So now is the time to register for taking these exams in order to possibly earn some college credit and save some cash. I am eligible to take Chemistry (subsidized by state to $8), Calculus AB (also subsidized), Economics (micro and normal $80-some), US Government, and Psychology. I was planning on taking chem, calc, and psych but in a discussion today I heard horror stories about people who did well on the exams and got bumped up a level in college to a difficulty that was beyond their experience and thus ruined their college GPA, which is bad news for me because I have a lot of money riding on keeping a certain GPA next year. If anyone has any experience with preparing for/taking the exams or the aftermath within the college courses, please do share.
Did you take those courses this year? If you didn't, don't take them, you won't pass. It will be a waste of 8 dollars and your ass will hurt.
And you don't have to get bumped up, so never do it.
And you don't have to get bumped up, so never do it.
pretty muchCommieChipmunk wrote:
Did you take those courses this year? If you didn't, don't take them, you won't pass. It will be a waste of 8 dollars and your ass will hurt.
And you don't have to get bumped up, so never do it.
Gonna be taking AP English language and lit, AP Bio, AP Chem, and possibly AP Calc AB.
Gonna be a hell of a fun week. And my life will suck for the month leading up to it.
Gonna be a hell of a fun week. And my life will suck for the month leading up to it.
Yes, I took the courses. I wouldn't be fool enough to think I could pass an exam that can get you college credit without even taking the class.
Wow...that sucks.CommieChipmunk wrote:
Then yes, you have to take the tests to get the course to be weighted out of 5 instead of 4.. at least at my school
Last edited by DesertFox- (2008-02-28 19:06:36)
Last school year I took AP World History and got a 5. This year I'm taking AP US Government, AP Macroeconomics, AP Biology, and AP American History. I already signed up for the next school year and I'm taking AP Calculus AB, AP Statistics, and AP European History. I only have experience with the AP World exam, and it was simple. 3 essays and about 70 multiple choice. I think AP American and Euro are the same format. AP Government, Macro, and Bio don't have essays but instead have short answer questions along with multiple choice. I don't know how the AP Calc and Stat exams work.
Then yes, you have to take the tests to get the course to be weighted out of 5 instead of 4.. at least at my school
I have the AP World test this year but my teacher sucks ass and we haven't learned anything. Next year I will have
AP Calculus AB
AP Junior Comp/Lit
AP Physics C
AP US History
AP Psychology
I don't know if they are really worth it, but at my school its definitely better than taking normal classes..
AP Calculus AB
AP Junior Comp/Lit
AP Physics C
AP US History
AP Psychology
I don't know if they are really worth it, but at my school its definitely better than taking normal classes..
5 APs?Cleft wrote:
I have the AP World test this year but my teacher sucks ass and we haven't learned anything. Next year I will have
AP Calculus AB
AP Junior Comp/Lit
AP Physics C
AP US History
AP Psychology
I don't know if they are really worth it, but at my school its definitely better than taking normal classes..
you craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy
Validate what you can.
I validated CAlc 1 and Calc 2, but decided to take Calc 2 because I didn't know all of it. I wish I hadn't, as I did not learn much of anything in my college Calc 2 class, and it lowered my GPA.
Validation also saved me a semester of chemistry and US history, and two years of German. If you can do well enough to validate, you should know the material well enough for the next class (if there is one).
I validated CAlc 1 and Calc 2, but decided to take Calc 2 because I didn't know all of it. I wish I hadn't, as I did not learn much of anything in my college Calc 2 class, and it lowered my GPA.
Validation also saved me a semester of chemistry and US history, and two years of German. If you can do well enough to validate, you should know the material well enough for the next class (if there is one).
Just take em. I don't really study lol...
I took Calc BC (got a 5), Physics B (got a 4), and Spanish (got a 2). I can honestly say it basically depends on your teacher. My calc teacher was amazing and nearly 100% of the class got 5's, the physics teacher wasn't so great, but I loved physics, the Spanish teacher was terrible, and even though I spoke it a lot (almost fluently), I still did bad.
My advice:
Don't study... or at least don't study much. You either know it or you don't, and there's way too much being covered to actually study effectively and be able to retain it all. You'll only wind up overloading your brain and second-guessing yourself on the test.
Sleep a lot! Get a good night's sleep, don't be up all night studying or worrying or doing other things. If you're tired during the test, you'll space out and lose valuable time.
Hopefully your teachers made you guys do lots of practice exams so you know sort of what to expect.
