A P scores

[TheDoctor]

For those parents of high achieving AP students, are you requiring your kids to use the scores to finish college early? I had enough AP credit to graduate a year early, but I never considered doing it. I liked college and when I graduated there were still many classes that I would have liked to have taken had I had the time.

Right now we are not doing this. My son is using his AP credit to do a triple major in four years. My DD is thinking about either trying to graduate early or doing a double or triple major. This was a long time ago but a friend in undergrad had 30+ hours of credit from placement tests and did undergrad in three years.

 

[Towncrier]

DS James got a report on his scores from Youngstown State before the official letter showed up this past Monday. He scored two 5's, a 4, and a 2. The letter from YSU says that his scores qualify him for 18 hours of credit. He has already dropped Chemistry as a result of the AP results (although he is still auditing the class and participating with his fellow students in a study group). The pressure is off for him to get an A in chemistry, but he still wants to stay current with YSU's version of the course. He does have a little breathing room, though.

DD Sarah got a 3 on her one and only AP exam (World History, I think). Not bad for a high school sophomore. She's off at church camp this week and hasn't seen her score yet.

We were hesitant to let James take 4 AP courses in his senior year of high school. They were the first AP courses he took and he struggled with AP calculus. For a while, we thought that he might not pass the course. But now that he's taken the tests and qualified for college credit, we may have to rethink our decision to NOT let Sarah take so many AP courses when she is a senior.

 

[debloco]

Plus your right it saved us thousands!

I am all for AP classes and my DD took 2 her junior year and will take 3 her senior year. They are challenging courses and if they earn college credit, it can ease their schedule of courses per semester and/or enable them to graduate in 4 years.

But, if you are paying "full time" tuition which covers all course hours from 12 through whatever the college limits students to per semster, AP course credit does not save you money in tuition, unless it saves your student from an extra semester or year beyond the first four years.

We have heard this repeatedly from our DD's HS teachers and have spoken to several of them about it and they acknowledge that the "saving thousands" line should not be used the way it is.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

DS just got his scores today and passed both classes. He took 3 his junior year and 2 this year. He will enter college with 17 credits. While he doesn't plan to graduate early, this will give him a cushion and take some of the pressure off.

DD entered with 15 credits. It let her achieve sophmore status earlier which helped in getting classes and dorm room choices in the spring.

While it doesn't lower tuition, the ~$400 for the 5 tests was an inexpensive way to get 17 college credits.

 

[Marie17]

Son - Sophomore - took the English and Chemistry AP tests. Haven't received the scores yet though.

 

[christineann]

Daughter got hers today (4 courses) and did very well - she did well on 2 AP's last year and exempted several courses through the NC university system, so she has a good head start.

 

[TheDoctor]

My DD just finished registering her AP credits with her college. She has 33 hours of credit.

 

[tar heel]

If your kids place out of classes that are essential to their major and are prerequisites for important classes, please make sure they have a heart to heart with a professor before they take the credit. My oldest DS made 5s on both his math AP exams and also had a perfect score on the math SAT but he was so not prepared for the second level of engineering Calculus at his school. He said he didn't really feel like he had his math brain back until he got to his third college Calculus class. His second-level Statistics class, on the other hand, he thought was easier than his high school AP class.

My DS also placed out of freshman English, which at his school, unfortunately, meant he was not required to take any English. He had his first English class junior year. It was a Shakespeare class and he got As on the tests, but just couldn't get them on the papers. I'm sure an English class his freshmen year would have been beneficial.

 

[Tifffany]

I took the English Literature AP test this year and I received a 4. I'm happy with it; it gets me 7 credits at my school, and I have 6 credits from the US History AP test I took last year.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Ds just got his scores today. He didnt even show me the paper. He said he got 2 in everything. He took physics, biology and history. I dont know if his college will take any of these. I will call the admissions office. I know ds is an average student. We even tried to talk him out of not taking the physics class when he started his senior year. If the college does not take any of the classes then sadly I think it was a waste of our money and for ds as he could have not stressed himself out and took easier classes. The ds all go to a private school and now they have changed the rules again making it mandatory for any senior to take either ap art or music history. Oh joy, my next ds hates both. I will ask if he can switch out to one of the other classes. Congrats to those whos kids did really well.