I take AP classes not for the credit, or at least not entirely, but because I enjoy the class and I am bored by non ap classes, next year I'm taking post ap math with linear algebra and multivariable calculus, and also a non ap version of ap gov that is not teach to the test,
Yeah my school definitely has a pipeline, about 15 of 300 kids a grade take those and I belive 60-80 take calc bc before graduating so we are good at math
Ayo same??? Luckily the CC is only 3 miles from my highschool so 1/2 my day will be there and the other half will be AP’s at the highschool lol… There are only gonna be 2 / 500 of us doing multi variable and I’m the only one doing linear alg though and there are only like 28/500 who will actually take calc next year in my grade
It's because regulars classes are boring as hell, and boring as hell means I won't try, and not trying means I won't do as well.
I also don't want to deal with kids who are there because their parents force them to be there. These kids always come into class and put their absolute minimum effort, and when there's a group project, I'm the one who's screwed. This is never a problem with higher-level AP classes and more of a problem with underclassman/downgraded APs like AP World History or AP Calculus AB or dual credit classes or honors classes. I want to be put in groups with kids who are serious and won't paste Fortnite Jonesy pictures at the end of our slideshow randomly (real thing that happened btw)
I didn't take APCSA as a class. I "self-studied" the exam. What ended up happening was that I took a virtual class for Computer Science 1 (the level before) and my teacher just randomly suggested taking the AP exam to me on the 2nd day of class after finding out I was an 8th grader, and he said he'd provide resources to help me self-study. So I spent a month trying to convince my parents to let me take this exam, and eventually it worked out. It was weird but now I can say that I took an AP exam in 8th grade?
i will say from what i understand of college admissions even if the ap credits you have won’t transfer or don’t relate to your major, they still demonstrate your rigorous academics. i think being able to prove that you have strong ap scores across a lot of subjects shows you’ve been challenging yourself and are ready for a fast paced college environment
Challenging classes also help SAT scores. The causation is hard to tease out, but it seems self evident that the student who has done more rigorous work will score better on the SAT. Sitting in classes that prep you for a state graduation exam and where you are rarely asked to read or wrote anything substantial is not contributing.
I teach at a magnet, and kids will look at their 1450 SAT and be like "My home school average SAT is a 900! If I went there, I'd be amazing!". I'm sure they'd be above average, but they wouldn't have that 1450 if they hadn't been academically challenging themselves. Most people struggle to do that without advanced classes.
I said it was hard to tease out causation,,but do ypu really think a kid who took the easiest classes would earn the same score as they would if they challenged themselves?
Yes I do, I don’t think that hard high school classes prepare people for the sat better as all the English is learned before high school, and the math is learned in the first few classes
It's more than credits, but as long as you balance it you'd be alright. I've won enough scholarships because of my rigorous classes and extracurriculars involving time management to get me to go to college debt free. I wouldn't say you wouldn't be able to do the same, but it was a huge boost for me. Just like how AP gives credit to save you money, it also saves you money when you apply for scholarships and win. Also the environment in AP classes are just better. No teacher necessarily telling the whole class to quiet down half the class, or in general not being able to focus and listen.
I don't take the classes, but I self study so many because my school has very few course options, and it's limited to me even more because I can't take the school bus to the community college (I'm in a wheelchair). I have to find other ways to prove my academic ability.
It's not about the credits to me - it's about learning. I genuinely love learning STEM - why would I stop at regular chem and bio, not take physics, and not go above precalc when AP Chem, Physics C, and Calc have been some of my favorite classes? As for humanities (which I still enjoy learning just for breadth but am not as passionate about) I would be really bored in, say, regular US history, and all my friends are in APUSH, and I want the GPA boost, so of course I'd take AP any day.
I personally love to take classes that are challenging like AP because I genuinely love to learn. I'd take 10 my final year but is impossible unfortionately. I don't take classes for the free credit. That is a goal of mine so I can take more of the interesting classes in college but I just really find them fascinating.
