<p>Many of the AP courses at my son's school also offered concurrent enrollment at the local community college. Some kids take the AP test, some pay for the "College Now" credit at the local college, some do both (probably some do neither). My son choose to do the community college route since most of the engineering schools he planned to apply to showed they would accept the courses class for class. It was easier for him to do well over the whole course than to try to do well on a single exam in May.</p>
<p>Now he won't have to take 6 hours of freshman English, 6 hours of US History, 3 hours of statistics, 3 hours of psychology, and 10 hours of Calculus 1 and 2 when he starts REAL college next fall. And we paid the lower community college fees ($68/hour) rather than the higher costs at the out-of-state schools he may attend next year. True, it may have been cheaper to get the AP credit, but after a bad experience with the European History AP test as a sophomore, my son was glad not to take any more of them.</p>
<p>Bottom line: it pays to have some idea where you are going to college to determine which option works best for you.</p>