AP test suggestion from a med student

[BobBarker]

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Thought you guys might benefit a little from this advice. I entered college with 26 hours of AP credit. I picked up a Spanish minor, but I easily could have graduated in 3 years with it. I took the tests for Human Geography and World and US Political science, classes which were not offered at my high school. I didn't think the tests were difficult, and passed with a 5 in geography, a 4 in US poly sci, and a 3 in World poly sci. If you feel you are strong in a subject, take the AP test for it, you may be pleasantly surprised...

 

[Power of One]

Should we take the AP for classes that won't be connected with our planned major?

 

[Silverman780]

Yes.

All colleges require you to take classes that aren't directly related to your major, so for example: A math major would have to take some sort of history or social science course. Any AP credit you accumulated in HS will count toward that filling that credit requirement.

Personally all the AP test credits I earned had nothing to do with Biology, yet are helping me by taking care of all my writing, psych, and history credits I need to graduate. Also if you are a bio maj for example, if you take the AP Bio Test it may or may not count towards your biology degree depending on what your institution dictates.

 

[seebelcherrun]

Do not waste your time taking AP tests for classes in the pre med curriculum.You need the review for the mcat. But if you can get out of an english, history, etc (gen eds), do it.

 

[RySerr21]

AP stats saved me from having to take a stats class over the summer after i graduated. I took it in HS, i think i got a 4, and the credit transferred to my college transcript. My school now requires statistics to matriculate (one of the few). I never took it in college, but they accepted my credit. No one way I could have known that was going to happen, but it was sweet and i was actually able to enjoy my last summer! If you are taking an AP class, theres no reason not to take the test.

 

[EyEnStein 07]

Should we take the AP for classes that won't be connected with our planned major?

I think this is actually better, i was able to get out of some classes that were required at my school only because i took the AP and passed. I never have to see those classes again 👍

On another note, i found that taking AP science classes are good also, because even if you dont score well (say you get a 2) chances are you will more than likely get a decent grade in the college course assuming you remmeber some stuff, because you have seen the material already.

Either way just try your best, if your taking the class might as well go for it. My school has a 4 semester foreign language requirement, i regret dropping AP spanish lol.

 

[ChiDO]

I took a lot of AP test senior year in high school and got credit for all of them in college (24 credit hours). Even though this allowed me to have a "lighter" course load towards the end of college, if I had to do it all over again, I would still take all the AP classes/test in HS, but then would accept 0 of those credit hours entering scollege.

I would have much rather been able to repeat Bio 101, Chem 101, ect and receive easy A's and learn how to appropriately study in college. I signed up for an upper level bio class in my first semester of college and it was definitely not fun.

Thus, like I said, ~30 AP credit hours is about 1/4th of your GPA, and it would be nice for those to be all "easy" classes and get A's to start college out with. It's a lot easier to slip a few GPA points then trying to raise it back up.

Med school admissions rather see a high GPA (3.8+) then a lower GPA (with harder classes - 3.4).

 

[organdonor]

Thus, like I said, ~30 AP credit hours is about 1/4th of your GPA, and it would be nice for those to be all "easy" classes and get A's to start college out with.

This. Don't ruin your GPA by throwing out all the classes that you could easily earn A's in.

 

[Wolfman89]

I say take as many AP classes as you can get. I got a 5 on the US History and a 3 on the English Lit. exam and that has helped get a lot of my core curriculum out of the way.

 

[mybubbles14]

This. Don't ruin your GPA by throwing out all the classes that you could easily earn A's in.

+2

I wish I hadn't used so many AP classes/placements. I took 9 APs but my school only allowed credit for 3 classes and the rest you could only use to place out of intro classes. People tried to warn me about this but I didn't listen...minus opting out of taking ORGO my first semester (which would've been suicide w/ all of my other engineering classes). Instead, I used my AP scores to place into advanced classes foregoing easy As and more grade points in my GPA.

 

[Power of One]

I know every school is different, but in your opinions, which AP credits should we generally not use for the sake of having a manageable freshmen course load that that won't jeopardize our GPAs?

 

[jl lin]

I'm wondering why in the world all schools that take these credtis and CLEP credits can't traslate the exam scores to grades, which a person could use to up their GPA?

The longer I am in school, the more I realize that so much about instutitions of higher education, even w/ the non-top-tiered schools, is ALL--as in totally--about $$$$. Wish it weren't so, but I realistically have to call as I see it.

 

[organdonor]

I used my CLEP to get two semester's worth of english requirements, but I ended up taking one semester over again anyways because my premed advisor told me my school likes to see it. Honestly the more easy A's you can get the better! If it works out that you won't be able to fit in class x or class y into your schedule then ya take the CLEP I suppose but every credit you take makes your GPA harder to change and every time you place into a higher class you are placing into a class in which an A is more difficult.

 

[Ischemic]

If you know you're going to be premed majoring in bio/chem it would behoove you take AP tests that will help in getting you credit for basic core classes (humanities, calculus, etc). Do not use your AP credits on the basic science classes like bio101/chem101 because you need the easy As to boost both your cGPA and sGPA, especially your sGPA. Getting some of the core classes out means you have more time to focus on other classes you feel to be more relevant or interesting. And you'll have more time to spend volunteering rather than reading that 150 page tolstoy book for english class.

If you're a non-science premed .... well use your best discretion in determining how you can maintain a high GPA while doing what you love. I'd probably still use AP credits to get non-major required classes out of the way though I'd still retake my basic science because you need that stuff for MCATs anyway.

My best advice for you incoming Freshman/high school kids is that getting into med school is about playing the game right ... THEIR game. And that game is high MCAT, high GPA and ECs. Many kids come into college with the high school mentality of taking the hardest classes possible and skip the easy classes. WRONG!! Those easy classes will boost your GPA and it takes time to adjust to college workload. Overeagerness will kill you. Obviously this depends on the college you go to but people tend to find out what the game is late. It's not about being smart in the classroom, the key is actually strategy and giving the adcom what they want.