<p>In other words, are partial APs possible?</p>
<p>Yes it’s all depend on how well you do on the AP exams. Some colleges will award you credit hours of one class if your exam score is 3 or 4, two classes’ credit hours for score of 5. No credit hours for score of 1 or 2. </p>
<p>“take the exam partially”
If you mean only taking half of the AP test, no. You can take half the class and the entire test, there’s no rule you have to take a class for an AP test.</p>
<p>o_O I don’t see how you can take half an exam</p>
<p>Like some choose to take 8 APs in a year, but in a way that they take different ones each semester.</p>
<p>No matter how many (if any) AP courses a student takes, the AP tests are only offered one time each year (May). If you take the course only in the fall semester with plans to take its corresponding AP exam in May, you need to retain what you learned (plus probably self-study for the rest) before the exam date rolls around.</p>
<p>I think you have to differentiate between the classes and the tests. Colleges care more about the classes in terms of applications/admissions. The value of the tests comes if and when the college will give you credit and/or allow you to place out of an entry level course. So you can take the test without the class - but to some extent the decision to do that should be based on what colleges you are looking at and what their policy is on providing credit. </p>