Benefit of AP credit

[Anonymous]

DD just calculated that she will likely have over 30 credits from AP exams at the university she will be attending in the fall. This means she could graduate early or double major, explore classes in other fields, etc.

The financial savings could be significant and is a reason why AP courses should be promoted at lower SES schools vs IB.

[Anonymous]

20 years go I entered college with 30 AP credits and used them to graduate a full year early. My parents then gave me the money they would have spent on the fourth year of college for me to use for grad school, which they were otherwise not paying for. It can certainly have a big financial help but I think the same can be true if you earn IB credits.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the school - Caltech, Dartmouth, Williams, ... do not accept any APs.

DEs on other hand for must be accepted by State Schools (if the grade is above a certain point). If college cost is the primary then load up on DEs and go to a State School and may graduate 1.5 years early.

[Anonymous]

I graduated 3 semesters early.

Instead of summer camps or jobs in high school, we all took classes at the community college. (California allows (or did allow) high school students to enroll for free in CC classes) Classes I didn't want to take during the school year (biology) I could get out of the way in 6 weeks to make room for things I did want (2 years of physics and chemistry). I did it every summer in high school and ended up with 5 classes completed that way. Then another 10 AP courses.

[Anonymous]

I used my high school AP credit to skip the intro level big lecture classes and get right to the interesting. Graduating early wasn't an option because of the order I had to take classes in due to prerequisites and not all classes being offered every semester so I just filled out my schedule with classes to add an additional major and a minor instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated 3 semesters early.

Instead of summer camps or jobs in high school, we all took classes at the community college. (California allows (or did allow) high school students to enroll for free in CC classes) Classes I didn't want to take during the school year (biology) I could get out of the way in 6 weeks to make room for things I did want (2 years of physics and chemistry). I did it every summer in high school and ended up with 5 classes completed that way. Then another 10 AP courses.

We aren't California, so our system is a bit different.

FCPS had dual enrollment in our high schools.

AP is usually the most beneficial route, aling with dual enrollment.

IB gives the least bang for the buck.

I agree with OP that all of the poorer schools should eliminate IB and switch to only AP and dual enrollment.

IB simply puts those students at a disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD just calculated that she will likely have over 30 credits from AP exams at the university she will be attending in the fall. This means she could graduate early or double major, explore classes in other fields, etc.

The financial savings could be significant and is a reason why AP courses should be promoted at lower SES schools vs IB.

IB classes are accepted at many schools for credit. I believe that there are fewer options for IB students, but they can earn credits. Every IB student should be taking an IB test in English, Math, Science, and History. I think most can take one in a foreign language, you have to take 5 years of a language. If the student takes the HL classes and the IB exams, they should be able to receive college credit. Those 5 classes alone would earn 15 credits. There is IB Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. If a student took all three HL versions they would earn 9 credits, or 6 beyond the 15 generic ones I just listed.

Also, IB students do take the AP exams, some IB teachers even structure their classes so that kids and take both exams without a lot of extra work. I am not sure about the teachers in FCPS but I have friends who were IB programs who flat out said that the teacher focused on the AP test for most of the sememster and then used the time after the AP test to cover the different material/method of testing for the IB exams.

There are many things I dislike IB but credits for college is not one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used my high school AP credit to skip the intro level big lecture classes and get right to the interesting. Graduating early wasn't an option because of the order I had to take classes in due to prerequisites and not all classes being offered every semester so I just filled out my schedule with classes to add an additional major and a minor instead.

This is what my 2 kids did.

One used them to skip the weed out freshmen classes and get a dual degree.

The other used them to free up classes to double major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD just calculated that she will likely have over 30 credits from AP exams at the university she will be attending in the fall. This means she could graduate early or double major, explore classes in other fields, etc.

The financial savings could be significant and is a reason why AP courses should be promoted at lower SES schools vs IB.

IB classes are accepted at many schools for credit. I believe that there are fewer options for IB students, but they can earn credits. Every IB student should be taking an IB test in English, Math, Science, and History. I think most can take one in a foreign language, you have to take 5 years of a language. If the student takes the HL classes and the IB exams, they should be able to receive college credit. Those 5 classes alone would earn 15 credits. There is IB Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. If a student took all three HL versions they would earn 9 credits, or 6 beyond the 15 generic ones I just listed.

Also, IB students do take the AP exams, some IB teachers even structure their classes so that kids and take both exams without a lot of extra work. I am not sure about the teachers in FCPS but I have friends who were IB programs who flat out said that the teacher focused on the AP test for most of the sememster and then used the time after the AP test to cover the different material/method of testing for the IB exams.