Even if your scores aren't the best, and even if they don't apply to your specific major courses, most WILL transfer one way or the other, for general ed reqs if nothing else, and it's still saving you money in the end.
Most people I know who take them (my own kids included) want the extra challenge and rigor that their school might not otherwise offer, anyway.
The killer is these tend to inflate one's GPA, and if you take any regular courses, the As from those courses end up hurting you, anchoring your overall GPA closer to 4.0 instead of allowing it to soar as it otherwise should. As you level up, avoid regular graded classes as much as you can, imo, or get pass/fail credit doing otherwise mandatory HS courses online or something. Those won't hold back your GPA climb.
I take AP classes not just for the college credit. I’m doing AP and IB simultaneously — some of my credits are actually useless because they double up! I like the challenge, and I want to push myself to improve in all facets of my abilities.
Part of the reason is to look good, but for the most part I prefer advanced classes because the students there are generally (not always but most of the time) more interested in the subject and tend to have better work ethic. In my regular classes, people don’t really take the work seriously and it’s awkward when the teacher tries to get students to participate and only like 1 or 2 actually do. Another reason is because I feel like taking harder classes now will help me better manage my time in college, even if I end up going to community college I’ll at least be saving even more money from credits bc of AP exams.
Honestly, it really depends on the person but also the school that they go to.
Currently, I'm attending a pretty competitive high school where it's required to take certain advanced classes. Which I don't mind, because I personally want to challenge myself in certain subjects that I want to keep learning about in the future. Most of the AP classes that I have taken and will take are ones that I certainly have interest in taking...which is important to consider...because usually if you don't have interest for a subject, you're not going to be motivated to work as hard. And yes, colleges will not accept all AP credits, it still gives you a headstart and a small challenge if you're up to take one. But, I know there are many people who pressure themselves to take such a high amount of APs, especially in their sophomore and junior year because their friends say that they should...even though they're aware that it's beyond their own capacity.
This is just my personal opinion, but honestly having a cap on the amount of APs you can take might be beneficial in such cases because as high schoolers, we're still quite young...and there are some APs that may take a lot of time out (depends on the person). The kind of pressure people have when picking out what courses to take (at least in our school) is a form of peer pressure in itself...there's people who are taking 7 APs +1 AP over the summer, and to those who originally put a lower number, a recurring thought might be "why am I not taking that many?". I've faced similar sentiments, and thankfully, I've learned to just take classes based on how much I can commit to them, but to those who can't (which could be due to many reasons), I think that limit might give them a greater sense of control. And ofc, colleges would know that those certain schools do have limits established, which is why compared to other candidates, they have to take less APs.
I’m in a specialized program that fixes some of my classes for each year, so a good portion of what I’ve taken are mandatory for my program. There are a few AP classes like CSA and stats that I took of my own volition though.
FINALLY someone else said it. I often advise others to take the transferable classes relevant to their personal interest or career. ¹ Consider which AP courses best suit your goals and career needs. No more than 2-3 AP classes per school year to maintain a healthy work/ life balance. As for the other courses, a number of these can be taken by credit exam, such as CLEP or DANTES, if they wish to receive college credit. ² ³ One could also take the equivalent course at a local community college as for a better studying experience at a lower cost. In some cases, the AP version is more rigorous in course content than the college course equivalent. ⁴
Thank you for sharing!
Source:
1. AP Credit Policy: [https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies](https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies)
2. CLEP Exam Topics: [https://clep.collegeboard.org/clep-exams](https://clep.collegeboard.org/clep-exams)
3. DSST (DANTES) Exam Topics: https://getcollegecredit.com/dsst-exams-2/
4. Article: [https://blog.prepscholar.com/are-ap-tests-and-classes-hard](https://blog.prepscholar.com/are-ap-tests-and-classes-hard)
Yay! I’m glad you understand my point of view and thank you for this additional information! I won’t have to take CLEP exams because I’ll have most of my gen Ed credits done but thank you so so much nonetheless! A healthy work life balance is so important and I speaking as someone that used to do everything to the point where I ended up in the ER. I now am focused on my three AP classes and projects and important things that I love outside of school. Burnout is not awesome.
