<p>Hi!</p>
<p>I have got credits through high school college-level exams. Would you recommend taking the credits and save money or to not take them, take it easy, and get used to the environment first? Will I have any trouble maintaining a good grade after the credits, because I am thinking that it could take some time getting used to the environment as a college freshman?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Take the credit</p>
<p>What hoonose said.</p>
<p>But what if I forget some things that I get the credit for?</p>
<p>take the credits for your gen-ed classes. this is a no-brainer. you won’t need to know US history to do well in your engineering program.</p>
<p>for classes related to your major, this is a tougher decision. it depends on how tough your college is, how good your high school class was, and how comfortable you are with the material.</p>
<p>a real-life example–i came in to college with a 5 on AP Calc AB knowing very little about calculus. i also took a calc II course at a local college. i knew how to calculate limits, derivatives, and integrals, but i didn’t really know what they meant or what they were good for. </p>
<p>i really got a lot out of my first calculus class that reviewed all of the calc I material and taught the calc II material in one course. i’m sure that if i went straight into calc III i would have done poorly in the course.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your input!</p>
<p>@silence_kit: So the credits we get can be used for anything? If I am getting like 5 credits for say Physics C Mech, I can use these 5 credits for US History?</p>
<p>bumppppppppp?</p>
<p>No. There are overall credit requirements, and credit requirements in subsections. You might have an ethics requirement of three credits, an arts and humanities credit requirement of nine credits, etc. You would have to get your incoming credits reviewed by admissions to see what courses they transfer in as. Some might not transfer in at all. Some schools won’t allow you to transfer in credits but will give you advanced standing.</p>
<p>Only take gen-ed AP credit. Before my son chose his school he met with the CoE Asst. Dean and asked the same question. The Dean gave him some very good advice. He explained that the intro classes for math, physics and chemistry in college were specifically designed to prepare one for the advanced courses. Not true of the HS AP courses. He said it was the schools experience that people that took AP credits struggled when going straight to the advanced courses. Another good reason for taking the intro courses was that people with AP credits usually do very well in the intro classes and get high marks without a huge amount of effort. “Take the A.”, he said, “It’ll help your GPA down the line." </p>
<p>He was right on both counts.</p>
<p>only take gen-ed credit, it will help you to take intro math and science classes as an engineer.</p>
<p>It may also give you more time to work on time-consuming science with lab courses in your first semester. There are discussions on this from time to time in the college life forum on lamenting going into too high a level with AP credits. There are some school districts that do a good job of preparation but you’d have to be sure that your high school was one of these.</p>