AP vs. College Classes

[panvard92]

So I took a bunch (5) AP classes this year, and I ended up with mostly B+'s....

does this mean if I take similar courses in college, i'll get similar grades? Are there differences in AP and college courses?

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[Crazyday]

AP courses are supposed to be the equivalent of college courses in material covered. In colleges you will usually have much larger classes and much less (probably none) one on one time in class. You will go to lecture once or twice a week per class for 2-3 hours and that's it. A lot of classes might not even have homework. In some cases you can skip going to class altogether and just figure it out on your own, if you're that confident and conscientious.

I don't know what your experience with AP courses was, but my experience thus far has been that in some of them they still kind of hold your hand through the material. It won't be like that in college. You will be on your own to figure out what you need to know for the test, and learn it.

Tests will usually make up the bulk of your grade in a class (if not the entirety), and bombing one can have an irreversible effect on your grade in that class. In a lot of classes the professors will curve test grades though, meaning if you do poorly you can still get a decent grade on it.

That's from everything I've heard and observations I've made. Hope that helps some.

 

[tennisball80]

If you improve your study skills and have the ambition to succeed, you will do better on any college courses.

If you are in your freshman, sophomore or junior year of high school, you will have a plenty of time to improve your study skills.

If you have already graduated from high school, it's still possible to learn how to study effectively even you are in college.

I wish you good luck.

 

[NickNaylor]

My experience has been that AP classes != college classes. Perhaps the only strong correlation is the content they cover, but difficulty, grading, etc. are not similar in my experience. For me, college classes have been harder than my AP classes. In high school, I studied pretty much never and ended up with As; in college, I have to some substantial studying to do the same thing.

As others have said, the grading is much less... forgiving. Tests usually compose the entirety of your grade, so bombing one test can really have a pretty drastic impact on your grade. There are also less superfluous assignments that are essentially extra credit. Professors don't fool around, and they're not going to give you assignments that they think aren't beneficial either to your learning or their evaluation of your learning.

 

[WashMe]

I never took college classes in high school, but I did take a bunch of AP classes in high school (maybe... 9?) and I just graduated from college. To be honest, I thought my AP classes were harder than many of my college classes.

I think it has something to do with self selection. In AP classes, you are generally only competing with other smart people and you have to do better in comparison. In college, you'll run into a bunch of people who struggle and should not be in certain majors... thus the curve or the grading scale will benefit you.

Looking back, I think I learned more from AP than I would have from post-secondary (college classes in high school), but I wish I had just taken the college classes. I would have gotten fine grades either way, and it is a sure fire way to get real credits. Remember that you have to take the AP tests and pass with high scores to get college credit. I only took the AP tests for three subjects (Chem, Calc, English), and I only received credit at my college for two of those subjects (Chem+Calc, for 9 quarter hours). I could have had 20-30+ quarter hours if I had just taken college classes...

 

[btam2]

You can most definitely get A's in those courses when you get into college if you continue to work. It's true you are basically alone in college and there is no one to monitor your progress and make sure you're studying or go to class. So stay disciplined, study, and you can get those A's in college and get yourself to a great start on that GPA.

Just to share a story with you, I took 3 or 4 AP classes in high school, was basically at the bottom of all the students in those class in terms of scores (the 38% in AP calc and blank exams I will always remember), barely got a B in AP bio, and got 2's on all my AP exams. When I got into college, had a new work ethic and got A's in all of the classes from HS and the exams seemed like walk in the park.

Getting B's in high school AP, much of the material you may remember when in college and I am confident you can get those A's.

 

[Vicviper]

I thought that all of my non-science AP classes, APUSH, AP Lit, etc, were significantly harder than their college equivalents. MOst GE classes in college are pretty straight forward, and you will do just fine if you show up and put a decent amount of work in. For example, my 4 in AP Lit got me out of English 100, so I took English 103, Critical Thinking and Writing, to finish the series, and it was cake compared to the entire year of AP Lit. I also took a second half American History class to finish some requirements, and it was far easier than APUSH.

The sciences are another story! For AP Bio, it depends how good your teacher was, but as others have said above, science grading can be pretty ruthless.

 

[CScull]

I actually liked college classes better than APs, I guess it really depends on the class, but for history especially it was a lot less intense. I think it's mostly because of the AP exam... the kids taking AP had to do something crazy like 19 essays in 19 days, and you had to remember all those little AMSCO facts...

For sciences I could imagine college courses being a lot harder though.

 

[EyEnStein 07]

You cant really determine this....it depends on school. Doing well in an AP class has no correlation to an equivalent college class...

However the actual AP score probably does have a correlation in terms of how you will do in the class.

Simply put...A+ in an AP calc class might not be an A+ in calc 1 at a college.

however a 5 on AP calc will most likely mean A in calc 1 at a college.

I say this because there were kids in my school who got A's in AP classes and actually ended up scoring 1s and 2s on Ap exams.
So it just depends on highschool. I know of a few students who went to tough high schools...got B's in the class but ended up with 4s and 5s.

