D18 just got the scores on her second SAT (she was out of the country and couldn’t access them until tonight). She is done as she went up 30 points and is pleased with her score. Phew! On to Subject tests and AP Test season! I am so happy to cross one thing off of “the list”!
@suzy100 - thanks for posting the info about possible Benaquisto Scholarships for OOS NMFs - very interesting!!
I’ll admit that I am of mixed emotions about the idea of including OOS NMF kids as part of the Benaquisto, It’ll increase the number of NMF students at Florida schools, which is a positive, But it will also likely make the FL schools harder to get into, and competition has gotten harder and harder every year as it is.
@dadotwoboys I agree with you but there have always been OOS kids in Florida schools my thought is that it will replace some of the OOS kids that want FL schools so they can work on their tan with smart scholarly kids:-)
Wow. Reading how much AP tests add up makes me wonder why kids take them. Is the main point to use them for college credit? If so, isn’t it true that many colleges don’t accept APs for credit…just for placement? When I went to college, I was only allowed to use my Calc BC and Physics 1 testing scores to pass out of certain levels of math and physics. It didn’t mean that I got credit for those classes I passed out of. My understanding is that AP tests are not used for admissions purposes so maybe it makes sense to seek out info from your college list first before paying for all of those tests.
Full disclosure - We have a S19 but I get so much info from (mostly) lurking on this page!
@homerdog I have a D17, but check in here occasionally to see if I can offer advice from what I’ve learned this past year! From our Parents of 17 thread, AP exams were required at some high schools if you took the class, but not others. In our HS, the AP exams are not required but students get the benefit of not having to take the final if they pass. So for us, we just needed to figure out what D17’s college would accept to see if they were worth taking. Every college has different allowances. Some limit by accepting only 2 exams, some limit based on major, etc.
@homerdog, my D will take the tests because, 1) if she doesn’t, she has to take the final exam in that particular class, 2) she may get college credit (not just placement but credit) for some, depending on where she goes, and 3) if she does well on them, she can self-report her scores on the Common App which may be a boost. (That last one is a topic of debate on cc, by the way.)
Depends on the college if you’ll get credit or not and if that credit will actually be applied toward your degree.
I posted a chart of how my DD16’s AP credits and other credits worked for her out at OU
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20340669/#Comment_20340669
She got a ton of credit for class standing which kicks her higher up the line for class registration and between DE classes and AP class came she started with 46 credits that can actually apply toward her degree. This will let her double major and take classes that interest her. So for her it was well worth the money we spent on AP exams.
@homerdog At my school you don’t get credit for AP exams, but you can fulfill parts of the core requirement. We have to take classes in many different subjects as a part of the core curriculum, but 4’s and 5’s on AP tests get you out of those requirements. I was able to pass out of 5 of those core classes, so I had enough room in my schedule to pick up a minor! Wouldn’t have been able to do that without AP credits
RE: AP / DE credits - In general, the more prestigious the school, the less likely they are to accept AP / DE credits for anything more than placement, and the higher the score they want to see.
On the upside, the list of schools that don’t award anything is pretty small. Lots of state flagships give credit. OU, for example, gives credit for all DE, most 3s, and all 4s & 5s.
Tulane, ranked at #39 on USNWR, gives credit for AP scores of 4 or 5, and allows 15 credit hours from DE courses taken in high school.
Yale, however, only gives acceleration credit (placement), and only for a 5.
Swarthmore gives placement or sometimes a single credit (certain tests only) for a score of 5.
It’s school by school, but chances of getting full credit are great outside of the tippy top schools, and that’s where the vast majority of students will end up.
S will graduate with approx. 7 APs and 45 DE credits. He’d like to double major, and if he chooses OU, he’s hoping to graduate in fewer than 4 years so he can use any remaining tme on the 5-year scholarship for med school.
DS used AP credits to place out of Calc 1 and 2 and to fulfill several humanities and other credits outside his major. . This allowed him to balance a double engineering major with a varsity sport and some other extracurricular commitments without going crazy.
We are lucky that our school district pays for all AP and IB exams.
