<p>“many AP courses are often easier because high schools commonly take a whole year to cover what is ordinarily covered in a semester long college course.”</p>
<p>But most college students are only enrolled in 4-5 classes per semester. In many high schools, students would be taking 8 year-long classes, or, equivalently, 4 classes on a semester system, similar to a college schedule. I’ve seen on here that there are high schools which only have 6 classes per year, but I think 8, or at least 7, is more common.</p>
<p>Schools, teachers, and classes are going to vary, in both colleges and high schools. At top schools, I think students who place out of classes with AP credit often struggle in the higher level classes. Some students who choose not to place out say that it was worth retaking the material. I think many of the AP classes really aren’t on the same level as the college classes they are meant to replace, at least for highly selective colleges which have a very talented student body, but might be comparable or a little harder than community college classes. But evaluating all this is also complicated by the fact that college freshmen don’t usually have as well-developed study habits, writing, and test-taking skills as the older students do. It just takes a little while to get used to college expectations.</p>