The value of AP tests

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello, I am a high school senior and will soon have to decide what AP tests I want to take. Let me give you some background about myself. So far, I have taken:</p>

<p>AP chem, physics B, Euro-5s
AP stats, micro eco-4s
AP Macro Eco-3</p>

<p>Now, my senior schedule is:
AP physics C, eng lit, env science, US, Calc AB, and French</p>

<p>As of march 1, I will have to decide which ones I will want to take (without know what college I am going to). I can tell you that I have applied to BU, northeastern (accepted), UMich (accepted), stanford, harvard, princeton, yale, UPenn, berkeley. I want to major in physics</p>

<p>I have heard a lot of things about AP tests from a lot of people. The teachers always say that it will save you thousands of dollars, however, my dad protests that it will not save you anything because you will still have to take another class (that is equally as costly) in its place. Frankly, I do not want to drop $82 when it will not benefit me. Really, I do not know much about the benefit of AP tests. I do not want to be taking repeat classes when I go to college (is this how AP works?). What about a specific classes like US where I already have a credit for Euro. How will I know if I am going to have to be stuck in the class next year (like US or environmental science), if I already have similar credits. As for french, well, I really do not want to take that test period because I only see myself getting a 3 which, given my schools, I do not think will be very helpful. Besides, is a language required anyways?</p>

<p>So, can anyone tell me the value of AP tests for my situation and help advise me on which ones would be worth taking? Let us assume that it is feasible that I could take all and do fairly well on them (4s and 5s) except for french. In that case, which ones are beneficial and which ones will just be a waste of $82?</p>

2

<p>AP credits work differently at different colleges. Some colleges place you out of classes; others give you credit AND place you out of classes. It depends on the school and the subject.</p>

<p>Look into the AP credit policies of the schools you applied to, especially the ones you think you're most likely to attend, and make your decision based off of that.</p>

3

<p>I'd advise you to take the AP Physics, English Lit and AP Calc.
You want to be a physics major. Chances are good that having a good score on these two will enable you to place into higher level math and physics in college. A good score on the AP Lit will probably place you into a higher level English course. You're right - you won't want to repeat the same courses you had in high school.
If you thought you could score a 4 on the French, I'd suggest that too, as you could place into an intermmediate French class in college. You probably could "test into" the language classes, however, so it may not matter.
My daughter at Yale found almost all of her APs useful - not for getting out of classes, but for jumping into slightly more advanced ones.
She actually regrets not taking AP Chem, as there were some interesting classes she wanted to take, but a prerequisite of a lower division course or a 4-5 on the AP Chem exam were required to get in.</p>

4

<p>the majority of colleges you've listed (ivies + stanford) only accept a score a 5 for nearly all of its subjects</p>

<p>go to <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.collegeboard.com&lt;/a> and check out the ap policies of different schools. most ivies accept chem and physics B. the 3's and 4's you got for economics won't be counted as a credit at ivies. take the calc BC exam; its just like a 5 week extension of calc AB and yet offers much more credit.</p>

5

<p>You guys don't have to pay the fees of the test to be in the class?</p>

6

<p>In addition to what aphoticmelody said, some colleges will give you credit for a class that you can't really use to meet graduation requirements because it is at too low a level for it to count in your major. For example, suppose you are a bio major and have a 4 on the AP bio exam. They may give you credit for Bio 100 when the only science credits that count in fulfilling the requirments for the bio degree are at the 200 level or above.</p>

<p>Because of this, I think it is best to try to get AP credits in courses that will be outside of your major. If you are a science major, then you may have to have a single US Hist credit for graduation. If you are a history major, then you may have to have a single science/math credit for graduation. In this case, the AP scores will allow you to actually skip a class. </p>

<p>In terms of college tuition, you pay by the semester/quarter. Unless you are planning on getting out early, it won't save you any money.</p>

<p>It will take either a 4 or 5 on the exam before a college will give you credit. (Harvard recently got tired of AP courses being used for credit since they didn't think the preparation was good enough. They now only take 5's, but the majority will take 4's or 5's.)</p>

7

<p>dufus, it does make sense to take the ones in your major even if you don't get credit as long as that enables you to bump to a higher level course in college. Having a 4-5 often allows kids to jump into more interesting courses right away - major or not. The credit isn't really the issue.</p>

8

<p>asap: In my example, though, the BIO 100 is not required and would never be taken by Biology majors. The fact that a bio major gets credit for it means absolutely nothing. On the other hand, if a history major gets credit for it, it might satisfy their science requirement. I'm not saying that it works that way everywhere, but I know it works that way in one college.</p>

9

<p>I see . Since it's so hard to second guess how the college you eventually land in will handle this, it makes sense to me to take any exams where you think you'll score a 4 or 5. But that's just one opinion based on my one kids experience. At Yale, majors still need the intro courses under their belt in many majors (or the AP equivalent).</p>

10

<p>tough call....Berkeley will give credit for nearly every AP with a score of 3+....I assume UMich (as a public) would do the same. Thus, a kid with mucho AP's can start with Soph standing at Cal; but not the privates, which are less liberal with AP/IB credits. </p>

<p>Some schools have an additional foreign language requirement (UCLA) and others don't (Berkeley).</p>

11

<p>Some schools pay the fee for you. Like two of the schools I went to, both paid for my AP tests. I never paid. You should find out if your school does the same.</p>