<p>A trend I've noticed on CC is that dedicated students take loads of AP courses. Do they not have the option to take college courses, or do they just choose not to?</p>
<p>I go to a small public school, so I will probably take only 3 AP courses by graduation (we offer 4). However, I will probably have taken at least 5 college classes at an nearby private college.</p>
<p>Just looking for opinions.</p>
<p>I think that it’s important to take all the opportunities YOU are given. So if your school offers about 3 AP courses, and you’ve taken them, then taking colleges classes shows initiative. My school offers a plethora of APs, so I take those classes (mostly). </p>
<p>AP are usually the class of choice because it’s convenient, you can self-study them, you take them during school and they’re standardized. Colleges like them, and they know what the course entails. Besides, unlike college courses, the class grade isn’t curved based on the class. So taking AP bio, if everyone is brilliant they can all get As. However, if you’re at a college with pre-med students then only the best get the As. That’s just my $.02.</p>
<p>Metrical,</p>
<p>Not all college instructors grade on a curve. In the undergrad and grad level courses I’ve taken recently, all of the instructors included the exact requirements for an A, B, or C right in the course syllabus. Even in those courses full of brilliant pre-whatevers, anyone who did A work got an A.</p>
<p>Back in the last century when I was a grad student, I do remember drawing up curves based on the results of final exams. However, in every case our goal was not to keep anyone from getting a good grade, it was rather to see if we could possibly justify moving a marginal score up into the next grade range.</p>
<p>Well I’m taking some math courses and the grades are all based on a curve. I simply used this fact as one of the reasons some students choose AP over college course (although not the main one, clearly).</p>
<p>^^^ Sorry to learn that! How awful! I’d begun to think that the curve went out with the turn of the millennium. I suppose the profs. who have that policy believes that it keeps everyone on their toes, even though many of us would hold that it is anti-pedagogic. Wishing you well as you deal with them!</p>
<p>I suppose it depends on location, but in my city, AP courses are more significantly more rigorous (and thus weighted more heavily towards GPA) than the classes available at our local college. Classes available to us there (Econ, English, Governmnet, and a couple others) are basically a way to avoid the workload of AP and get out of school for 1 period while still not stooping to the “academic” (lowest) level courses.</p>
<p>At my school with a 7 period day, it’s easier to fit AP classes in rather than college courses. And our district is stupid and mandates that students must take every math (for example) core course available in order to take a college class. (i.e., Geometry, Adv. Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Calculus)</p>
<p>And AP is only $86 while college classes range on price including fees and books.</p>
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<p>Thanks! I am not too happy with the policy. I have 8 other classes at school (all college weighted or AP) so it’s kind of hard to compete with math majors who take a total of 4 or 5 classes. Oh well, I think I have an A so far, just got to stay on my toes. Personally, I think it is a really bad system too, but it seems to be not only the professor, but the whole department that has this requirement.</p>
<p>Most day classes aren’t convenient for students to take, and night classes take time away from studying for the daytime classes.</p>
<p>Most high school students don’t have a nearby college to attend, or if they do, it is often a community college with classes not nearly as rigorous as high school AP’s and a very mixed bag of students. Most high schoolers would also find it difficult to get to and from another location within the confines of their daily high school schedule, both academic and extracurricular, and many would prefer to spend school time around their friends, especially during senior year. The alternative path the OP describes is very unusual.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s HS, they have dual credit classes taught by the local community college professors at their HS. They attend MWF just like they would if they were on a college campus, and follow the CC schedule. But, in my daughter’s opinion, the rigor of the classes do not compare. Her HS AP classes are significantly more difficult and time consuming than her dual credit classes. She received honors (pre-AP) credit for the dual credit classes, but she has even questioned whether she thinks these classes are as difficult as other pre-AP classes she has taken in HS.</p>