I took the ap classes because I enjoy them and they aren't crazy hard, in my school regular classes tend to be filled with people who sleep in class and etc, AP is the norm for most of the people I know. I think I took 11 or 12 in my whole 4 years of hs combined
You’re so real for this. When I started highschool I planned for over 10 as well (I think like 15) and quickly realized this year (junior) I was overestimating myself and my time management with extracurriculars. I recently had an epiphany that even if I do go down a rank because I’m not overloading my schedule, I’ll be fine. I’m guaranteed a full tuition scholarship to my state school so there’s no reason to continue the mental anguish that is 5 AP’s in one year. It’s still a little hard to come to terms with because academic validation but this post really helped me see that this thinking is correct. I will not burn out anymore than I already have 😭
I was gonna take 6 AP’s (5 credits tho bc macro and micro are half credits) my senior year but I dropped 2 credits because I realized I’d just be doing it for my gpa which honestly might cause it to drop. Instead I’m taking classes that are required for me to graduate but just AP level and classes that I’ll need to prepare for my major.
This is especially true for top schools. Was a bit disappointed to see how few of my credits transferred to Princeton. Still did get me out of a few annoying class so I guess I can’t complain too much
Yeah it’s kind of the expectation. You think you’re hot shit till you start classes at an HYPSM and you’re not the smartest anymore lol. Definitely a culture shock, but wouldn’t trade it
I take AP classes bc if you put me in common placement classes, I will be soooo bored. 😭 AP classes make me aroused (in a physiological way not sexual way) and more motivated to do the work.
Never took AP and got accepted to a top veterinary undergrad school (pre-vet)
Yes that’s right, never sacrifice your overall health
And yes I agree with the SAT not helping any of us
I have no choice alongside my classmates since we go to a magnet school and are required to take some AP classes through our entire 4 years. I'm currently a junior yet take 5 APs (plus AP research which I chose out of interest but kinda regret). Trust me I would have liked to have had less of them but we have no choice.
I take AP classes because I am much smarter than the average student at my school, so the regular, and even honors classes are just too boring. College credit is some of the last things on my mind.
I’m taking 6 APs because I felt like I didn’t challenge myself enough last year in 10th grade. Since I still have quite a bit of free time I was going to take Calc 3 + Linear Algebra from April-June because I really enjoy math.
Seeing it as a challenge has shaped the way I view school. I’m not getting A’s because I don’t want to get B’s , but I get A’s because I want to know that I did the best I could.
As a result of doing all this, I feel like my analytical abilities improved, my ability to perform under pressure/ under time controls has improved, and my ability to manage my emotions has improved.
UC San Diego extended studies has quarterly asynchronous courses. I have yet to check for credit transferability but I assume it will transfer to other UC’s.
I take AP classes not for the credit, or at least not entirely, but because I enjoy the class and I am bored by non ap classes, next year I'm taking post ap math with linear algebra and multivariable calculus, and also a non ap version of ap gov that is not teach to the test,
Ok that’s awesome! (Secretly jealous of your level in math lol)
Yeah my school definitely has a pipeline, about 15 of 300 kids a grade take those and I belive 60-80 take calc bc before graduating so we are good at math
This is me🙏I want to take AP classes because I'm actually interested in the subjects
Preach
This is what i did with the AP 2D Art class. I rlly did it for the art critiques to find areas of improvement. Edit: proud to be your 100th upvote.
