I’m kinda clueless about how AP credits work, so i would love some clarification.
so I read that colleges will accept a 4 or a 5 to place you out of a class.
lets say I take AP Chinese and AP Music Theory and get a 5 on both. That would place me out of the college equivalent of both those classes.
but if I’m planning on studying pre-med, for example, i wouldn’t be taking those classes anyways. So what is the point essentially of AP credits?
If someone could give me a detailed explanation on how the system works and what im not comprehending, that’d be greatly appreciated.
Schools vary widely in how they handle AP Credits. Some use it for placement. Some give you credit for an intro class if you take the subsequent sequenced class. Some will accept a score of a 3. Some will only accept a score of 5. Some do not accept AP credits at all. Some accept some AP subjects and not others.
So, there is no system. You need to look at each school you are interested in and see what their specific policy is.
@college_query I know the school I will likely attend accepts 4 and 5. However, I’m mainly asking what the purpose of taking AP exams in the first place if the topic is not something related to ur major.
Yes, it varies by college. You may plan to be pre-med, but your graduation/degree requirements may require you to be proficient in a foreign language. It’s possible your theoretical score of 5 in AP Chinese means you get to skip a semester or two. Also, your may change your mind about what you decide to major in.
My S was admitted ED in December of his senior year. He was able to focus on the AP policy at his school. For example, he had already taken the AP exam for Language/Composition his junior year, so even though he was taking AP Lit his senior year, he didn’t bother signing up/paying for that test because his college would only give credit for one of the two, not both. Our HS didn’t require students in AP tests to take the AP test, some schools do.
He was taking both US Government and US Comparative Government his senior year. His college would only give credit for one of the two, so I told him to choose the one he thought he’d do best in.
So if you have an idea of where you’re likely to attend, study their AP policy and you might be able to save some $ if you don’t need to take a test (and if your HS doesn’t require it).
If AP courses are the most rigorous at your HS, and if academic rigor is important to the schools you are applying to, then they fulfill that purpose as well.
Medical schools often do not accept AP credit for premed course requirements, although this can depend on the subject and whether your undergraduate school lists it’s equivalent course on the transcript. But you may have to take the same number of more advanced courses in the subject if you skip the introductory ones with AP credit.
Some schools may accept those AP credits to waive you out of some of the college’s core requirements (in your cases world language and fine arts requirements). If you can waive out of some of the core requirements it would free you up to either take a lower course-load or pursue more classes in your area of interest. How AP credits can be used varies college to college so you need to check the website of schools you are interested in attending.
In the olden days (late 70’s) when I was in high school, we generally assumed there was no point to taking the AP exam if you didn’t have a use for the credit. But that was when there were dial phones plugged into the wall, if you wanted to see a movie you went to a movie theater and there were no USNWR college rankings. Times have changed.
Today, I’d look to two things.
First, check to see if your high school requires that you take the exam. My son’s school does and the AP exam generally counts as the final for the class.
Second, and I don’t know the answer to this, so im just throwing it out there, I wonder if there are colleges that like to see the exam if you took the class. You’re not required to submit AP scores, so the absence of a score could mean you didn’t take the exam OR you didn’t like the score. Even if the absence of a score is neutral, doesn’t count against you, it could be that the 4 or 5 is a small mark in the plus column.
@Bop - If you take enough AP courses you can graduate in 3 years, or sometimes get a Masters in 4. Thanks to AP, my son entered school as a “freshman with sophomore standing”.
You need to really study the major course map at specific schools to see how any AP credits may fit into your major (including Gen Ed classes). Getting AP credit is one thing, having it be applicable to your degree is another thing and it seems to vary widely by school and degree. In your specific pre-med example, you still have a major (Bio/other), and the AP’s you mentioned could certainly satisfy Gen Ed requirements. Some schools make this task easier than others to figure out. Good luck.