<p>now that i've taken 4, i'd like to know how close they really are to college courses. i mean, is the difficulty very similar? should i still take the intro courses even if i've done well on my ap tests?</p>
<p>not at all</p>
<p>The homework my physics teacher assigns us are always harder than the AP practice tests he gives us (compiled from real AP questions from the years past). and I was so lost on Chemsitry this year but I manage to get through the multiple choice and the free response</p>
<p>AP classes really differ from school to school. One school may have an insanely hard class which really simulates a college class, and then a class at a different school of the same subject may be cake, so it really depends on the teacher. Also, if you were planning to skip an intro science lab class, most teachers agree that intro should not be skipped if you are going to be a sciece major because AP classes rarely provide an adequate lab experience. So iguess the best advice about skipping classes is to skip them if you couldnt care less about the class and need to take it just to graduate. You would probably benefit more by taking the intro class in a subject that you may major in just to get the most out of it and get more used to the college experience.</p>
<p>Not at all. I took Chem at the local community college (lol) and AP Chem at school. Completely different approaches, and school (AP) usually revolves around the exam. Hence, you don't cover stuff like formal charge in Chemistry because "it's not on the exam" (when actually it was) but you do in college. I imagine UCs and other colleges are similar too. Material is similar, the stylistic format is v. different.</p>
<p>My AP English Language teacher is also a professor at a local community college, and she told us that our class is significantly harder than her freshman english class at the college. I don't know how it would compare to a larger, more selective school, though.</p>
<p>our AP classes are much harder than classes at colleges. I am postive because we use the college text book that is used in colleges and our teachers are former professors who themselves say they made this class harder than college courses. also, our principal wants only 4's or 5's on the exam so they make it pretty hard</p>
<p>A "college class" doesn't have to be hard. You could have a senior slacking and taking college algebra and precalculus and another senior slaving over ordinary differential equations and probability theory :p</p>
<p>Having that said, I do feel that college classes are harder than AP classes. The professor stops for no one. The material is covered in a shorter time. The material is covered in more depth.</p>