Advanced Placement Courses and Exams

by Susan Rashid Horn

How can a bright teen get a jump on college? If your child is qualified and motivated, enrolling in Advanced Placement courses may allow him to skip introductory college classes later on. It's not easy, but it's worth the effort.

What is AP?
The College Board, the same people who bring us the SAT, manage Advanced Placement. AP was born in response to complaints that introductory college courses repeated what students had already learned in high school. To prevent this duplication, the AP program lets qualified high school students take classes earning college credit or advanced placement in the college of their choice.

Today the AP Program offers 32 college level courses and exams in 19 disciplines. Offered in nearly 12,000 high schools, Advanced Placement is recognized by close to 3000 colleges and universities around the world.

Hard Work
English, History, and Calculus are the most popular of the AP courses. They aren't easy. It's important a student be motivated in an AP class. In one school, for example, the students were required to read eight books, write three 3-page papers and one 15-page paper, and take an exam every six weeks.

Brad Beal of Boston is going to be a high school senior next year, and he's been taking AP courses since his sophomore year. "Some nights it's pretty bad," he says. "I usually have five hours of homework. I play sports and I'm involved in other school activities, too, so sometimes I don't even get home till 7:30."

The workload may be daunting but the payoff is worth it. Advanced standing in college can save money and time.

Five reasons to take AP

1. Saves time. Students can complete a Bachelor's Degree in three years or have more time for electives.

2. Saves money. If a student tests out of an intro class, some schools don't require payment for those credits. AP exams cost only $75 -- much less than the typical cost of a college credit.
3. Worth the challenge. Kids are stimulated by working with enthusiastic classmates. Self-confidence is boosted at reaching higher levels of expertise.

4. Increases college acceptance. AP scholars get more attention from admissions officers.

5. Tough program. Students need good study habits, high motivation and strict self-discipline to succeed.

Tests and scores
AP exams are administered every May. Each exam takes three hours and covers a year's worth of study. The tests consist of both objective questions and free response essays, exploring not only knowledge, but also comprehension, analysis, application, and evaluation.

Freshmen through seniors sit for the exams. Diana Rawls, from the Educational Testing Service, says, "Many students take several exams. Some take a test in the same subject more than once."

Seniors who take an AP exam may designate which colleges they want to receive their scores. A list of participating colleges is available from the College Entrance Examination Board. Completed exams are evaluated with scores 1-5; 5 being the highest. A score of 3 is generally agreed upon for acceptance by colleges; an overwhelming majority of schools accept scores of 4 and 5.

College credit
When a college receives a student's exam score, it determines whether college credit or advanced standing will be given. Over 1400 schools will grant sophomore standing if a student demonstrates competence in 3 or more AP exams.

Consult college catalogues for their general policy statement on AP exams, but be advised that each department within a college sets its own specific standards.

Harvard, for example, allows students who score 4 or 5 on at least four full-credit courses to be eligible for advanced standing. About half of the incoming freshman class is usually eligible. Half of those eligible accept advanced standing, but fewer than 10% of the students actually elect to graduate early.

Kids may believe that the way to gain college admission is to take easy classes and get a lot of As. But selective colleges pay more attention to a course's level of difficulty. So if your child is invited to take an AP course and is reluctant to do so, encourage her to take it for one year. Then she can decide the next year whether to continue with the program. Those who do will arrive on a college campus ready to meet a greater challenge.

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