Is AP Seminar Worth Taking?

I might take AP Seminar senior year but I’m not sure if I should. I won’t be able to finish the whole AP Capstone program though. Next year will be the first time our school will be offering the course, so I’m not sure what the course load will be like, and I’ve heard that it varies a lot depending on your teacher. Here are several questions I have. If you take/took/know someone who took this course, it would be fantastic if you could help me out.

  1. How much homework is it?
  2. What's the course load compared to other AP classes (AP BC Calc, AP World, APUSH, AP Lang, etc)? (ie. is it chill)
  3. What do you do in class?
  4. Is it worth taking?
  5. Does the class look good on college apps?
  6. Is the information you learn valuable?
  7. Is it relatively easy to get an A?
  8. Do colleges take it as a credit?

1, 2, 3, 7 - Depends on the teacher
4. Depends. I’d say no if you’re not doing the full sequence.
5. It depends upon what other classes you are taking. It does not look better if it’s at the expense of a core subject. It’s better than auto shop.
8. Very very few

According to CB’s AP credit search, core exams like Calc, English, USH earn credit at about 2,000 schools. AP Seminar earns credit at 351.

If you have specific schools in mind, you can check at https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies/course/40

A quick look didn’t show many competitive schools that I could see. 17 locations of Devry University stood out - that’s 5% of the list. Though MIT giving credit for a 5 also jumped out at me.

Are you sure you can take it as a senior? Most schools won’t let you take it as a senior since you can’t complete the program. Since you’ll be a senior, it’s not really worth it. The overall program is really nice and worth it, but doing only half of it has really no point. Some schools also will give credit for the whole program, not for just Seminar.

Thanks for the advice! Has anyone actually taken it though?

I have. I completed my AP Capstone diploma in junior year. (AP Sem sophomore and AP Research junior)

@izrk02 What was it like? And what other classes did you take and how did you feel about the courseload compared to other AP classes?

^^^as for the experience, everything @skieurope said is accurate.
More detail:
1-I had the “easy” teacher and scored a 4 and got a 96 in the class, my friend had the “hard” teacher and got a 4 with an 85 in the class. It really depends on the teacher.
2- Again, depends on the teacher. I had about one in-class essay a month and maybe one hw assignment a week. My friend above had an in-class essay every week and nightly hw.
3- Again, depends on the teacher. You’ll most be doing article analysis and essay writing though, as well as research.
4- Not as a senior
5- Yes, if you’ve completed the program with AP Research
6- Yes, if you take it with AP Research, the courses build off one another
7- See 1
8- Check with the colleges. Most don’t, or they’ll do it on a case-by-case basis. Check out this from college board. (Some give credit for the whole program)
https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies/course/40
For me, it was pretty easy since I had a fun and laidback teacher, for my friends with the other teacher, it made up about half of their hw (which was a lot). Overall, I don’t think it’s worth it if you aren’t going to do the full Capstone diploma since most of the “skills” you learn can be taught in other classes like English. The only thing I learned from AP Seminar that applied to other classes was how to do an annotated bibliography, which was a hw assignment and I learned again later in English. The exam is easier than others since its just an essay, so there’s that.

@izrk02 Thanks a ton! This was really helpful!

Np! Lmk if you have any other questions in the future!

That may only refer to credit units toward the number needed to graduate. Subject credit and advanced placement may be a different story. Credit units without subject credit or advanced placement may only be helpful if the student completes all subject requirements to graduate, but is otherwise a few credit units short of graduating early or avoiding graduating late.

Regarding MIT, https://firstyear.mit.edu/academics-exploration/ap-and-transfer-credit/advanced-placement says that “A score of 5 on both of the Capstone exams - AP Seminar and AP Research, earns a total of 9 units of unrestricted elective credit.” (Note: 9 MIT units appears to be equal to 3 semester hour credit units at universities where 120 semester hour credit units are needed for graduation.)

I’ve taken it and am currently in AP Research too (I’m a senior). My school requires us to do it, as part of our thesis requirement. Personally, I hated it and would have rather taken something else

1-2. This will depend on your teacher. Mine was pretty laid-back, but the other teachers at my school assigned students a lot of prep-work. Towards the deadlines, you will probably be working more on the papers/presentations.
3. The first month was going over the requirements and basic research skills. We did a practice IRR and then worked on the real one until Jan. Then we had presentations for those, and then had to start working on the IWA (the second paper).
4. No, especially since you won’t be completing the sequence. Even if you like Research, you won’t be completing any original research.
5. I’d say no. Do another class that is in-line with your interests.
6. You’ll basically learn research skills and how to write certain kinds of papers.
7. Depends on your teacher.
8. Very few. My two in-state schools do, so I’m lucky in that regard.

@highsckid

My DD18 took it and here are my thoughts:

1/2. It was a decent amount of work. For her, more than AB Calc BC.
3. A lot of reading and debate and discussing.
4. Originally, I thought no. But she has to write a thesis in college, so it is extremely helpful for her background knowledge.
5. There are other AP classes that are more valuable. (imho)
6. Will you be entering a research-based field? Doing lots of presentations? Then, yes. Otherwise, probably not.
7. Depends on the teacher! She had a mid-A and a 5 on the AP exam.
8. Not as many as other AP classes. Her University just added it, but it is a gen ed type of credit. They don’t really know where to put it.

At DD’s high school, it is basically an English elective. Students who scored high in the PSAT 8/9 (used as our HS placement exam) were invited to take it. DD took a pass because she knew her precious few elective slots would be better spent in elective classes that were a better match to her area of interest (CS).

Half the criteria you’re using to make the decision (e.g. “Is it an easy A”, “Will it look good to colleges?”, “Will they give me credit?”) seem like the wrong questions to me.

I would dig deeper. If an English elective is exactly how you would like to use up an elective, and it is the picture you want to paint with your transcript (and for some people it is), then go for it. If you are a budding engineer or computer scientist, while there are skillsets to be gleaned from the class, there are probably other electives that may take you closer to the direction you want to go in.

My friend took the class last year and said it was a waste of time, and she isn’t taking AP Research this year because if that.

This is all according to her:

  1. 5 page essays every week
  2. a lot of time consuming busywork
  3. talk
  4. no.

It was also my schools first year teaching that class so I think maybe the teacher just didn’t know what she was doing.