<p>My DD took AP US I History last year. It was paired with Honors English (you have to take both together). This year she is taking AP US I History paired with AP English Language and Comp. and will take the AP test for History and English at the end of this year. Next year she takes AP US II paired with an AP English class. And she's also going to take AP US Gov. & Politics. So here's my question: I assume that will only count as a total of 4 AP classes and not 5? Don't know why it didn't dawn on me sooner that even though her school is listing them as having taken 5 AP courses, she really will only get credit for 4. Last year's History class was heavily geared toward the "We the People" competition. This year's History class is heavily geared toward the National History Day competition. So I'm assuming because of these added areas in the curriculum she will only get 4 AP credit as far as colleges are concerned? </p>
<p>it only lists US History, not US I and II. So does that mean for 3 years of AP classes (US I, US I and US II) she will really only get credit for 1 AP course? I'm so confused and more than a bit perturbed if this is what it turns out to be.</p>
<p>I think I’ve found the discrepancy. US History is split between two years (US I sophomore year, US II junior year) and senior year will be AP US Gov. Will need to confirm with DD’s GC tomorrow. I believe they’ve changed the names of the courses since DD started (seems to be a lot of renaming going on). Wonder if they do this to inflate GPAs since you get credit for each AP course. If they split one course of over two years, do they give credit for two years? Hmmmmm. Wouldn’t put it past them since we are in an underachieving county. Which means DD will have to pick another class for next year since she’s already signing up for AP US Gov.</p>
<p>My daughter’s HS did US history in two years - both were AP and the kids took the AP test at the end of the second year. Technically it is only 1 AP class but for the sack of her transcript and GPA they both counted as AP level classes.</p>
<p>Looks like your high school turned AP US history into an “AP lite” course by stretching a year’s worth of material over two years (and AP US history is often not accepted for subject credit for history majors in college anyway).</p>
<p>My kid like others here did AP US History in one year. It’s a lot of material! He did the World History over two years, (freshman and sophomore year), but that was a new experiment by the school. Global History has historically been a two year sequence required by NY state. They selected a small group to see if they could use the second year to beef up anything not covered the first year and do the second year at an AP level. Only one year is listed as AP on his transcript and there is of course only one AP test.</p>
<p>I agree with Ucbalumnus. AP US history is traditionally a one year class, which makes sense to me since most kids are given some form of US history for most of their earlier schooling. It seems somewhat dishonest and yes, a grade pump, to count it for two years as a weighted class.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that it is only the AP test that counts for college credit, if the school gives credit for AP’s. What it looks like your school is doing is trying to inflate their transcripts for admissions purposes but I think that the admissions counselors are going to say the same thing we are saying, huh?? There is one AP US History course and stretching that over 2 years devalues the course. It’s not that hard of an AP class to begin with and now your school has made it that much easier. I would suggest taking AP World or AP European History vs another US focused class if that is an option.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. As I said, last year’s class spent the first half of the year preparing for the We the People competition, and the first half of this year has been working on their National History Day competition submissions. I’m assuming that’s why US was split over two years. Next year will be AP European History and DD will also be taking AP US Gov. as an elective. So it will be 3 total years of AP testing, but 4 years for her GPA. Guess we’re not the only ones, since Kiddie also mentioned her school did this.</p>
<p>As another person mentioned, the college credit only comes from actually taking an exam of which you usually need at least a score of 3 to receive any amount of college credit. Every university is different; they will usually have a list of AP/IB credits given for various tests - if the student is taking numerous history AP tests, that may be a duplicate for some colleges(meaning they are not going to give you double credit for the same college class). With that being said, the more tests you take, the better odds you have of getting more credit as the student may do better on some than others - higher score on a test, i.e.,“5”, can result in 6 college credits as opposed to only 3 if you get a score of 3 or 4, so a lot has to do with the scores as well. I would check the colleges that you are interested in and see if they have the testing/credit lists I referred to. My son went to school in Floriday and recieved a lot of AP/IB credits, but when it came to history, he had some extra that didn’t count as the college will max out at a certain number of credits they will give you.</p>
<p>I want to add that at my daughter’s HS it is not just AP students who take two years of US history, all students, regardless of track, are required to take two years of US history. They do world cultures in 9th, european history in 10th (AP or not), US1 in 11th, and US2 in 12th (again AP or not). Some kids move up track after 11th and get into AP in 12th and some kids who do not do well in AP in 11th move down track for 12th. Anybody who wants can take the AP test (even if they are not in an AP section).</p>
<p>One more note on AP credits. My daughter got credit for both european history and us history from her college (8 credits total). By taking two additional history classes during her freshman year she has earned herself a minor in history!</p>
<p>However, the practice of “AP lite-ification” by taking twice the time as an actual college course takes is not unique to AP US history – many other AP courses are commonly taught over a whole year, but are (at best) equivalent to only a semester course in college. The two year calculus plan is an obvious example, but so are many other AP courses at many schools.</p>
<p>There’s a problem with this, and it’s certainly NOT the students fault. One is that if the schools are weighting the grade, it doesn’t seem fair that the kids get an AP weight for two years of a one year course. The vast majority of schools teach AP US history as a one year class. Our HS requires four years of history, including two years of US, but only one of those is AP.</p>
<p>I am confused ucbalumnus - You’ve quoted me when I was agreeing with you. </p>
<p>I think we can all agree that there is a big difference between AP Calc and any of the AP history classes. </p>
<p>And taking away everything I just said, in the overall scheme of things, it probably doesn’t matter at all. The colleges will see the classes, realize what’s going on and recalculate the GPA however they see fit.</p>
<p>I would not necessarily assume that the 2-year “AP” course represents only one year’s worth of material spread over two years. (Although I would agree that calling both years AP sounds bogus.) At our HS, students who wanted to take AP US had to take 2 years of US history; typically, Honors US History followed by AP US History. The reason for this is that the US history required by our state differs from the period covered by the AP curriculum. There is overlap, but the non-AP course is the one that satisfies the state requirements. I do not have the impression that either year is “lite.”</p>
Which means DD will have to pick another class for next year since she’s already signing up for AP US Gov.</p>