<p>Hey everyone, I am a senior.</p>
<p>Most of my teachers are telling me to check the schools I applied to and their policies concerning AP Credit.</p>
<p>I don't get what am I supposed to be looking for. Am I checking whether they accept credit or not?</p>
<p>And if so, I have heard of colleges giving placement exams. So why would people take AP exams when someone could take these placement exams for free?</p>
<p>And lastly (really general question), what are the benefits of taking AP Exams? Many of the potential graduate schools I am looking towards are saying that they don't accept AP credit to fulfill their requisites. And I think many non-state schools have a fixed tuition rate, in other words they don't base tuition based on number/level of courses you take.</p>
<p>Thank you in advance for your help.</p>
<p>1) Each college/university sets its own policy about which scores on which AP, CLEP, DANTES, IB, etc. to grant credit and/or placement for. You do need to check each institution’s website. </p>
<p>2) Some colleges/universities and some departments within a given college/university may have their own placement exam. This is more common for Math and Foreign Languages than for other subject areas. When you know where you will be studying in the fall, you can ask about this. </p>
<p>3) If your college/university awards credit/placement for AP exams, this can mean that you are able to skip over the introductory course, and go straight to an upper-level course that (presumably) is more interesting. And/or you can use an AP credit to fulfill a gen ed requirement, freeing up room in your schedule for a different class that is more interesting or useful for you. In some cases, students earn enough credit by exam that they are able to shave a semester or a year off of the time they are in college. </p>
<p>4) If you test out of a course that is required as part of your major, and then apply to grad school, chances are that you will be picking up an upper-level course in that subject along the way that can also be used to fulfill any pre-req. for the grad program that you are looking at.</p>
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<p>Sure, but until ~March 31, you won’t know if you are accepted into those schools. Moreover, you might end up at a ‘safety’ school that does provide AP credit.</p>
<p>Also, while some colleges won’t provide course/graduation credit, they may provide fulfillment credit of a General Educ requirement allowing you to take something else that you might prefer.</p>