There are many things I dislike IB but credits for college is not one of them.

The IB outcomes from the Virginia Department of Education clearly shows that IB shortchanges the students, particularly students at lower performing schools that are forced into IB instead of AP.

The side by side comparison of IB vs AP schools is stark, even when comparing AP and IB schools of similar student populations.

The poorer, low performing schools need to eliminate IB and switch to AP/dual only.

FCPS talks a big game on equity for all,but saddling the poor and low performing schools with IB in spite of every single metric showing it is a failure to those students shows the FCPS is jst talk, and really does not care what is best for the students, particularly students at the botyom FCPS rankings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD just calculated that she will likely have over 30 credits from AP exams at the university she will be attending in the fall. This means she could graduate early or double major, explore classes in other fields, etc.

The financial savings could be significant and is a reason why AP courses should be promoted at lower SES schools vs IB.

This was me! I chose the double major option and had room for fun classes. I also got a great boost selecting classes for freshmen year, because at my college your place in the course selection line was based on how many credits you had.

[Anonymous]

For a lot of programs - especially rigorous ones- AP classes have limited utility. The are often only accepted as gen ed credits so can't be used to fulfil the requirements of a major which then leave DC without any interesting electives to take. Sometimes you can use them to skip out of 101 level prereqs and they can be good for that. Other schools have really specific gen ed requirements and they won't count towards those.
In my experience, it you are REALLY targeted, you can get a year or semester out of them but in 90% of the cases they're just going to be extra and not really get you anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a lot of programs - especially rigorous ones- AP classes have limited utility. The are often only accepted as gen ed credits so can't be used to fulfil the requirements of a major which then leave DC without any interesting electives to take. Sometimes you can use them to skip out of 101 level prereqs and they can be good for that. Other schools have really specific gen ed requirements and they won't count towards those.
In my experience, it you are REALLY targeted, you can get a year or semester out of them but in 90% of the cases they're just going to be extra and not really get you anywhere.

A year is quite a savings.

However, DD began as an academic sophomore based on AP and the high scores on them. She did not want to graduate early and took lots of electives that interested her. Her dream job would be to be a professional student. But, that does not pay well!

[Anonymous]

You can do cleps as well, but if you're going down the stem route it doesn't really help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD just calculated that she will likely have over 30 credits from AP exams at the university she will be attending in the fall. This means she could graduate early or double major, explore classes in other fields, etc.

The financial savings could be significant and is a reason why AP courses should be promoted at lower SES schools vs IB.

IB classes are accepted at many schools for credit. I believe that there are fewer options for IB students, but they can earn credits. Every IB student should be taking an IB test in English, Math, Science, and History. I think most can take one in a foreign language, you have to take 5 years of a language. If the student takes the HL classes and the IB exams, they should be able to receive college credit. Those 5 classes alone would earn 15 credits. There is IB Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. If a student took all three HL versions they would earn 9 credits, or 6 beyond the 15 generic ones I just listed.

Also, IB students do take the AP exams, some IB teachers even structure their classes so that kids and take both exams without a lot of extra work. I am not sure about the teachers in FCPS but I have friends who were IB programs who flat out said that the teacher focused on the AP test for most of the sememster and then used the time after the AP test to cover the different material/method of testing for the IB exams.

There are many things I dislike IB but credits for college is not one of them.

Nobody is taking 3 HL versions in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. They’d also have to take 2 more HL , along with the silly TOK, CAS etc. there’s not enough time in the schedule to fit it all in. Few students benefit from 5 years of language, unless they end up majoring in that area in college. Making foreign language a requirement for IB is educational malpractice.

AP classes are one year only for science and math, and many students do take AP Physics, Chemistry and Biology, so there’s a significant time saving compared to IB. If the goal is to take the AP exam, then set up AP classes, not this weird combination where they teach a modified IB curriculum.

If the pace is to fast, students are much better served taking dual enrollment versions of these classes, especially if they are not that well prepared. It makes for a smoother transition to college, which for these students is not great to begin with. Putting them in IB is setting them up for failure in a rigid program where they can’t get the grades for college credit, and they don’t take the right classes that will help them enter a good major leading to a successful career.

I agree with previous posters that IB should be replaced with AP or DE. I can’t imagine a good reason to keep IB.

[Anonymous]

Foreign language for 5 years, TOK, etc are not requirements of IB courses, only the diploma (which completely unnecessary if the student doesn’t want to do it). Please, if you are going to argue against IB, pick things that actually matter. There is plenty to complain about with regards to the program, but you sound super uninformed and biased when you complain about things that are options, not mandates.