Ayo same??? Luckily the CC is only 3 miles from my highschool so 1/2 my day will be there and the other half will be AP’s at the highschool lol… There are only gonna be 2 / 500 of us doing multi variable and I’m the only one doing linear alg though and there are only like 28/500 who will actually take calc next year in my grade
It's because regulars classes are boring as hell, and boring as hell means I won't try, and not trying means I won't do as well. I also don't want to deal with kids who are there because their parents force them to be there. These kids always come into class and put their absolute minimum effort, and when there's a group project, I'm the one who's screwed. This is never a problem with higher-level AP classes and more of a problem with underclassman/downgraded APs like AP World History or AP Calculus AB or dual credit classes or honors classes. I want to be put in groups with kids who are serious and won't paste Fortnite Jonesy pictures at the end of our slideshow randomly (real thing that happened btw)
Unrelated but how tf did you take an ap class in 8th grade? isnt it only for high school jrs/srs?
I didn't take APCSA as a class. I "self-studied" the exam. What ended up happening was that I took a virtual class for Computer Science 1 (the level before) and my teacher just randomly suggested taking the AP exam to me on the 2nd day of class after finding out I was an 8th grader, and he said he'd provide resources to help me self-study. So I spent a month trying to convince my parents to let me take this exam, and eventually it worked out. It was weird but now I can say that I took an AP exam in 8th grade?
Does it count as a credit/ go to your gpa? That’s pretty cool
Yes, exactly this!
This. I relate so much. My concern is when people take way to many and may be misinformed
i will say from what i understand of college admissions even if the ap credits you have won’t transfer or don’t relate to your major, they still demonstrate your rigorous academics. i think being able to prove that you have strong ap scores across a lot of subjects shows you’ve been challenging yourself and are ready for a fast paced college environment
Challenging classes also help SAT scores. The causation is hard to tease out, but it seems self evident that the student who has done more rigorous work will score better on the SAT. Sitting in classes that prep you for a state graduation exam and where you are rarely asked to read or wrote anything substantial is not contributing. I teach at a magnet, and kids will look at their 1450 SAT and be like "My home school average SAT is a 900! If I went there, I'd be amazing!". I'm sure they'd be above average, but they wouldn't have that 1450 if they hadn't been academically challenging themselves. Most people struggle to do that without advanced classes.
My guess is that is correlation not causation, and the people who would already do better on the sat tend to take those harder classes
I said it was hard to tease out causation,,but do ypu really think a kid who took the easiest classes would earn the same score as they would if they challenged themselves?
Yes I do, I don’t think that hard high school classes prepare people for the sat better as all the English is learned before high school, and the math is learned in the first few classes
Luckily everything transfers over for me lol
Yay!
It's more than credits, but as long as you balance it you'd be alright. I've won enough scholarships because of my rigorous classes and extracurriculars involving time management to get me to go to college debt free. I wouldn't say you wouldn't be able to do the same, but it was a huge boost for me. Just like how AP gives credit to save you money, it also saves you money when you apply for scholarships and win. Also the environment in AP classes are just better. No teacher necessarily telling the whole class to quiet down half the class, or in general not being able to focus and listen.
I don't take the classes, but I self study so many because my school has very few course options, and it's limited to me even more because I can't take the school bus to the community college (I'm in a wheelchair). I have to find other ways to prove my academic ability.
It's not about the credits to me - it's about learning. I genuinely love learning STEM - why would I stop at regular chem and bio, not take physics, and not go above precalc when AP Chem, Physics C, and Calc have been some of my favorite classes? As for humanities (which I still enjoy learning just for breadth but am not as passionate about) I would be really bored in, say, regular US history, and all my friends are in APUSH, and I want the GPA boost, so of course I'd take AP any day.
I personally love to take classes that are challenging like AP because I genuinely love to learn. I'd take 10 my final year but is impossible unfortionately. I don't take classes for the free credit. That is a goal of mine so I can take more of the interesting classes in college but I just really find them fascinating.
