Question about AP credit and course placements

jacksac67
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 20:58:57 +0000

Hello, I’m an incoming freshman that will be attending Georgia Tech this fall, and I have a question about AP credit and course selection. This year I took 4 AP exams and believe to have done well on all of them (4s or 5s). According to GT’s course catalog, I would be able to earn credit for most of them and place out of certain classes freshman year. However, I was wondering if it would be wise to do so, considering that the courses that some colleges offer are considerably more broad and rigorous than their AP counterparts.

For example, if I earned a 4 or 5 on my AP Calculus BC exam, I am eligible to place out of first year differential and integral calculus and take linear algebra instead. The problem with this though is that maybe by skipping GT’s version of calc 1, I’m missing out on some material I haven’t learned, or I’m missing out on learning at a much higher level of rigor that is now expected of me in college. Consequently, I wouldn’t be able to perform as well in linear algebra and possibly end up with some lower grades for my freshman year.

So my question(s) for current/past students who have gone down this path or a similar one, is placing out of classes with AP credit worth it? Are some classes easily able to be skipped when some shouldn’t be no matter what? Do most students who do use AP credit to place out of classes perform fine their first year? Thanks.