Yep. Aps just got us to junior year faster and increase of tuition lightly. But as stated will help with certificates and minors and more interesting classes. Graduating earlier… Ah - no… Plus in normal times I want my kids to have the college educational /social experiences that they want. But if monies an issue then that might be a good alternative.
Again, that goes back to trying the college’s old final exams of the courses allowed to be skipped if you are not sure, so that you can make a more informed decision than the apparently orthodox conventional wisdom here of always repeating your AP credit.
Do people here seriously believe that university math (etc.) departments have not compared to average grades of all of the following groups in calculus 2, with respect to what they did with calculus 1:
Skippers with AP 5
Skippers with AP 4
Skippers with AP 3
Takers with A grade
Takers with B grade
Takers with C grade
and used that information to decide whether to allow AP scores to skip, and what the AP score threshold is to skip?
In my high school in the 70’s, no APs were offered. Most teachers were able to offer advanced work in foreign language or English, but if you wanted to take a college level course, there was a university about 6 blocks away so students just took an early morning class or a late afternoon one and most just walked on down and took Calc or chemistry at a more advanced level.
Even today, this hs, one of the biggest in the state, only offers about 6 AP classes
For many students, they do not have to spend much time studying for AP exams to get 5s.
As someone who took several AP Exams this year, I would say that the concern about scores is completely justified. I know that people will always be disappointed with their scores every year, but this time is unprecedented. Not only were exams different, but grading was, as well. I think it is our right as students to question the reliability of our scores. I am personally content with mine, but a particular score of mine does confuse me a bit. Yes, I am biased, as it is my writing, but I do think that my score was unreasonably low. Scores this year are causing more confusion than ever before, and I think that it should be acceptable for students to question their scores, even if they scored higher than a 2.
“Conversely, some students that score 4’s and 5’s will struggle mightily, and perhaps flame out.”
Do you have any data on this? As ucbalumnus posted, colleges do and they would disagree with your assertion.
“paying for the privilege of over-studying towards standardized tests”
Parents don’t pay for AP test preparation, maybe for AP class tutoring during the year, so there’s not really na AP test industry.
“You’ll do yourself a disservice should you choose to measure your academic accomplishments with the Advanced Placement yardstick”
Ok but that’s what pretty much what most, if not all, selective colleges use, APs and honors, taking into context what the high school offers. That’s the first thing colleges look at in more detail, the transcript.
“rather than pursuing academic and extracurricular activities that truly interest you?”
A lot of kids find the material in APs interesting especially if they like the subject, so for them APs are an academic interest.
“Moreover, the AP tests should be developed by college professors who teach these courses”
I think they are actually written by college professors, assuming in a contract role with the college board.
If there was an opportunity cost to studying for the APs, I never heard about it from either of my kids. To them it was just another test, not particularly different or harder than other tests they took.
All good points but… Some kids just don’t do well with the format and timed nature of these tests. They might know the material, but don’t do well with the format.
Maybe it’s test anxiety since there is extra weight on the tests (if scoring high then can bypass a class and get credit). Also kids sometimes are taking multiples of these in one week. It can be grueling.
But for the AP courses many find them just more interesting since they seem to get more into the depth of the subject. Both kids found them easier but studied more (maybe making it easier… Lol) since the subject matter was more interesting to them over their honor classes.
And yes, for certain classes in college mainly Calc and Physics it can backfire if their foundation isn’t solid. It also depends on the college, I guess. I understand looking at old exams and a good suggestion and I am sure for some students it’s prudent to skip a class and move up. So at my sons school Calc 2 Physics 1,2 are heavy weeder classes. Some say all their physics are. Not sure I would want to have 2 weeder classes plus engineering 101 (considered another weeder class) out of 4 /5 classes. Some of these can be brutal. My son said literally after the first tests, the classes started thinning out noticeably. Many just grunted on the way out “well, I am not going into medicine /engineering anymore”
So I guess my suggestion, even if not popular, is to be careful. There are sequences. But I have never heard any student say that retaking the class from high school to college level was a piece of cake. There is still foundational learning to be had. They teach it at a deeper level.
Every current engineer that I spoke to (lots of my patients happen to be engineers like 40 % or more would be a guesstimate). Most are within 5 years of just graduating. From all types of schools mostly known names. When I asked what’s the suggestion about skipping a Calc class due to AP, 100% said not to do it. That I found interesting. This is over a few years of me asking certain questions. I heard all sorts of stories of retaking classes, failing, etc. These are people from Michigan, UIUC , Georgia Tech and so on.
Regardless, most aren’t graduating earlier but it does allow you to use the AP credit to take higher level classes since they can be used for Gen Ed credits and the such so minoring or double minoring etc become more attainable.
Just something to consider.
I feel like the “&” in my title is like that pesky comma in the 2nd Amendment.
My post was in response to all the activity in the Latest Posts section highlighting AP hand-wringing.
My stream of consciousness didn’t adequately delineate my thoughts around both AP’s and standardized testing in general.