<p>Wait, are we talking about what they are used for, or what they should be used for?</p>
<p>You can get college credits from APs, whether you’ve taken the classes, or prepared yourself for them. How much credit you can get for what seems to vary from place to place. It’s just my opinion that many colleges probably give more credits than I think they should.</p>
<p>And I don’t actually know how much weight AP exam scores carry in college admissions. I suspect this, too, varies a lot from place to place. It’s just my opinion that they shouldn’t count for very much.</p>
<p>Similarly, it’s just my opinion that I’d like to see smart, ambitious high-school students do almost anything other than preparing themselves for AP exams. Sadly, there does seem to be some correlation between taking a whole lot of AP exams and being admitted to selective colleges and universities. I just hope it’s merely correlation, and not cause-and-effect.</p>