@DiotimaDM yes, the schools she originally was looking at are all safeties, so she will now have one that is probably a high-match or a reach school? All are in-state publics at this point. We need to start touring them. Since she plans to major in govt & politics and we’re in the DC metropolitan area, schools in-state will provide opportunities for internships hopefully.
For our HS, we have to pay for AP exams (I think I paid $93 for each this year?) and if they don’t sign up to take them, they have to take the regular school final exam. Most colleges that D18 will be applying to give credits for AP scores of 3-5, and she got a 5 on the AP Govt test so I think she can do pretty well on the others since her class grades are pretty strong. Next year I think she signed up for 4 more, so that will be our biggest bill for her (1 in 10th grade, 2 in 11th grade). All of the test administrations sure to add up in price over time!
For our S16, his 12 DE credits all went directly toward his current transcript, with 6 counting for core courses and 6 counting as electives. He uses that cushion to take a less intense courseload each semester (14 credits per semester vs. 15 or more). And, it enabled him to register for spring classes before most freshman since he had completed 26 credits by the end of his first semester of college. D18 isn’t interested in DE courses, but they do seem to help with the application process as well as getting a head start on college completion for some kids.
@JerseyParents my D14’s best friend is a junior at Drexel in the music industry program and loves it. In fact, she is going to be able to graduate next year with both a BA in the program and a Masters in Communications. She has also had some great internships in preparation for graduation.
Our school offers IB classes. It is $168 to register to take the exams and then $116/exam. He will take two this year and five next year (he’s taking the SL test this year for a class that the school is unsure if they will offer the HL version for next year so if they do offer HL, he will then take that test).
That’s $980 right there. Combined with two ACT exams and now the SAT for NMSF, it sure is expensive! But, most of the colleges he is looking at offer credit for IB exams with a High enough score. At least one of them even offers credits for completing the IB diploma.
My D will be taking 3 AP exams in May - believe all were $93/exam. Next year will have 4 or 5 - still trying to decide on taking 2 classes DE at local CC. College credit is a plus but seems to vary greatly by school and of course how they apply to a degree. If D gets credit the $93 is a steal!
My D this May:
AP Lang
AP Psych
AP German
AP World History
AP Bio
We pay $93 for the first test, then get a $20 discount for each additional test. We like to buy in bulk. 
The odd thing is, my D was much more stressed out last year when she only had one AP class, APUSH. She is learning some serious time management skills. She will likely take four APs next year, not because she has to, but because she’d get bored otherwise.
A couple of colleges at the top of her list are very generous with AP credit. She could end up with 50-some college credit hours. Some would be elective credit, but most if not all general ed classes would be taken care of. That frees us time and provides flexibility for study abroad, clubs and activities, double major, and/or a job.
I’d like to add a different perspective on AP classes. To me, college is a time to explore, and while the “relief” of extra credits received though IB, AP or DE can facilitate that by giving priority for registration in some schools, or freeing up academic time, the use of APs to “take care of” Core requirements and more also can somewhat defeat the idea of a broad – and deep – education. It is the rare high school course that can address a subject as deeply and as well as its college course counterpart, especially where a seminar-style college class develops deep conversation about the subject at hand.
That said, AP and IB courses on a HS schedule certainly do speak to rigor and academic ability (based on exam scores and a school’s average performance as reported in it profile). HOWEVER, I firmly believe balance is key, not only for mental health of the student, but also to create a more interesting student to consider holistically for admission. And that was our experience with our oldest, now a thriving upperclassman at a top-ranked university. He took less APs in HS than his peers (10), and also took unweighted classes when he was interested in exploring something new – like the arts or odd topics. That ultimately affected his class standing, and yet he was admitted to every school applied to - all highly ranked. He even was admitted to 3 schools that the #1 and #2 in his HS class were not. They had more APs and a higher weighted GPA, but… and we are NOT URM or first gen or any other hook. (Note: did not apply to H or MIT, and I believe they look at numbers much more than other Ivy’s – not sure).
