<p>
</p>
<p>Many (probably most) AP courses cover a semester’s worth of college material over a year in high school (often called “AP lite” courses), meaning that the pace is slower than in college (the opposite of “rapid pace”). In such a course, a good motivated teacher teaching good motivated students can easily enhance the course. Of course, that may not happen in many schools, if the teacher and/or students are not good motivated ones.</p>
<p>Perhaps it is easy, from the point of view of one who has access to an academically elite high school, to criticize “AP lite” courses taught in a mediocre manner at many non-elite high schools. But if you did not have access to an elite high school, would you want your student to take the regular courses at the non-elite high school where AP courses were the most rigorous options available?</p>
<p>No question about it, there are plenty of things wrong with the AP program, and other things wrong with how it is used (the “mission creep” of defining a rigorous high school curriculum that most high schools would not offer in the absence of AP). But that does not mean that, for most high ability and motivation students (i.e. those without access to an academically elite high school), that AP courses are not worth choosing over typical regular courses at a typical non-elite high school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Few graduate early, but entering college with some AP credit can be a buffer against graduating late due to being a few credits short. For some students, the cost of a ninth semester may be greater than the savings of needing only seven semesters, because scholarships and financial aid may end or become less generous after eight semesters.</p>