By Susan Alaimo
The highest level of courses offered in high school are Advanced Placement (AP) courses. They are offered in a wide variety of more than 30 academic subjects, including Studio Arts, Music Theory, Psychology, Micro and Macro Economics, Government and Politics, Calculus, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, U.S. and World History, and many foreign languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, German and Italian. Not every high school offers the full gamut of AP courses, and some high schools do not offer any at all., The good news about AP courses is that they give students an opportunity to do college level work while still in high school. Towards the end of the school year, in early May, students can take AP exams which are written by College Board – the same company that offers the PSAT and SAT. AP exams are typically about three hours long, and students are graded on a scale of 1 to 5. Students who score a 5 or 4 on an AP exam are frequently offered college credits. Some colleges even offer credit for an AP score of 3., The bad news about AP courses is that they can add additional stress to a student’s high school experience. When high school students apply to competitive colleges, the criteria for acceptance includes consideration of how competitive a course load the students took. When a high school offers a vast number of AP courses, top students often feel obliged to take as many of these courses as possible in order to be competitive with their peers with whom they may be vying for the same college seats., Ideally, students who are academically prepared to do college level work should choose AP courses in subjects compatible to their college plans. In other words, students planning to enter the medical field might take AP Biology and/or Chemistry. Students with hopes of becoming engineers or architects might favor AP Calculus. Students who are considering a college major in Psychology or Economics would do well to take the coinciding AP course in high school to confirm their talent for, and interest in, the field., Students who take several AP courses during their high school years, and are successful on their AP exams, should take note of which colleges offer credit for the courses. Most colleges do offer credit; but some do not. By attending a college that gives credit for high scoring AP exams, students have greater opportunities to take additional courses. This often allows students to double major, take a major and a minor, or even graduate a semester or year early., Students who put in the time and effort to do college level work while still in high school should be sure to reap the rewards!, Susan Alaimo is the founder and director of SAT Smart in Hillsborough that has been offering PSAT, SAT, and ACT preparation courses, as well as private tutoring by IVY-League educated instructors, for more than 20 years. Visit www.SATsmart.com.
