<p>Our high school offers Non-honors Physics, Honors Physics and AP Physics 1, a brand new AP class this year. The school informed me that honors physics and the new AP course are equally hard in it's opinion. The honors class is a more comprehensive course than the AP course. The AP course provides a deeper understanding of fewer topics and qualifies an AP test taker for college credit, of course. The AP class, however, is a year long course that covers the equivalent of one college semester of an algebra based physics course. My child is a senior this year so wouldn't be able to take AP Physics 2. How does William and Mary view these comparably difficult courses? Would it consider the honors physics class as rigorous as the AP Physics class? Our high school is very well known for its rigorous academics in the college community. All things being equal in a college application, would you prefer that an applicant have this new AP Physics 1 class that is essentially 1/2 of a college course over an honors Physics class? Looking for guidance since this AP class is so new. Thanks for your help</p>
<p>We always recommend that students take challenging courses in which they believe they can perform well. If your student believes that they can take the AP course and do well in it in addition to the other courses they’re taking, go for it. The nice benefit with AP is you could get college credit based on your exam score (not the case with the honors-level course). If the student feels their schedule is already pretty rigorous (maybe already taking several other AP courses), certainly taking a challenging but non-AP level course in one of their core classes is certainly fine.</p>