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<p>I suspect your daughter is better prepared for the pace of college math courses after taking high school AP calculus BC over one year (covering material at a college pace), compared to students who took high school AP calculus AB, or a two year high school AP calculus AB and BC sequence (covering material at a slower pace).</p>
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<p>While that may be the case for medical and other professional schools with specific course requirements (although substitution of more advanced courses is often allowed if introductory courses are skipped with AP credit), some professional schools like law school have no specific undergraduate course requirements, so that AP credit substitutions won’t matter to them (although some grade-grubbing students think that they can repeat their AP credit for “easy A” grades).</p>
<p>It depends on the school and other factors as posted. UW-Madison often suggests students who pass AP calculus still start with their calculus sequence instead of jumping to the second semester as UW covers more material in a semester. Son got a 5 on the AP calculus (never knew there were two levels until CC, btw- typically only one year in WI schools) test but started with the Honors version of UW calculus which included linear algebra in the first 3 semesters- it was theory based versus problem base of the regular sequence. He got college credits for his AP results also. UW’s math department ranked around 15th for its grad school so it was/is a good program. </p>
<p>I guess it is nice that students can get out of taking courses to meet breadth requirements with their AP work from HS but I think they miss out on what a good college course offers that way. I compare it to being able to get college credits in a much less rigorous school. But, it is the student who misses out and the last 60 credits need to come from the U granting the degree (UW, or comparable reqs I presume at other schools).</p>
<p>SHOULD… yes, to get beyond the basics sooner in some fields. Non calculus chemistry and physics, with only HS lab experiences, do not replace those for science majors, however.</p>
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<p>On the other hand, if a student with AP credit skips a common introductory course and takes a more advanced course, or a course in a subject not offered as a high school AP course, in its place, then the student would be expanding his/her learning opportunities by learning something new, instead of mostly repeating what s/he already knows.</p>
<p>@wis75:</p>
<p>If cost is not part of the equation (which would be the case for those on fin aid, unless you can graduate early), I agree. With each class costing up to 4-5K at some schools, that has to be a consideration.</p>
<p>Our intention when S went to college was for him to take all required classes for his major, even if he had AP credir for it. We wanted him to take the colleges calculus class for example. Unfortunately, his school had other ideas and would not let him take any classes for credit for which he had AP credit. He could have audited the classes, but would not get credit for it. He was attending Marquette, btw. </p>
<p>DS13 took AP Calc AB in high school. He is an engineering major at Georgia Tech. He took the credit for Calc I and did fine in Calc II. He was told by numerous people that if you have the credit take it. Just because you had Calc in high school doesn’t mean you are going to get an A in that class. So do not “repeat” an AP class because you think it will help your GPA. Plenty of people have tried and ended up with C…</p>
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<p>For most students, the cost part of the equation is not the possibility of graduating in fewer semesters of school, but not needing any extra semesters of school to graduate.</p>
<p>Even without this consideration, a student will gain more learning during his/her time in college by taking courses with content that is new to him/her, rather than repeating what s/he already knows, which seems to be the automatic default recommendation by many on these forums. Of course, when the course that can be skipped is an important prerequisite to other courses to be taken, the old final exams should be tried as described previously.</p>
<p>I agree with most of the comments above. The answer to this question really depends on the student and the class at college. First, there are a wide range of students scoring 4 and 5 in the AP exam. For certain subjects, there are even over 50% of students achieving that. So their ability to step up to the next level can be very different. Second, the same class title at different schools or for different fields can be very different. For example, some Calc2 courses for engineering integrated with some programming in it. It may be hard for some students to jump into Calc 3 directly after CalcBC in that case. Third, it also depends on the schedule of the student. It may be fine for a student to take 1 or 2 more challenging course in freshmen year. But if a student got credits from AP for multiple core courses and take all more advanced level courses in freshmen year (e.g. Organic Chem, Calc 3, Physic 2xx), it can be very overwhelming. Lastly, having too many AP credits may get you to pay higher tuition rate earlier. For instance, UMich charges upperclassman tuition once you have 55 or more credits under your belt. The difference can be over $2000 per semester. If you will be just a couple credits above that threshold at some point, you may want to forfeit some AP credits (e.g. those useless electives or one of the core you want to strengthen the background) to save some money. </p>
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When the AP scores give credits (not just advanced placement) to the student, those credits should be listed on the transcript although not for GPA calculation. In my D’s case, all AP credits are listed with corresponding equivalent course codes on her transcript just as transferred credits.</p>
<p>That may be, but too often, I’ve got seniors in gen bio or stat because med school wants to see the class taken on the 4 year transcript (and AP will not show up as having been taken at the degree institution). Just saying, if you’re a serious pre med student, take the classes.</p>
<p>The answer to the OP’s question therefore is an ambiguous it depends… Too many variables for a one size fits all decision. </p>
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<p>However, one does not have the decide to repeat the AP credit immediately, if just for pre-med purposes. If the student decides not to do pre-med any more, then there is no need to repeat the AP credit at all. A student can defer the decision until later, when s/he is sure of the pre-med path (or sure that s/he is no longer pre-med).</p>