How exactly do AP credits work when you get into college? Do they only count towards the major I’m in? For example, will my AP chem credits only work if I have to take a chemistry class?
The policies vary depending on the school. Some schools don’t let you use them at all but at other schools they can knock off several semesters. I think generally public universities accept them and private universities are stricter with them.
A lot of times schools will post testing requirements on their websites. At my school you need a 5 on AP physics to test out of physics I in the college of engineering but only a 3 or 4 if you are in a different department.
Awesome thanks! That is super helpful.
You can use all of your AP credits in school, but the chances of all of them being useful to your degree is very slim. For example if you are an English major and you took AP chem, AP bio, and AP physics, you will have more than enough credits to cover Gen Ed requirements. IMO, AP credits are good for gen eds because they can save you from taking classes unrelated to your major.
AP credit transfer is basically being able to use a passing AP score to skip over intro courses in college. It’s probably super helpful if you want to finish your degree in less than 4 years. Also at some schools they have assessments you can take to test out of certain classes. They aren’t AP tests but it’s the same idea.
At my school I used 8 AP classes/tests to shorten my 4 year degree by one year because they were all used towards my major as prereqs and gen ed credits. Definitely varies by school though because a lot of people I know couldn’t use any of their high school classes to jump ahead.
Thanks that’s helpful info!
My university gave out credit kind of excessively. I got a 3 on my AP chemistry exam and it ended up counting for two semesters of chemistry.
When I was touring colleges they all told me not to worry about trying to get as many AP credits as possible because I was likely not going to be able to use them. Also, they never recommended skipping intro/pre req classes because you need a solid foundation to be able to take higher level classes.
AP almost always transfers in some way. That is why they are so widely used in high schools across America. Some schools will even give you credit for just taking a higher-level class and don’t care about the exam score. Either way, AP is beneficial.