Are AP classes equivalent to college courses?

[malfee]

I've been thinking about this lately. My brother is nearing his college graduation, majoring in psychology, and he's been able to maintain a really high GPA, something like ~3.75. He was never big on his education when he was in high school, and slacked off as much as he could. He sees me taking all of these AP classes, and he seems to think that they appear much more demanding than any equivalent college course. I've always thought that AP classes were just below college-level, or right on target, but I never imagined them being harder. Has anyone else ever thought about this? You could also factor in the fact that all of my AP classes have 25-30 students in them, which I suppose is slightly over the standard in most colleges.

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[ILikeFood]

I think HS AP courses are rarely equilavent to their college counterparts. If anything, they're easier because not only is your competition lighter, but a high school class can never really replicate the collegiate environment. But it all depends on which college you go to and what you end up majoring in (think ******* State U vs Harvard vs any high school)

My opinion might be a little outdated since I graduated high school in 2000, but when I was there I passed 5/7 AP tests, three of which are listed in your signature. When I went to college I found that my AP courses had barely scraped the surface of these subjects and there was much more to learn.

I'm telling you it's not the same.

 

[URHere]

The answer to your question really depends on what you mean by "more demanding". In my experience, I have found that most AP courses do not cover the same amount of material or involve the same depth as a college course. However, high school AP courses involve much much more work. As an AP student, your teachers will probably assign nightly assignments, check that you have done your assigned readings, etc. - this is not at all the case at most colleges. In college, you will be expected to study without professors monitoring your progress. Because this lack of assignments gives you much more freedom and much less to actually "do", many people consider AP courses harder than college courses.

To summarize: Are AP courses more in depth? Probably not. Do they involve more work and occasionally more time? I would say yes.

 

[bookgodess15]

Indeed. I know someone who scored a 5 on the AP Calc exam, placing him in Calc II... and two weeks into the class, he transfered down to Calc I. Theoretically, AP classes are supposed to be the equivalent of college classes, but they never really are.

They do, however, look good on your transcripts.

 

[Depakote]

Via CLEP or AP I got credit for: AB Calc, Micro and Macro Econ, AP Bio, US History, Sociology.

I wound up re-taking Calc I. I probably should have re-taken Bio but I had taken enough upper levels by then that it didn't matter.

I wouldn't count on using AP Chem or AP Physics for Med School applications. You'll need college level classwork for this (both for the MCAT and to demonstrate proficiency in the pre-requisite coursework).

 

[Caesar]

AP humanities are typically on par with college. AP US History, AP Western Civ were both equal to the college level. I am told Psych was the same way. It matters who the teachers and professors are though. AP looks good for Undergrads though. They typically are an indicator of how you will do in college level courses, even if they are not quite college level themselves.

 

[RySerr21]

AP humanities are typically on par with college. AP US History, AP Western Civ were both equal to the college level. I am told Psych was the same way. It matters who the teachers and professors are though. AP looks good for Undergrads though. They typically are an indicator of how you will do in college level courses, even if they are not quite college level themselves.

Seriusly? AP psych is a joke. It is by far the easiest AP test of them all. Altho i guess its not too far fetched to say college level psych is similar to AP level psych because for the most part it is all common sense and theory/opinion.

 

[Caesar]

Intro Psych isn't anything groundbreaking :haha: Easy class, but a good one, either as AP or not. I took it in college my brothers GF took it in Highschool, we covered the same stuff except she had more tests and more papers. Mine was probably more material / test and slightly higher expectations on the papers. I have not taken the AP test or even looked at one, so I am only comparing our corse work and not commenting on the exam itself.

 

[Electrophile]

First of all, no offense to your brother or anything, but he is a psych major, not biochem or engineering, so while that's a nice college GPA, it's not that great for that particular major. My husband graduated with a 3.9 GPA, but his degree was in marketing and he admits he didn't work half as hard as I did in college. Plus there's like two different kinds of psych majors. One type majors in it because it's easy, interesting, they have a vague notion that it sounds cool to go into. The other type are those that are more interested in the neuropsych/neuroscience stuff. Those folks are a lot more hardcore.

I won't speak about ease, because I think that has to do with your teachers/professors, but I actually found some of my AP classes like AP English, AP American History, and AP Calculus to be far superior to the level of teaching I got in undergrad. Others like AP European History, AP Bio, and AP Chemistry were the same or better level of teaching and difficulty taught in undergrad. Can't say much about AP Spanish cause I didn't take it in college. And don't feel like you have to take a bunch of the AP tests. I was in a similar boat senior year because I was pre-med and knew it would probably be best just to retake the majority of the core classes and anything that overlapped would just be a boost. I still finished in 4 years with 2 majors and a minor by taking physics during the summer. No sweat!

