Taking AP Courses outside of High school?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello, does anyone have experience in taking AP courses outside of high school? If so, I have a few questions.
1.) Did you take your AP courses in a local college or online?
2.) Did your outside AP courses count as credit for college?
3.) Did the outside AP courses also have a 5.0 GPA scale?

Thanks so much. I really want to take some AP science courses outside of my school (Physics or Chemistry) because my high school does not allow me to advance in Science. :frowning:

2

Also did the AP courses count towards your final GPA in terms of showing it to college applications?

3

AP courses are not offered in Colleges. AP courses are designed for HS.
I cannot make any recommendations for on-line AP classes but I am sure some other posters can.

You can take a college course at a local college or on-line and it will be counted like an AP course, meaning you get college credit.

Each school you apply to can count the colleges course differently, but majority will weight the course as an Honors course.
If you take a college course while in HS, it will be counted towards your HS GPA and you also need to send a college transcript of the class. Some schools will list the college course on your HS transcript. You need to check with your HS and each school you plan to apply to see how they will handle these courses.

4
  1. My son completed an AP Course Online (VHS).
  2. He received 1 year credit on his HS transcript
  3. The grading scale was on a 4.0 scale and would be converted by each HS to confirm to the HS grading scale, I believe.

My son’s HS handled the entire process (including the tuition) and grades/ evaluations were reported by VHS to my son’s high school. He got an A in the course and took the corresponding AP test and scored a 5. His biggest issues with the course were scheduling: the VHS schedule did not align with his school year/ breaks and the week starts on a Wednesday and ends the following Tuesday.

My son is currently taking an AP course online through JHCTY. This course is self-paced and his school would allow him to have this appear on his transcript as it’s one of the three approved online programs they will permit to appear on their transcripts. He will receive a record of the course and his grade and can provide it to colleges or have it on his transcript. Unlike VHS, I am the one that gets the emails/ reports from his teacher. The vast majority of the teacher’s interaction is with him.

If you are looking to take courses at your local college, maybe your college counselor can provide you with some guidance.

5

Talk to your Guidance Counselor.

Community Colleges don’t have AP courses, they have college courses. Let’s say we are talking about AP Calculus.
In HS, that is a year long course. In your CC, you would have Calculus, but it would be only one semester.
If you got a 4 or 5 on your AP Calc test, then you would get college credit.
You would also get college credit for the CC Calculus course.
As far as your HS GPA…if you take AP Calc online officially through your HS, you would get credit and it would probably on a 5.0 scale. If you take iCalc at the CC, you have to see if your HS gives you credit on a 4.0 or 5,0 scale.
If you took in online without your HS blessing it, you may get no HS credit for it, but if you take the AP test you woudl get college credit. HOWEVER, colleges want you take classes through your HS (or officially online) and not just self study. They take your class grades into account, not your AP test results (as those may not come out until after you are already accepted)

6

Since I mentioned JHUCTY online AP Calc course, I want to be clear @kenneths that there is a distinction between what @bopper mentions with regard to self-study and what I referred to as self-paced. Self- paced is a way for students to get through a 1 yr course in significantly less time if you have the time in your schedule and can effectively make your way through the material. You would be assigned a teacher who you will interact with on a regular basis (required minimum is 1x a week), there is homework, chapter tests, mid-term exam and a final exam. You can find out the details on the site. It is in no way self-study.

Also, each college/ high school is different so it would depend on the college you’d be going to that decides if they will give you credit for an AP course and it’s dependent on your school as to whether they weight AP courses (5 point scale). It’s good to do the research in advance but before you commit to anything make sure you speak to your school for assistance with this.