 

[AryaStark]

At my school, we were in the same AP class the entire year as opposed to one semester. Thus, college classes tend to go a lot faster. In high school we covered a chapter a week with classes meeting every day or every other day. When I was in college, I covered a chapter per class.

Additionally, not to put down any high school teachers, but the college professors had a lot more knowledge on the subject matter. My AP teachers in high school tended to only have a B.A and very seldom had a masters in education. When you go to college, you are typically learning from professors with doctorate level education who has studied this for years and years.

Honestly, there is such a huge distinction between AP and college classes and it can go both ways. Sometimes, college classes were even easier for me than their AP counterpart. However, I'm sure college chem was harder than my AP chem class in high school. Every place is different, high school and college alike. I'd say the biggest predictor in how well you will do in college is your enjoyment of the subject matter. If you truly enjoy and are excited by what you study, there is no way you will do poorly. If you do not like the particular class you are taking, try as hard as you can, go to office hours, and show the professor that you are putting forth an honest effort. If you go to a big university, there is always the worry that you will just become another face in the crowd. Even if you are shy, try to speak up in class, sit in the front, and GO to office hours. This can even open up opportunities for outside the classroom like shadowing, helping with research, and even teaching assistant positions (at smaller schools)

 

[DrReo]

Environment. In AP classes, you may have it sugar coated. College, they do not care who you are, where you are from or what sports team you play on.

Plus, transferring AP classes is a pain. AP is doing a disservice to the incoming students.

 

[Vicviper]

Environment. In AP classes, you may have it sugar coated. College, they do not care who you are, where you are from or what sports team you play on.

Plus, transferring AP classes is a pain. AP is doing a disservice to the incoming students.

Amen to that - I really dislike the entire system. I've had teachers who've refused to teach AP classes because of how sugar coated they'd have to make all the material since it can so often be simply teaching to the test, and not for understanding.

 

[URHere]

Honestly, there is a huge difference between AP classes and college classes, and this is almost entirely due to the difference in out of class work.

When I took my AP courses back in the day, I remember hours of homework (reading, outlines, essays, pointless projects) each night. In college, there is none of that. Your grades will depend entirely (or almost entirely) on your exam scores or your lab grades. The pace also tends to be a bit faster in college courses than in APs (although there are exceptions...AP chem at my high school was harder than college chem at my undergrad, for instance).

In my opinion, if you tend to ace your exams in AP classes, you'll be fine in college. If you depend on homework and busywork to bring your grades up in your APs, I would suggest learning how to study more efficiently before getting too far into college.

 

[panvard92]

so AP scores are probably better indicators rather than the actual grades in the classes?

 

[EyEnStein 07]

so AP scores are probably better indicators rather than the actual grades in the classes?

Because all schools vary in difficulty...i would definately agree that the SCORES are better indicators than the actual class...

Why? because if you got a 1, clearly you put in no work and didnt get much out of the class.

if you got a 5, clearly you put in the hours of study whether it be by yourself or through your class. Also with the 5, you have a great understanding of the subject, so if you did it yourself then you know how to study well and prepare for exams.

 

[Kaiter]

So I took a bunch (5) AP classes this year, and I ended up with mostly B+'s....

does this mean if I take similar courses in college, i'll get similar grades? Are there differences in AP and college courses?

This is actually pretty hard to answer because there are so many factors involved in determining what may or may not come out. Depends on the teacher, how strong your school AP program/courses are, how much time you actually put into it etc. Best thing I can do is to give you my experience with my factors put it.

I came from a very competitive high school that placed emphasis on AP courses. I have passed the AP tests with mostly 3s, a handful of 4s and a 5. Mostly A's in all my AP classes themselves. I never really put much effort into studying for my classes...material seemed to come naturally to me...so I always settled for the grade in the class and not for the test. First year of college...was different from high school. I didn't get grades for doing hw n such, but since I had such strength in high school I actually breezed through my first year without doing very much studying (I remember first semester I was playing nonstop CS and WoW during finals). However, one of my greatest strengths during that time was note taking and just studying off those notes with a little supplement from books. However, once I reached my upper division courses the following year, I found myself to be struggling more and actually did quite poorly that year (got 2 F's and a C my 2nd semester). Why? Probably because I was just as lazy...granted there were other things going on in my life at the time, but the degree of difficulty was too much where I didn't put enough effort into it.

Did my AP classes help? I would say, majorily yes for the classes that I didn't specialize in. Do they help for more sophisticated/harder classes...no not really in my eyes. The only exception to this for me was that my AP physics course at my HS was EXTREMELY rigorous...the teacher was insanely hard. I hated that experience SO much, but when I got to college and took physics (including upper div. physics) I retained my experience from the AP physics and actually breezed through it quite well ( thanks teach).

In short, I think that the APs helps prepare your mentality and knowledge to ease you into college life and college work, but will not be the determining factor in how well you do in college. You have to learn how to adapt to specific courses and handle different kinds of stress. I will end with a word of advice: you are given much more freedom in college than in hs. Embrace it, but don't abuse it. I have seen MANY people drop out or suffer during their latter years because of 1 or 2 semesters of carelessness.