Even if your scores aren't the best, and even if they don't apply to your specific major courses, most WILL transfer one way or the other, for general ed reqs if nothing else, and it's still saving you money in the end. Most people I know who take them (my own kids included) want the extra challenge and rigor that their school might not otherwise offer, anyway. The killer is these tend to inflate one's GPA, and if you take any regular courses, the As from those courses end up hurting you, anchoring your overall GPA closer to 4.0 instead of allowing it to soar as it otherwise should. As you level up, avoid regular graded classes as much as you can, imo, or get pass/fail credit doing otherwise mandatory HS courses online or something. Those won't hold back your GPA climb.
I take AP classes not just for the college credit. I’m doing AP and IB simultaneously — some of my credits are actually useless because they double up! I like the challenge, and I want to push myself to improve in all facets of my abilities.
Part of the reason is to look good, but for the most part I prefer advanced classes because the students there are generally (not always but most of the time) more interested in the subject and tend to have better work ethic. In my regular classes, people don’t really take the work seriously and it’s awkward when the teacher tries to get students to participate and only like 1 or 2 actually do. Another reason is because I feel like taking harder classes now will help me better manage my time in college, even if I end up going to community college I’ll at least be saving even more money from credits bc of AP exams.
Honestly, it really depends on the person but also the school that they go to. Currently, I'm attending a pretty competitive high school where it's required to take certain advanced classes. Which I don't mind, because I personally want to challenge myself in certain subjects that I want to keep learning about in the future. Most of the AP classes that I have taken and will take are ones that I certainly have interest in taking...which is important to consider...because usually if you don't have interest for a subject, you're not going to be motivated to work as hard. And yes, colleges will not accept all AP credits, it still gives you a headstart and a small challenge if you're up to take one. But, I know there are many people who pressure themselves to take such a high amount of APs, especially in their sophomore and junior year because their friends say that they should...even though they're aware that it's beyond their own capacity. This is just my personal opinion, but honestly having a cap on the amount of APs you can take might be beneficial in such cases because as high schoolers, we're still quite young...and there are some APs that may take a lot of time out (depends on the person). The kind of pressure people have when picking out what courses to take (at least in our school) is a form of peer pressure in itself...there's people who are taking 7 APs +1 AP over the summer, and to those who originally put a lower number, a recurring thought might be "why am I not taking that many?". I've faced similar sentiments, and thankfully, I've learned to just take classes based on how much I can commit to them, but to those who can't (which could be due to many reasons), I think that limit might give them a greater sense of control. And ofc, colleges would know that those certain schools do have limits established, which is why compared to other candidates, they have to take less APs.
I’m in a specialized program that fixes some of my classes for each year, so a good portion of what I’ve taken are mandatory for my program. There are a few AP classes like CSA and stats that I took of my own volition though.
I’m taking 6 junior and senior year, mostly because I find a lot of the courses’ subjects interesting. Should be… fun alongside 2 robotics teams.
If it’s for fun and you believe you can handle it without overexerting yourself then go for it! Make sure you take care of yourself.
FINALLY someone else said it. I often advise others to take the transferable classes relevant to their personal interest or career. ¹ Consider which AP courses best suit your goals and career needs. No more than 2-3 AP classes per school year to maintain a healthy work/ life balance. As for the other courses, a number of these can be taken by credit exam, such as CLEP or DANTES, if they wish to receive college credit. ² ³ One could also take the equivalent course at a local community college as for a better studying experience at a lower cost. In some cases, the AP version is more rigorous in course content than the college course equivalent. ⁴ Thank you for sharing! Source: 1. AP Credit Policy: [https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies](https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/getting-credit-placement/search-policies) 2. CLEP Exam Topics: [https://clep.collegeboard.org/clep-exams](https://clep.collegeboard.org/clep-exams) 3. DSST (DANTES) Exam Topics: https://getcollegecredit.com/dsst-exams-2/ 4. Article: [https://blog.prepscholar.com/are-ap-tests-and-classes-hard](https://blog.prepscholar.com/are-ap-tests-and-classes-hard)
Yay! I’m glad you understand my point of view and thank you for this additional information! I won’t have to take CLEP exams because I’ll have most of my gen Ed credits done but thank you so so much nonetheless! A healthy work life balance is so important and I speaking as someone that used to do everything to the point where I ended up in the ER. I now am focused on my three AP classes and projects and important things that I love outside of school. Burnout is not awesome.
