When 19-year-old Walker Donaldson graduated from Sunnyslope High School last spring, he had more than the usual stuff to pack for college. Donaldson took at least a semester’s worth of college credit hours with him when he enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He got a jump start on college because he decided to load his high school schedule with classes intended to prepare him for the College Board’s Advanced Placement tests, administered nationwide every spring. Hard work — especially during his junior and senior years, he says — resulted in high scores on several of these three-hour tests in subjects such as calculus, physics and U.S. history.
The credits he earned could translate into an early graduation and subsequent savings in tuition dollars — and no doubt will provide added flexibility as Donaldson chooses his course of study at UNC. With his interests set on business and creative-writing classes, the AP credits “let me bypass a lot of the stuff that is less interesting and unrelated to what I want to be pursuing,” he says.
Should your high school student enroll in AP courses, honors courses, standard high school credit courses — or some of each? Here’s what to consider if your teen yearns for the challenge of AP classes as part of a high school curriculum.
What’s different about the level of learning in AP classes?
The curriculum for AP classes is comprehensive and rigorous. Teachers must cover a great deal in a relatively short period of time. For example, in two semesters of AP European History, students begin the year studying the collapse of the medieval world and continue right on through the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the Cold War period and beyond.
What’s different about the way AP classes are taught?
Methods used to prepare students may differ from classroom to classroom, but “anywhere in the U.S., teachers of AP (classes) shouldn’t deviate from the College Board curriculum,” according to Warren Jacobson, associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction for Glendale Union High School District, which counts Sunnyslope as one of its nine high schools.
Jacobson says that his district “hand selects” highly motivated teachers for training in the rigors of teaching AP subject matter. These teachers are subject to intensive review by the district and can receive monetary bonuses for an increase in the percentage of high AP test scores earned by their students.
Recently, however, some educators have indicated concern that depth and analysis are being compromised when such an expanse of information is taught. As a result, the College Board plans to put in place more rigorous auditing of programs using the AP name, beginning next month.
How do these classes affect grade point average?
AP classes can turbo-charge a student’s grade point average. Many high schools calculate GPA to reflect the rigors of advanced course work. Students may earn a 5.0 for an A in an AP class, a 4.5 for an A in an “honors” class and a 4.0 for regular high school credit courses. That’s where the terms “unweighted” and “weighted” GPAs come into play. AP and honors classes actually carry more “weight” within the grading scale, resulting in GPAs higher than the traditional 4.0.
Which students are the best candidates for taking on the rigors of one or more AP courses?
Successful AP students are intrinsically motivated, says veteran AP Calculus teacher Cathy Pirrone of Sunnyslope. “They don’t have to be geniuses,” she says. “I would rather have a kid that comes in and says ‘I want to work very hard,’ not a kid that says ‘I know everything.'”
Research shows a strong correlation between PSAT scores and AP exam results, according to the College Board. Parents can take a look at indicators of achievement from elementary and middle school work as well, says Jacobson.
Students should choose accelerated coursework in content areas where they feel comfortable taking on a challenge and actually enjoy the material. It’s not a good idea to choose AP classes when the sole motivation is to blow up a grade point average.
Students should make sure they understand the level of difficulty that will be expected, says Donaldson. “I’ve seen (kids) who don’t have a chance doing well get stressed with a workload they are not used to and it ends up being more trouble than it’s worth.”
How much does it cost to take an AP test?
It costs $82 to take an AP exam. Schools keep $8 to pay for exam administration costs. The exam fee is often waived for students from low-income families.
How high does a student’s score have to be to receive college credit?
AP test scores range from one to five, five being the highest possible number of points to achieve. Selective colleges may accept only fives or fours; some schools award credits for threes. Even a score of two, however, may satisfy a language requirement. Check out collegeboard.com/ap/creditpolicy for links to individual colleges and university policies.
The rigors of AP courses can fine-tune the skills of the motivated student, easing the transition to college level coursework, says Pirrone. “I teach them to be self-directed, to be accountable, to organize their work.”
For Donaldson, who points to Pirrone’s class as one of his favorites, advanced placement work has meant something more.
“It gave me confidence,” he says. “I was daunted by the material, but I was satisfied with the level of success I that I achieved.”
