Is it worthwhile to take AP tests for classes you don't plan to take in college?

[Anonymous]

DS is a 10th grader and taking AP US History this year. He does not plan to major in history in college. Is it worthwhile or necessary for him to study for and take the AP exam at the end of this year?

Do colleges care or take note if you take any AP exams? Is it worth the added time and stress?

[Anonymous]

Having good scores is good to put on the college application. Depending on where your student goes he could get credit or maybe even a general ed requirement fulfilled or possibly just some spare units so he could take a light semester. If you student wants to apply to a UK school good scores are fairly necessary.

[Anonymous]

Yes. one of the purposes of taking them in HS is exactly so that you don't have to take them in college.

[Anonymous]

Some colleges will accept a 4 or 5 as meeting a Core or GE requirement, so yes, take the AP History exam and do well so he never has to take a history class again.

[Anonymous]

Taking them also helps to prepare on for the level of effort they will need to put forth in college to be successful.

[Anonymous]

Why wouldn't you take the AP exam? I've heard of other people doing this and it is so weird to me. That's the whole point of the class-is to get the college credit!
If a student feels it's too stressful to take the test or don't want to study-they probably don't belong in the AP class!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn't you take the AP exam? I've heard of other people doing this and it is so weird to me. That's the whole point of the class-is to get the college credit!
If a student feels it's too stressful to take the test or don't want to study-they probably don't belong in the AP class!

I took a class in HS and didn’t take the AP exam. But I was a senior and at the time already knew the college I was attending would not award credit for the AP exam. It would have possibly advanced me to the next level of the course but I would still have to take the subject and I didn’t want to take an even more difficult class in college. It was calculus.

As a 10th grader, I’d take it since he won’t know this yet and I’m not sure the same applies to a history class.

[Anonymous]

I'm many (many) years removed from this, but I used AP credits to place out of a bunch of general ed/core requirements, which allowed me to start a 2-year major program a semester early and easily fit in a 2nd major and some electives that were more "fun."

[Anonymous]

They are definitely worthwhile in giving elective credit and/or satisfying general education requirements. DS was able to use a few to meet general eds. DDs school is more particular about their general education classes so they went toward electives. Both, however, repeated foundational major classes despite AP credit for the classes.

[Anonymous]

depends on the college. some privates dont take all ap's.
if they do - you can use the ap as an elective credit always required.

[Anonymous]

College prof here. Yes, you want every chance you can to store up credit for college, even if not all of it ends up counting at the school you attend. Your high-school transcript will not be a long-term document in your life--but your college one will play a pretty significant role for a while, at least, and if you have gained that AP credit and transferred it to your college, that (former) AP course and/or credit will show up on your transcript, demonstrating that you have additional knowledge and experience.

Plus, practicing and studying for a large cumulative exam is an important college skill, and even more so if you are entering a career with licensure or planning to go to graduate school. AP can be great practice for that, too.

[Anonymous]

Don't know if schools still let you do this, but a generation ago, I got an entire year's worth of college credits using AP scores. Graduated (ivy) in 3 years, saved my family a mint.

But if I had it to do over, I would take the fourth year to do a double major or a masters. My goal at the time was to save money and launch early. It should have been to have more fun in that unparalleled sandbox.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't know if schools still let you do this, but a generation ago, I got an entire year's worth of college credits using AP scores. Graduated (ivy) in 3 years, saved my family a mint.

But if I had it to do over, I would take the fourth year to do a double major or a masters. My goal at the time was to save money and launch early. It should have been to have more fun in that unparalleled sandbox.

Ivies don't offer AP credit nowadays, but you can get placement and waived out of foundational courses for some subjects.

AP has lists of colleges and which exams they accept and for what (credit or placement) and at which score level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having good scores is good to put on the college application. Depending on where your student goes he could get credit or maybe even a general ed requirement fulfilled or possibly just some spare units so he could take a light semester. If you student wants to apply to a UK school good scores are fairly necessary.

This sums it up pretty well.

I would say don't take it if you think kid won't do well or it will be obsolete. Mine didn't take Physics 1 test because she didn't get a good grasp of it from covid zoom class and knew she'd eventually take Physics C going into engineering, so Physics 1 just offered her nothing. APUSH can help in many ways (as PP describes above).

[Anonymous]

My kids both entered college as sophomores because of all their AP college credits. This means they get to register for their courses before all other freshman, and can choose elective/gen ed courses that are 100% in subjects they want to be in! No reason not to get the college credit for the $100 fee to take the exam and then turn around and pay thousands to take the course in college