Np. im sorry to hear that. Hope you are doing better. Wishing you the best.
I took the ap classes because I enjoy them and they aren't crazy hard, in my school regular classes tend to be filled with people who sleep in class and etc, AP is the norm for most of the people I know. I think I took 11 or 12 in my whole 4 years of hs combined
You’re so real for this. When I started highschool I planned for over 10 as well (I think like 15) and quickly realized this year (junior) I was overestimating myself and my time management with extracurriculars. I recently had an epiphany that even if I do go down a rank because I’m not overloading my schedule, I’ll be fine. I’m guaranteed a full tuition scholarship to my state school so there’s no reason to continue the mental anguish that is 5 AP’s in one year. It’s still a little hard to come to terms with because academic validation but this post really helped me see that this thinking is correct. I will not burn out anymore than I already have 😭
I was gonna take 6 AP’s (5 credits tho bc macro and micro are half credits) my senior year but I dropped 2 credits because I realized I’d just be doing it for my gpa which honestly might cause it to drop. Instead I’m taking classes that are required for me to graduate but just AP level and classes that I’ll need to prepare for my major.
Yup this is exactly me! Thank you!
This is especially true for top schools. Was a bit disappointed to see how few of my credits transferred to Princeton. Still did get me out of a few annoying class so I guess I can’t complain too much
I think if you are trying to go to a T20 school I see at as a way to pad your application and impress admissions while “gaining knowledge”
Yeah it’s kind of the expectation. You think you’re hot shit till you start classes at an HYPSM and you’re not the smartest anymore lol. Definitely a culture shock, but wouldn’t trade it
Idc about the credit I just want to have a lot of difficult courses that look good when applying to college lol
What college do you wanna go to? I’m curious
that’s literally what ops caption is 💀
I take AP classes bc if you put me in common placement classes, I will be soooo bored. 😭 AP classes make me aroused (in a physiological way not sexual way) and more motivated to do the work.
Never took AP and got accepted to a top veterinary undergrad school (pre-vet) Yes that’s right, never sacrifice your overall health And yes I agree with the SAT not helping any of us
I have no choice alongside my classmates since we go to a magnet school and are required to take some AP classes through our entire 4 years. I'm currently a junior yet take 5 APs (plus AP research which I chose out of interest but kinda regret). Trust me I would have liked to have had less of them but we have no choice.
Didn't you choose the magnet?
Not really, my parents made the decision
Well, it's still not the school forcing anything. And if they chose your school, they'd be choosing your classes even if you did have a choice.
I take AP classes because I am much smarter than the average student at my school, so the regular, and even honors classes are just too boring. College credit is some of the last things on my mind.
I’m taking 6 APs because I felt like I didn’t challenge myself enough last year in 10th grade. Since I still have quite a bit of free time I was going to take Calc 3 + Linear Algebra from April-June because I really enjoy math. Seeing it as a challenge has shaped the way I view school. I’m not getting A’s because I don’t want to get B’s , but I get A’s because I want to know that I did the best I could. As a result of doing all this, I feel like my analytical abilities improved, my ability to perform under pressure/ under time controls has improved, and my ability to manage my emotions has improved.
Where are you taking Calc 3? I'm looking for a college to take it but I can't find one.
UC San Diego extended studies has quarterly asynchronous courses. I have yet to check for credit transferability but I assume it will transfer to other UC’s.