<p>After visiting some colleges, I was wondering about how important it may be to take the introductory courses (that are listed as AP courses) to help a student become more prepared in their major. </p>
<p>For example, my son is taking calc AB and then next year (senior) BC. If he scores high enough should he REALLY use the credits offered by colleges OR should he take classes again in his first year to develop more mastery in the intro courses? Yes, by taking the courses again he will have more college to pay (possibly), but would that prepare him better for his future classes?</p>
<p>I am speaking in regards to APs of major intended classes. </p>
<p>I would think for GE requirements one would use the AP credits to opt out of them if allowed. </p>
<p>What has some other parents seen in their college students?</p>
<p>Better to take the AP credit or better to retake the class?</p>
<p>I think it probably depends a lot on the student…my son had good test scores but doesn’t really put in much work (unless he loves the class) and isn’t an academic grinder at all… so we were pretty set on him not using all of his potential AP credit… and we are now very happy with that decision.</p>
<p>My son attends a Land-Grant university.</p>
<p>Son did AP Calc AB and then took Calc 1 this past fall. The college Calc 1 course was much more difficult than his high school AP course. He will need Calc for upper division econ courses and is very glad he took it at college.</p>
<p>He also said that many of his friends that were placed in higher level chemistry and math courses (after taking AP Chem and Calc) struggled and wished that they had not taken all of the credit. These were honors students with average ACT score of 32. The honors program requires a student to maintain a 3.5 gpa and most of his honors program engineering friends did not maintain the 3.5.</p>
<p>Son also did not take the AP credit for macro or micro econ since he intends to major in econ. He thought the college level micro and macro classes were a bit more difficult than the AP course and was glad he took them frosh year. He feels better prepared for the intermediate sequence starting this fall.</p>
<p>It depends on the class. I took the credit for my AP Chem test, but also took general chemistry when I got to college. Other classes, like AP Psych, I used to exempt me out of the intro class and move straight into upper levels. I think it really depends on how difficult the next class in the sequence would be, as well as how comfortable a student is with the material from the AP. If your kid spends two years taking AB and BC, I would absolutely take the credit and take the more advanced class, because BC covers only a bit more material than AB, so he should really have a firm grasp of calc 1 and 2 at that point</p>
<p>I’m sure it depends a lot on the student. My experience is from the Stone Age, but when I was in high school I took the Calc BC exam. I thought the exam was difficult and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I got a 4. But when I got to college I was placed in a math class based on that score. I quickly came to regret my math placement. The first two weeks of the class weren’t too bad because it was reviewing material I knew. But as soon as the class hit new material, I started to struggle because the college class moved much faster than my high school class had. I lost confidence in my math abilities and ended up changing intended majors because of that. In retrospect I would’ve been better off starting in a lower level math class.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I am not a parent, though I happened to stumble upon this thread, and I have had many friends with the same question.</p>
<p>There really is no one set answer. It depends on the school, the student, but most importantly how well she thinks the mastered and can recall the information from high school. Certain colleges recommend not using AP credit for courses especially if it is their designated major, but other people who have taken the next level course and done fine. A good gauge is by talking to some other students, preferably one that attended the same or similar schools as your daughter.</p>
<p>If certain students were able to do it fine, then perhaps moving onto the next level would save time in her schedule for other courses. However, if other students say that they struggled, as the intro course may have covered more than their high school course, that is something to take into consideration as well. I would agree though, that if it is to fulfill a GE requirement, that she should just use the credit as exemption as it is unlikely that she is going to be taking higher level courses in that subject.</p>
<p>I think, for the most part, this should be a decision after your daughter decides on a school. Then she could approach other students, either through social media or in person, and ask for their advice on the topic. Many upperclassmen I have seen are more than happy to share their experiences, so all you gotta do is ask. Alternatively, you could ask an administrator or a professor in the school if they’d recommend it. Some do surveys on whether they took the AP course and placed out or if they took the college course as a prerequisite, so they may have data on how students have done from the two different scenarios.</p>
<p>S used his AP for placement in math/science and that was a good solution for him. He really did have a strong background in those areas and could afford to jump ahead. Others did not. Some wanted the easy A. Some had heard that the basic course was taught differently enough that taking it was worthwhile—engineers often didn’t take the credit because engineering Physics was so different from HS Physics that it was better to take the basic course with the engineering slant. </p>
<p>At my daughter’s school, AP courses were allowed for exemptions from GE classes and her AP Statistics was accepted for her math requirement, but she could not substitute high school courses in her major. AP Art History gave her 6 college credits, but the school wanted her to take biology and chemistry at the school so that all the students in her pre-PA program all had the same information and proficiency level needed to move on to upper level classes.</p>
<p>It depends on the kid and depends on the college. Many colleges have math placement tests that they recommend you take no matter what score you got on the AP. My older son took plenty of next level up courses from his AP courses all in the sciences (at Carnegie Mellon) and had no problem with not knowing the material well enough. Younger son used his APs mostly for Gen Ed requirements, but I know he didn’t repeat any basic history courses either.</p>