Ultimately, AP credit did nothing for me. The Calc BC class I took was taught by a Cal State certified teacher, so that class counted for a couple semesters of basic calculus and got me ahead. But the Spanish wouldn't have done anything for me, and physics didn't do anything either. I'm an engineer, so I don't have a foreign language requirement, and I still had to take physics classes here. All those measly 8 AP credits did for me was give me a slight lead over other students overall units completed and gave me a slightly sooner enrollment time for classes the next quarter.
My advice:
Don't study... or at least don't study much. You either know it or you don't, and there's way too much being covered to actually study effectively and be able to retain it all. You'll only wind up overloading your brain and second-guessing yourself on the test.
Sleep a lot! Get a good night's sleep, don't be up all night studying or worrying or doing other things. If you're tired during the test, you'll space out and lose valuable time.
Hopefully your teachers made you guys do lots of practice exams so you know sort of what to expect.
Ultimately, AP credit did nothing for me. The Calc BC class I took was taught by a Cal State certified teacher, so that class counted for a couple semesters of basic calculus and got me ahead. But the Spanish wouldn't have done anything for me, and physics didn't do anything either. I'm an engineer, so I don't have a foreign language requirement, and I still had to take physics classes here. All those measly 8 AP credits did for me was give me a slight lead over other students overall units completed and gave me a slightly sooner enrollment time for classes the next quarter.
I took the AP Physics C (Mechanics) exam, got a 5, and was placed into the next level of physics courses. What I didn't know is that the course I was bumped into presumed 2-3 semesters of calculus (I had 1), and various concurrent classes that I was not in. It was a struggle, but I did alright. In hindsight, I probably should have taken the freshman level mechanics class instead of the sophomore E&M class, but then I wouldn't have had time to obtain a second degree. My GPA survived intact, but it required a lot of work that I was not initially prepared for. I took AP Calculus AB and skipped ahead to the next level of math, and that wasn't a problem.DesertFox- wrote:
So now is the time to register for taking these exams in order to possibly earn some college credit and save some cash. I am eligible to take Chemistry (subsidized by state to $8), Calculus AB (also subsidized), Economics (micro and normal $80-some), US Government, and Psychology. I was planning on taking chem, calc, and psych but in a discussion today I heard horror stories about people who did well on the exams and got bumped up a level in college to a difficulty that was beyond their experience and thus ruined their college GPA, which is bad news for me because I have a lot of money riding on keeping a certain GPA next year. If anyone has any experience with preparing for/taking the exams or the aftermath within the college courses, please do share.
In my senior year of high school, I took AP Chemistry, AP Physics C, AP Economics, AP Government, and AP Calculus AB. It wasn't bad. I ended up taking 7 AP's overall.cowami wrote:
5 APs?
you craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy
Last edited by SenorToenails (2008-02-28 22:33:54)
Wow, I would love to have that kind of selection with AP classes.
Alas, my school only has 4.
I have US History and Calculus AB this year, and Bio/English next year. However, I think I will be doing the BC exam as well through independent study.
Calculus has four sections:
A 50 minute multiple choice (non-calculator), with 25 problems.
A 40 minute multiple choice (calculator), with 15 problems
A 45 minute free response (calculator), with 3 problems.
A 45 minute free response (non-calculator), with 3 problems.
The free response question have 9 possible points on them (magically, like the essays have a 1-9 scale), and are between 2 section (a., b.) and 4 sections long.
Alas, my school only has 4.
I have US History and Calculus AB this year, and Bio/English next year. However, I think I will be doing the BC exam as well through independent study.
I would guess that this is the rule at about any high school.Cleft wrote:
I don't know if they are really worth it, but at my school its definitely better than taking normal classes..
US History is 80 multiple choice and 3 essays.Havok wrote:
Last school year I took AP World History and got a 5. This year I'm taking AP US Government, AP Macroeconomics, AP Biology, and AP American History. I already signed up for the next school year and I'm taking AP Calculus AB, AP Statistics, and AP European History. I only have experience with the AP World exam, and it was simple. 3 essays and about 70 multiple choice. I think AP American and Euro are the same format. AP Government, Macro, and Bio don't have essays but instead have short answer questions along with multiple choice. I don't know how the AP Calc and Stat exams work.
Calculus has four sections:
A 50 minute multiple choice (non-calculator), with 25 problems.
A 40 minute multiple choice (calculator), with 15 problems
A 45 minute free response (calculator), with 3 problems.
A 45 minute free response (non-calculator), with 3 problems.
The free response question have 9 possible points on them (magically, like the essays have a 1-9 scale), and are between 2 section (a., b.) and 4 sections long.
Last edited by nukchebi0 (2008-02-29 00:03:33)