAMC audited transcript for Med School. That helps a bit with the GPA, and every little bit helps. ;)</p>
<p>Sorry to post and run, but I've just gotten back home for the first time since EARLY this morning.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I'm going to have to think about what it all means. I wasn't asking because of college admissions (though I suppose how many a kid chooses to take could be driven by that). I was just curious if many kids really are taking 6 and 7 a year, which is preceived as the norm at our son's high school.</p>
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I was just curious if many kids really are taking 6 and 7 a year, which is preceived as the norm at our son's high school.
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It depends. IB kids are required to take at least 6. </p>
<p>I was in IB and took 2 IB/AP's sophomore year, 7 IB's junior year, and 8 IB/AP's senior year. Unfortunately, I only got college credit for two of them. :rolleyes:</p>
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I was just curious if many kids really are taking 6 and 7 a year, which is preceived as the norm at our son's high school.
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<p>Six or seven a year would be difficult at most schools because it allows little or no time for anything else (in a seven-period school day), provided that all the AP courses are taught as full-year courses.</p>
<p>In some schools, though, a few APs (e.g., American government, comparative government, macroeconomics, microeconomics, psychology) are taught as half-year courses. In that case, 6 or 7 APs in a year would not be unreasonable. </p>
<p>IB students often do take 6 IB courses simultaneously (sometimes 7, if they're taking 6 regular IB courses plus TOK), but this is one of the reasons why they complain that they have no time for anything else!</p>