Benefit of AP credit

[Anonymous]

DD will be starting college with the maximum number of AP credits they will accept, which is over 30. This means she will technically enter college with sophomore status and get to skip a lot of intro. level classes. She will still need to meet distribution requirements for science, math, etc. but having so many AP credits will give her greater flexibility in course selection and the possibility of double majoring or adding a minor. I don’t think she wants to graduate in less than 4 years, but that could be an option too. AP credits equal money saved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe my child has greatly benefited from IB and will be better prepared for college because of it. Yes, his college credits will be limited. But I believe that is more related to the College Board's stronghold on universities than the fact that AP classes are better than IB.

Based on my limited experience, dual enrollment is a joke in terms of education. Yes it checks a college credit box. However, there is no way there is college level learning in a 1 hour a week virtual class.

Dual Enrollment is not virtusl, fyi

It is in person, every other day, with a NOVA certified teacher.

If the IB schools are only offering dual enrollment virtually, then they are really screwing over students.

Every student I know that is taking dual enrollment English and Math is virtual, both in AP and IB schools. It is taught by a certified teacher but it is 100% virtual.

I have an APS student currently enrolled in a DE class along with AP classes. DE instruction is in-person for multiple hours a week, on the same schedule as other classes. DC would not be in a virtual class of any kind with one hour a week of instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe my child has greatly benefited from IB and will be better prepared for college because of it. Yes, his college credits will be limited. But I believe that is more related to the College Board's stronghold on universities than the fact that AP classes are better than IB.

Based on my limited experience, dual enrollment is a joke in terms of education. Yes it checks a college credit box. However, there is no way there is college level learning in a 1 hour a week virtual class.

Dual Enrollment is not virtusl, fyi

It is in person, every other day, with a NOVA certified teacher.

If the IB schools are only offering dual enrollment virtually, then they are really screwing over students.

Every student I know that is taking dual enrollment English and Math is virtual, both in AP and IB schools. It is taught by a certified teacher but it is 100% virtual.

My student takes calculus through dual enrollment, all virtual because the scheduling worked better. The same class by the same teacher is taught virtual and in person, so the student can choose what works better.

From what I’ve seen, DE classes go into a little more depth than AP classes, but the exam and homework are much easier. IB HL math covers maybe 60% of the topics in AP calculus BC but goes in far less depth on any given topic. IB SL math classes are not really advanced, maybe on par with regular precalculus, with enough sprinkling of calculus to confuse the student.

Students that aren’t prepared for AP are much better off taking DE classes, which are definitely not a joke, I’m curious how you formed that opinion. DE teachers are better than high schools ones, never seen one without at least a Master degree and often are PhDs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD will be starting college with the maximum number of AP credits they will accept, which is over 30. This means she will technically enter college with sophomore status and get to skip a lot of intro. level classes. She will still need to meet distribution requirements for science, math, etc. but having so many AP credits will give her greater flexibility in course selection and the possibility of double majoring or adding a minor. I don’t think she wants to graduate in less than 4 years, but that could be an option too. AP credits equal money saved.

The maximum transferable DE credits are 70, so that would be about two years worth of credit, but usually only to in state colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD will be starting college with the maximum number of AP credits they will accept, which is over 30. This means she will technically enter college with sophomore status and get to skip a lot of intro. level classes. She will still need to meet distribution requirements for science, math, etc. but having so many AP credits will give her greater flexibility in course selection and the possibility of double majoring or adding a minor. I don’t think she wants to graduate in less than 4 years, but that could be an option too. AP credits equal money saved.

This is highly dependent on the college. The best thing it to really understand what kind of colleges your kid is likely to go to, and whether they need AP's and AP exams for "rigor" and accepting they may need to repeat content in college. Most colleges will only accept AP as a credit (in lieu) if you score a 5 on the AP exam and it's not needed for your major. Some schools will accept a 4 on the AP exam. In schools that don't accept it as credit, it's used as placement, allowing them to take a higher level course, while still requiring X number of classes in that subject. You might get to skip 101, but you still have to take 3 science classes, which doesn't save you time or money. Some colleges will give it to you as an elective credit, requiring you to repeat the same content. If you are an average/above average kid who is unsure if you'll pass the AP exam and isn't trying to go to a highly selective college, then taking DE for easy gen-ed transfer credits might be a better fit. If you are a highly above average, driven kid trying to get into highly selective colleges, and you are confident about taking multiple APs and passing the tests, then AP might be the better option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I did the same. I was so happy to skip freshman English and Biology especially. And I got right to the good stuff in my chosen major. I was a student athlete so graduating early was not a priority. But AP credits allowed me to take a more manageable course load each semester and have time to work in a couple of research labs. I had two minors, but ran out of time to double major because I didn’t hone in on my specific interests until a bit too late for that.

[Anonymous]

Not too many kids at lower SES who would be successful enough in them to get the required score of the exam. My DH works in one and only a few kids take AP courses and fewer get the 3+.

[Anonymous]

The AP credits earned by four of my grandchildren have enabled one to graduate early from Northeastern University- 7% acceptance rate - to pursue a combined MD/PhD degree. Others have bypassed required courses (VA Colleges) or won hefty merit awards (RPI) Too often students don’t even bother to take the exam if they are seniors and already accepted. I say hedge your bets and sit for the exams!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

IB is supposed to be about the diploma, it is the point of the program. Many of the IB schools don’t have enough students to run HL classes in most of the classes. That means that the tests don’t count for credits. We have friends who have complained about the effort that they need to go through to get college credit for IB classes.

[Anonymous]

AP didn't get me out of the engineeing school equivalent courses, but there was a nice GPA boost.

Don't forget CLEPS might get you out of various gen ed requirements too.

[Anonymous]

DD started as an academic sophomore at a competitive college. Didn't graduate early because she loved it there. She took lots of unnecessary electives because she was interested in them--extra foreign language courses, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

DEs only have value at Virginia state schools.

APs are far and away a better option than Dual Enrollment.

[Anonymous]

APs are great. Beneficial regardless of socioeconomic status. Allows kids to skip lower level classes or requirements they may not be interested in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not too many kids at lower SES who would be successful enough in them to get the required score of the exam. My DH works in one and only a few kids take AP courses and fewer get the 3+.

So, your DH knows who is on free lunch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

DEs only have value at Virginia state schools.

APs are far and away a better option than Dual Enrollment.

The DE agreements are made with VA State schools; however they are still credits that appear on the NOVA Transcript and do transfer on a case-by-case basis to other schools. Several posters on other threads stated that DE transferred to the U Cal schools. DE is just not automatic/pre-agreed for out-of-state.