<p>The whole point of taking AP tests (the TESTS, not the CLASSES) is to skip college courses; my question is, why would you do that? Shouldn't you take the intro course to make sure you have the basics down all good before go on to the advanced stuff?</p>
<p>Plus, since you already know the material, you should get a decent grade and be awesome.</p>
<p>Or my logic is dead-bad; enlighten me, will you?</p>
<p>If it is a class required for your major, you may want to re-take the equivalent course in college so that you are certain that you have a solid basis for higher-level courses - especially in math or the sciences. If it is a class that you can use to fulfill a general education requirement, and thus free up time in your schedule to take a different course that you really want to take and/or that is more pertinent to your academic goals, then you should do that. If you can eliminate enough of the preliminary and/or general ed credits with AP/IB/CLEP/DANTES/etc. exams, you can graduate more quickly and/or free up a lot of space in your schedule.</p>
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<p>However, if you already learned the stuff, it will be a waste of time and tuition to repeat it when you could have used the schedule space for an interesting free elective now or later. Of course, the concern about whether you learned the material fully in high school AP courses is a valid one, so the correct decision is hard to figure out beforehand.</p>
<p>Consider the following factors:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Was the AP test an easy 5 for you? Or was it a struggle to “pass” with a 3? If you got an easy 5, that makes a stronger argument for going ahead as allowed by your university. If you struggled for a 3, then it is probably better to retake it.</p></li>
<li><p>Check your university’s recommendations based on the AP test and score. Sometimes, there may be special courses designed for those with AP credit. Also check if your intended major has any specific recommendations. If there are old final exam problems available for the course(s) you may skip, review them to see if you know all of the material covered.</p></li>
<li><p>If the AP credit would just apply to a general education requirement, and you are not intending to take more advanced courses that depend on the course skipped, then the concern about not knowing enough to take the more advanced courses does not apply.</p></li>
<li><p>If you intend to apply to medical school, check each medical school’s policies on AP credit with respect to pre-med course requirements. In many cases, use of AP credit is not accepted, so you may have to retake the course or substitute a more advanced course to count toward the pre-med course requirements.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for the replys, great points</p>