High school AP courses. Great opporunity to get college credit. Get those frosh classes out of the way so you can start working on classes more specific to your major.

My daughter was able to skip on to a few sophomore level classes as a frosh because of the AP classes in high school.

 

But how many AP classes is too many?

Is 5 AP classes you senior year, too many?

Wouldn't that be like taking 15 or so credits in college?

 

Just because the AP class is offered, do you take it?

At what point do you tell your kid to maybe back off a bit on AP classes and just enjoy the high school experience?

I think it's up to the kid. My two sons made their own schedules and one graduated with 12 hours and the other 15 hours. I think it has prepared them for the college workload without a doubt. I think both of them still enjoyed their Senior year playing sports, hanging with friends while still having all A's. It can be done by those that want to do it.

We have students here graduating with 30 college hours. They take anywhere to 2-3 on line classes per semester.

We have students here graduating with 30 college hours. They take anywhere to 2-3 on line classes per semester.

 

That's about what my daughter had, but it was all classroom and no online.

 

Do the students have to pay for the online classes beyond the AP test fee?

That's about what my daughter had, but it was all classroom and no online.

 

Do the students have to pay for the online classes beyond the AP test fee?

 

We have a grant form some local people that allows the students to take them for free. They do not have to take any AP tests. These classes are straight from the colleges, WKCTC and Murray State.

I only took three as a senior (Economics, Calculus, English) but I was a music student so that dictated a lot of my schedule through high school. I'd have taken more if they'd have fit into the schedule. I knew a lot of guys who took a lot more.

 

I don't think there's a hard and fast number; it's all about what you can handle personally. I knew guys in the top academic track at Trinity who would've really had a work a ton to try and keep up with a 5 AP course schedule; I knew guys at Trinity that could have taken seven AP courses with only a lunch period as a break and would have been able to coast through.

 

I don't think five is unreasonable if you're already inclined to be attentive to your schoolwork and bright enough to keep with the pace.

In my opinion, it depends on where your child wants to attend college.

 

For example: If you take AP Calculus, you can "test out" of the college math course. If you take AP English, you cannot test out of English; instead, you're put into English 104 (instead of English 101 & 102) and encouraged to take a different, more challenging course. For that reason, I did not take AP English at Covington Catholic and decided to take ENG 101 & 102 in college (rather than a year-long, more challenging ENG Honors course).

 

I'd talk with your school's guidance counselor and an Academic Advisor (if possible) at the College to fully evaluate all of your options.

I'll add this:

 

I took AP Calculus in high school, but when I started off college as a Computer Science major, they wouldn't allow the credit because they required a specific calculus course geared toward computer programmers. My cousin just had the same experience when her AP Calc credit wouldn't apply towards her engineering major, because Louisville's Speed School of Engineering requires a calculus (and calc 2 and calc 3) class that is put together specifically for engineering. My wife also had the same thing with her AP Biology credit....it wasn't accepted by her college.

 

AP classes are certainly a good thing, because at very least the student is learning the material previous to going into college, but sometimes it may only end up being practice ahead of time for the actual class you have to take in college.

^ Was it an actual AP credit or college credit from another school? I know a lot of schools that won't accept the early college credits but were fine as long as you demonstrated proficiency in the AP exam.

^ Was it an actual AP credit or college credit from another school? I know a lot of schools that won't accept the early college credits but were fine as long as you demonstrated proficiency in the AP exam.

 

We were actually just talking about it like two weeks ago. All of them were AP courses. I got a 4 on my AP Calc exam, as did my cousin. My wife got a 5 on her AP Bio exam, and none were accepted by our colleges.

In my opinion, it depends on where your child wants to attend college.

 

For example: If you take AP Calculus, you can "test out" of the college math course. If you take AP English, you cannot test out of English; instead, you're put into English 104 (instead of English 101 & 102) and encouraged to take a different, more challenging course. For that reason, I did not take AP English at Covington Catholic and decided to take ENG 101 & 102 in college (rather than a year-long, more challenging ENG Honors course).

 

I'd talk with your school's guidance counselor and an Academic Advisor (if possible) at the College to fully evaluate all of your options.

 

From experience, the Honors ENG courses are MUCH easier than the normal ones.

 

I took AP Calculus, AP English, and AP US History (they were the only ones offered by BBHS at the time), and was able to test out of college math, the English courses you mention, and any History classes. I came in with 15 (I think) credit hours, so I was a sophomore after my first semester.

CWB, Only explanation I can think of is that colleges are just getting greedy. Since they get paid by the credit hour, they want you to take all their courses.

 

Given it was more than a decade ago that I first enrolled, but the University of Dayton gave me no problems with any of mine.

CWB, Only explanation I can think of is that colleges are just getting greedy. Since they get paid by the credit hour, they want you to take all their courses.

 

Given it was more than a decade ago that I first enrolled, but the University of Dayton gave me no problems with any of mine.

 

I retook Calculus One my first semester, even though I tested out of it. Not because I had to, but because I didn't want to be overwhelmed potentially by Calculus II as a freshman taking 18 credit hours. Dropped out of it halfway through the semester when I realized engineering wasn't for me. :lol2:

CWB---good info on the AP calc and engineering. My son wants to go into engineering and is planning on AP Calc for his senior year. But we may have to look into that.

On the other hand, even if it does not count, St Henry's calculus teacher, Claire Grosser, is one of the best around. She gets about a 100% pass rate on the AP calc exam and she won teacher if the year last year. So it still would be time well spent to in her class to prep for college.

 

How about AP physics? Same issue on the college engineering physics?

We were actually just talking about it like two weeks ago. All of them were AP courses. I got a 4 on my AP Calc exam, as did my cousin. My wife got a 5 on her AP Bio exam, and none were accepted by our colleges.

 

Depends on the college. NKU accepts it. UC, at least when I was considering going there, accepted it. UofL also accepted it.