<p>A school councilor said colleges do not give credits for AP classes taken in 9th grade. Is this true? It seems illogical that colleges would credit APs based on which high school grade a student take an AP exam.</p>
<p>Why would they not grant you credit. I see no reason in what your couniclor said.</p>
<p>There is a big discussion going on among the educators about AP courses. A lot of colleges are not happy about giving credit. I think Harvard has stopped giving credit for 4’s and only accepts 5’s now. Also, some less than stellar high schools are teaching AP courses without real rigor. The CB has plans to audit 15000 high school classes nationwide to make sure that the courses are not being watered down.</p>
<p>It is hard to imagine that a high school can teach the equivalent of a college class in ninth grade. On the other hand, I agree with genesis.</p>
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<p>That is a fallacious statement.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies.</p>
<p>I checked several college websites, and none of their AP credit policies relates to which grade an AP exam is taken. The councilor may just try to discourage 9th graders from taking APs.</p>
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<p>There are more than a few high schools that teach college level classes for students of any class…as the AP exam scores and early college credit. I am thinking you are confused about SAT scores taken prior to 9th grade. IF you took an AP exam in 7th grade your score is recognized and credit if given for 5s and at some schools for lower scores.</p>
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<p>Actually I just meant in a practical sense, and I was questioning whether a 14 year old could really get enough out of a class taught by a high school teacher so that they should be able to skip college Bio/Chem four years later in order to take more advanced college classes instead.</p>
<p>I was talking to a parent who had a child at Montgomery Blair Magnet School (prestigious hs), and he said that the students there took both AP Bio and AP Chem in 9th grade. I don’t know what that means.</p>
<p>It seems you haven’t had much exposure to profound kids…but the answer is that a 5 on AP is valid whether from a 12 year old or a 16 year old. The grade in school matters NOT. Many kids leave high school early and have taken college courses during the few years they did remain in HS. Why would you equate age and academic achievement levels?</p>
<p>your GC is blowing smoke…there are some really gifted kids that are ready for Calc as a Frosh, or could take AP Art History or World History, etc, both of which only require good study skills.</p>
<p>I understand that some people go to college when they are 12. This is different from a magnet high school offering a curriculum where you take AP bio and AP chem both during 9th grade for everybody in the school. Sorry, but that basically sounds nuts to me. I’m not familar with the whole curriculum, though. For example, I don’t know what they take in 10, 11 or 12.</p>
<p>There is a lot of discussion lately in the papers about the AP courses. The feeling is that the difficulty of the AP curriculum has been watered down as a result of the AP’s becoming more popular, particularly at lower performing schools. The CB has agreed/decided to audit 15000 AP courses nationwide in order to ensure that the curriculum is being followed. Harvard only takes 5’s now, and not 4’s.</p>
<p>I suppose somebody getting a 5 on the exam after completing the course in 9th grade must indicate something, but replacing a college level pre-med weed-out course with a two hour test taken three years before you attend college doesn’t seem right.</p>
<p>dufus:</p>
<p>I sorta concur with your pov. But, there are many prep schools where kids take honors bio as an 8th grader…AP Bio is the next logical class, and Frosh year is just as good as Soph/Jr year for taking it, IMO.</p>
<p>its impossible for us to take any ap during frosh year because of prereqs. the earliest you could take them is 2nd semester of soph year (after taking 3 prereqs for each one) they dont allow sophomores or juniors in more than one AP. I think that it should be okay for you though. about honors bio in 8th grade, the next logical course is honors chem before ap bio because you need chem for some ap bio concepts.</p>
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<p>If it doesn’t seem right to you…don’t do it. </p>
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<p>Judgemental about your peers, I hope you are ready to meet lots of kids who have done these things. If you are planning to apply to medical school many of your competitiors for med school you will have never seen in your undergrad classes.</p>
<p>hazmat:
My son took AP English Lang in 11th. He attended a really second-rate high school, but the Eng teacher was very good and had moved to the school that year because he came with the new principal to help clean up the high school. I went to “parents night” and the Eng teacher has a tremendous sylabus with about 15 or more books on it. After a couple of weeks, an assignment was due and my son said that only 2 out of 25 people turned it in. About two weeks after that, my son said that 5 out of 25 people had turned it in so far. After that, my son told me that the Eng teacher was lecturing the class for the first 15 minutes each day telling them that they had to shape up because college was going to be hard. Did I mention the student who was sent to the office for yelling profanities at the teacher? At the end of the year, they had covered a total of 3 books and the teacher left the school. My point is that my son got a 4 on the exam taking it cold, and he isn’t really good at English.</p>
<p>To continue, he is at one of the elite schools now. Since he is a bio major, he is taking the pre-med weed-out courses even though he doesn’t want to be pre-med. </p>
<p>I don’t see how taking a AP Bio/Chem course in 9th grade can even remotely be compared to a Bio/Chem introductory pre-med weed-out course in college. If nothing else there is a 4-hour lab each week in college and these adults (not 9th graders) are killing themselves just to keep from getting a C. </p>
<p>Also, I don’t see where I am being any more judgmental than you are.</p>
<p>dufus:</p>
<p>I concur that nearly every HS AP class is probably not as the same as the similar class at a college, particularly a college which is extremely competitive. But, that is/was not the the point. The original point was whether a Frosh can take an AP course and receive college credit, and the answer is YES.</p>
<p>btw: since med school requires a high college gpa, many premeds take the college class again, even if they had a 5 on the AP, since they believe that they can earn a relatively easier A.</p>
<p>bluebayou
I agree with you completely about colleges giving credit for AP from ninth grade. It was a bit of a tangent as to whether or not they should give credit.</p>
<p>I also agree about not wanting to use the AP credit to skip pre-med weed-out courses, although others will disagree. There are two “pre-med” bio courses and two “pre-med” chem courses. At any rate, you could only skip one of the two. If you do skip, you have to satisfy the med school requirement (differ by med school) by taking a different higher level course.</p>
<p>I think the main use of using AP’s to skip college courses is to skip required courses outside of your major. For example, a history major might want to skip the single required science course, or a science major might want to skip the single required history course.</p>
<p>dufus3709 It is difficult for me to equate APs to college level courses as I took NO AP courses/exams but rather took SAT2s. My HS taught college level courses. You are entitled to think what you want to about high school classes compared to college weed out. Be my guest. You are also entitled to call me judgemental. We are clearly operating in different venues from whence we draw our conclusions.</p>
<p>hazmat
As far as the colleges are concerned, the SAT II scores are very important and the AP scores are not. There have been numerous threads on this. Almost no colleges even require that you self report the AP scores on the app (NU is an exception), and no colleges require that the AP score report be sent from CB. </p>
<p>Certainly if you have all 5’s, then it should help some, but in general the SAT II’s are important and AP score’s are not in terms of admission. Of course, taking the AP courses is very important if they are offered at your hs.</p>
<p>Clearly you aren’t aware that I am already in college and doing submatriculation.</p>
<p>I don’t think it really matter who/what any poster is. The info should stand by itself and it is there for anyone to read. What is submatriculation (I mean the “sub” part)?</p>