 

[malfee]

Thanks for all the input guys/girls. BTW, no offense taken about the GPA. He's not an academic all star or anything, but compared to his high school GPA, a 3.75+ is amazing.

I can definitely attest to the fact that we get a lot of work in our AP classes, with Calc. AB being the "worst." The course isn't that bad at all (I scored a 95 and 99 on our first two tests), and the teacher is great, so I have no trouble learning any of the material. Literature hasn't really picked up yet (we're just finishing Hamlet), and Physics and Psych. are "fun" classes.

 

[135892]

Thanks for all the input guys/girls. BTW, no offense taken about the GPA. He's not an academic all star or anything, but compared to his high school GPA, a 3.75+ is amazing.

I can definitely attest to the fact that we get a lot of work in our AP classes, with Calc. AB being the "worst." The course isn't that bad at all (I scored a 95 and 99 on our first two tests), and the teacher is great, so I have no trouble learning any of the material. Literature hasn't really picked up yet (we're just finishing Hamlet), and Physics and Psych. are "fun" classes.

Just taking the courses in your signature as an example, I took AP calc AB and physics in high school, and pretty much failed the exams. However I did pretty well in both classes, as well as higher level math and physics in college. It's probably because I actually tried once I got to college, but nevertheless I definitely thought the college classes were easier then high school versions.

 

[angelcool1236]

I think it depends. I've heard that college classes r eaiser hat the AP classes at my school but my school starts in mid september and not august like alot of other school do so we kind of have to speed through it. Plus i think it depends on the college you go 2. Plus the teachers always seem 2 raise expectations 4 my class due to their prior class which they got in2 MIT(1st person in 9 years 2 be accepted) and harvard and Stanford and yea lol

 

[Electrophile]

I think it depends. I've heard that college classes r eaiser hat the AP classes at my school but my school starts in mid september and not august like alot of other school do so we kind of have to speed through it. Plus i think it depends on the college you go 2. Plus the teachers always seem 2 raise expectations 4 my class due to their prior class which they got in2 MIT(1st person in 9 years 2 be accepted) and harvard and Stanford and yea lol

I also heard that talking in coherent sentences, spelling, and grammar instead of netspeak/leetspeak is more conducive to getting in...anywhere?

 

[RSAgator]

Don't usually post here but I found the topic interesting.

I took (and passed) 10 AP classes in high school and got 4's and 5's on all but 2 of them. I think that how difficult the ap class is/how much you learn in it will depend entirely on the teacher, and if the class is an important one I would probably retake anything below a 5 (possibly a 5 as well). AP physics was nothing compared to college physics, nor was bio. I was exempt from Calc 2 but took it anyways because I knew that I had learned absolutely nothing from the AP. I think the history courses and the english ones were on par with their college counterparts though. Ultimately AP's will help you get into college, and once in college they'll help you out a great deal the first year or 2, but if you intend to take any advanced classes/apply to professional schools college level coursework will both look better and prepare you better.

 

[JJMrK]

The short answer is no.

The long answer is that AP classes are sometimes about on par with a college class that is designed for general education. For instance, AP Biology is probably about as difficult as the general overview, 1 semester biology class that liberal arts majors can take as GE. It's nowhere near as difficult as the introductory sequence intended for biology/other science majors.

 

[Narmerguy]

I've heard that the languages are pretty solid in comparison to college. I've never taken an AP language myself

I thought the math courses were of comparable difficulty (Stats and Calc).

The thing is that a lot of those year long AP classes are condensed into a single semester in college so they become a lot more difficult simply by nature of the time you're expected to learn the material.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I actually found some of my AP classes like AP English, AP American History, and AP Calculus to be far superior to the level of teaching I got in undergrad.

I'll second all of these and add in AP Physics, AP Psych, and AP Statistics to the mix. They were much better and more thorough in high school.

I've heard that the languages are pretty solid in comparison to college. I've never taken an AP language myself

I only took through French 4 in high school (one short of AP), but I easily tested out of all four semesters of French I needed for my bio major. Maybe that's reflective of my high school's foreign language curriculum, but I'd say AP French is probably a pretty solid foundation for college.