We advise our kids to not take APs just for the sake of college applications, class standing, etc. In our HS, APUSH is a necessary evil bc the teacher is so good - and so hard - that the kids learn SO much beyond the topic. But a HS AP English just cannot replicate a freshman English at a good college. AP Psych is fun an interetsing, but scratches the surface of a really good college intro Psych course. So, it’s high school: allow yourslef to be both challenged in some areas - not necessarily all - an be well rounded, explore a variety of interests, and enjoy non-academic summers.
My S still received several significant merit-based scholarships, including one full-ride everything - tuition, room, board and summer stipends - to a SLAC. This approach to HS enabled investment into the person beyond the classroom, and a chance to develop interests and passions, which ultimately gives the student something interesting to write about in college essays and talk about in interviews. It turned out that these were all important pieces of a college application WHERE a holistic approach to review is taken (so state schools… maybe not so much, but he did also receive amazing scholarships to OOS state schools, like the Gator Nation, for example at UF). So, just know what you want before drowning senior year in too much academic rigor at the expense of sleep, a life, and fun.
At our S school, most APs aren’t awarded credit anyway, but the better ones DO provide a firm foundation on which to build in college classes that literally fly through a year’s HS AP material in weeks.
Hope this helps!
AP is an interesting subject. What parent doesn’t want to pay less than $100 for their kid to earn credits that could cost up to $5000 if paid for as tuition.
But, if you don’t know which college your kid will apply to fairly early in the HS career, you won’t know if they are worth taking. The range of AP credits awarded for the schools on my son’s wish list vary from 9 credits to 27 awarded.
I know that some of the AP courses are simply the natural progression for their academic tract and in some schools that still report class rank they can’t be skipped without major penalty, but that workload can certainly get overwhelming
If my son had taken 12-15 AP courses in high school and then not had the time to do all of the ECs that he wanted to do and have a social life I would feel like he was being cheated if his college choice capped his credits at half.
There certainly isn’t one formula that works for all kids.
At our S18’s current top three schools, here is the credit he can earn for IB exams:
School 1:
Chem HL: 4 credit hours/Chem 1310
Physics HL: 8 credit hours/Physics 2211 and Physics 2212
English HL: 3 hours/English 1101
History HL: 3 hours/History 2112
Total of 18 credit hours and five courses credited. A minimum of 12 credit hours is required to be full time, but you can take up to 21 if you are in good standing. So assume the average student takes 18 credit hours, that is a full semester of courses freed up.
School 2:
Chem HL: 8 credit hours/Chem 1035, 1036, 1045, 1046 (two chem courses and corresponding lab sections)
Physic HL: 9 credit hours/Phys 2305, 2306 and any Physics elective (this is for engineering majors; other majors can get credit for lower level Physics courses)
English HL: 6-9 credit hours/English 1105, 1106, and a 2000-level course if the score is 6 or 7.
History HL: 6-9 credit hours/History 1214, 1224, and another 1000-level history elective if the score is a 6/7.
Plus, this school gives credit for one Standard Level course as well and credit for TOK and EE with a grade of at least C.
A student can get a maximum of 38 credit hours through IB at this school, which is equivalent to a little over three full-time semesters. So it frees up at least a year of credit if not more!
School 3:
Chem HL: 9 credit hours/Chem 103, 104
Physics HL: 8 credit hours/Phys 103, 104
English HL: 6 credit hours of Eng Lit electives (two courses) and exempt from Gen Communication requirement.
History HL: 6 credit hours of history/social studies electives (two courses)
This school also grants credits for three more elective courses for students who complete the diploma with a 28 or higher combined exam score.
Potential total of receiving credit for 12 courses, which is equivalent to approximately 3-4 semesters depending on major. So at least a year of college taken care of here as well.
Definitely worth the cost!
As a few have said, it really depends on your situation (cost, teachers, expectations, college interest, etc.). In our case, AP tests are covered by the school district and all students are required to take the test (though the test score does not count toward the class grade). And AP students do not take a final exam. There may be a way to opt out of taking the AP exam, but I’m sure why a kid would bother.
Another small (very small) benefit is being named an AP Scholar (and other distinctions) if the student does well on the AP tests. Just another thing to add to the resume, not a reason to take a bunch of AP tests.