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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm a college professor.  The AP course in my field requires a lot of things that the equivalent college course does not, but those AP "extras" won't actually make you better at what the college course requires, and may in fact dilute the needed elements in favor of the unneeded ones.  College courses tend to be much more specific, even compartmentalized, than high-school ones, even APs, are.  And students who have done well in AP and feel like they know what to expect in college-level work also are going to sense a difference when college courses go twice as fast and meet almost half as often.  There's a lot less time to discuss, digest, process, and practice in a college course than there is in its AP "equivalent."

So is AP a scam?  No - it includes high-quality syllabi and strong expectations, and in the hands of great teachers it can produce really outstanding experiences.  The actual rigor of an AP course may be higher than its college "equivalent" in certain situations, too.  But remember that "equivalent" doesn't mean "identical" or even necessarily "interchangeable."

Short version: I'm not surprised when a former AP student is surprised at college.  We should do a better job of preparing our HS upperclassmen, perhaps even just switching courses to college pace for a week to let them feel it out on the ground.[/quote]
+1 - well explained!

I think the best strategy with AP courses is to accept the credit for classes not in your field (to satisfy gen eds), and to retake the last AP level class in your major to establish the foundation for the next courses in sequence at your particular university. While others around you may be struggling with new content at a college pace that first semester, the AP student will hopefully be familiar with most content and can fill in gaps while figuring out how to do “college”.[/quote]

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