<p>It depends and AP Calc is a good example of one that depends. If all you need is math credits to satisfy requirements and are not going to take any more math then use it. </p>
<p>My daughter’s college has many different flavors of Calc 2 (for business majors, for bio majors, for engineers, etc. each with different syllabi). These various syllabi do not correspond to the BC curriculum, so depending upon which Calc 2 you need for your major, if you tested out then you won’t have the same background as others who actually took Calc 2. You might have gaps in your knowledge when taking classes that have your major’s Calc 2 as a prerequisite. However, this does not apply to Calc 1 where the syllabus matches the AP one and therefore testing out works well.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my daughter is very grateful for her AP Environmental credits which allowed her to not have to take a lab science and her AP English credits which allowed her to skip freshman English. </p>
<p>She also used her 2 AP History classes to shortcut her way to a history minor.</p>
<p>My son (starts college in a few weeks) took AP calc AB and placed out of calc 1, but decided to take it anyway as a refresher. He feels (and has had confirmation from others who have gone before) that it will be a little easier to “ease into” college life with a math course that is not entirely unfamiliar material. He’ll be a CS major with a math minor, so wants to get a good math foundation. (BC calc was not available to him in HS for various reasons, and he chose not to self-study it.)</p>
<p>On the other hand, he was given some transfer credit for programming classes he took through Stanford EPGY, and will gladly skip the intro programming classes - even though that’s his major - since he knows that stuff backwards and forwards (and then some). If AP had been available to him in humanities (GE) courses, he would have gladly skipped those as well, and opted for some higher-level philosophy, or other things that he enjoys.</p>
<p>My younger son took AP Calculus AB/BC and passed with scores of 5. He has decided to use his AP credits and start his Freshman year with his next level of math which is Discrete Math. The problem he found with retaking any of the 2 calculus classes as a “refresher” is that he will not get any credit for the class at his university. Since he has so much AP credit and is already ahead 1 year for math, he is taking a lighter course load in case he needs to spend more time on his Discrete Math class.</p>
<p>At DS school credit is not given unless he passed a higher level class with at least a B. He took credit for his CalC AB and Psych AP but he declined to take Chem AP because he is pre-med and needed the year of Gen Chem… He was a good math student and did not feel like he was disadvantaged in his Calc2 class or in his upper-level psych classes. He did feel that he is glad that he did not test out of Gen Chem, as a year-long sequence at his school covered many topics that were not covered in AP. </p>
<p>AP credits could save you money. If money is a concern (and you’re not on fin aid) and a kid needs the knowledge for advanced classes, an option is taking (cheaper) CC classes over the summer before college to get a good grounding in preparation for the next level.</p>
<p>I would hope the OP’s son, after taking 2 years of calculus in high school, would know enough to skip at least one semester of college calc. If not, I would wonder about the teaching! My D took one year of high school calc (BC) and was easily able to skip a full year of college calc. But her school is a small LAC and wrote in the freshman information that they realize there may be a few gaps from HS to be filled in. She may end up as a math or comp sci major.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I attended an all girls HS that did not have rigorous math and science classes. I took an introductory calc class and did well enough on the AB test to get bumped up a semester but was lost and dropped back (engineering major). So it depends a lot on the student and the college.</p>
<p>One other alternative would be to retake a course at a more advanced level. For example, advanced math students who took AP Calculus BC in high school could reinforce their knowledge with MIT’s 18.014 Calculus with Theory (or equivalent) in college.</p>
<p>Mamabear you are most likely correct with the calculus. </p>
<p>I am also thinking about what I see the school say is needed for a GPA to enter the program after sophomore year. </p>
<p>For example, at Pitt after Sophomore year you apply for the pharmacy program (actually spring sophomore year). They go almost entirely by your college GPA. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that when med or other professional schools are in the long term plans, it’s better to have the class on the transcript. In that case, no, don’t use your APs for exemptions.</p>
<p>My younger son definitely needed all his AP credits to make up for all the credits Tufts wouldn’t give him for his junior year abroad. (Well technically they gave him credits, but nothing useful for gen ed requirements.) He wouldn’t have graduated in time without those APs.</p>
<p>Depends on the cost of the school and the student. Many students will repeat the class for “GPA protection.” Repeating the class usually results in a good grade. Others take the credit and either finish college early or take a different class that they might be interested in. Depends if the student wants GPA protection (applying to med school, etc) and if the cost of the extra classes are higher (private) or lower (public) and whether the parent wants to pay for it.</p>
<p>If the AP can substitute for a course that is not an important prerequisite to anything, then it should be safe to skip it (e.g. general chemistry is often require for electrical or mechanical engineering majors, but not really important as a prerequisite for later courses in those majors).</p>
<p>If the course that can be skipped is an important prerequisite for later courses (e.g. AP calculus for a math-heavy major), the best way for the student to determine whether to actually skip the course is to try the college’s old final exams for the course:
Can handle all of the problems well: skip the course.
Minor gaps in knowledge: may skip the course, but self-study the gaps if one does.
Major gaps in knowledge, or otherwise has considerable difficulty: retake the course.</p>
<p>In all cases, students should be aware that college courses can cover material at a faster pace than high school AP courses, many of which cover a semester’s worth of college course material over a year in high school.</p>