AP - College Admission Counseling

AP, IB, and Dual Enrollment: Which Is Better for College Admission

Jared Hobson — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 15:22:24 +0000

AP, IB, and dual enrollment. Which is better for college admission? The answer depends quite a lot on one’s priorities and preferences. But it’s an important question as students enter high school and are faced with a variety of curricular choices.

A reader recently wrote in to ask my opinion about dual enrollment courses. She wanted to compare them to the Advanced Placement (or AP) options at her son’s school. The question came from a post I wrote analyzing the worth of AP courses. Since she is not the only one to pose the question, let’s dive into the particulars of these two programs and compare them as best we can–with an eye to their relative importance in college admissions.

What Is Dual Enrollment?

First, a brief word of explanation about “dual enrollment,” or “post-secondary enrollment options.” Virtually all states allow high school students to enroll in community college or university courses. These courses also apply the credits earned to their high school transcript. Students enroll twice: they earn both high school AND college credits for the same course. In some cases, community college faculty offer these courses in high school, while in other cases, the high school student must travel to the community college campus.

In other cases, community college faculty “approve” or certify high school faculty to offer a college-level course after the college has approved the syllabus.

In most cases, parents pay an extra fee for a dual enrollment course. However, the good thing is that this fee translates to college credits that can often (but not always) be transferred to a university when the student graduates from high school (more on that in a moment).

No matter how these dual enrollment courses are organized, dually enrolled students receive two sorts of credit for their work. They receive grades on their high school transcript, and the same grades are recorded on their college transcripts.

Two birds, one stone.

Advantages of Dual Enrollment

The advantages of dual enrollment courses include:

High schools can offer honors-level courses without hiring new staff
Districts can save money by partnering with community colleges
Parents can save on college tuition because these college credits are transferable to most state universities
Students demonstrate that they can handle college-level work
Students who doubt their own abilities to succeed in college experience success and are more likely to apply to college–and eventually graduate
Community colleges and 4-year institutions build a pipeline of students moving from high school to college
State governments and local governments appreciate the collaboration between K-12 and higher education

In states where dual enrollment options exist, the state government creates master articulation agreements to ensure that credits earned while in high school are guaranteed transfer to higher education systems in that state. Thus, if you take a dual enrollment course in Virginia, your credits are automatically accepted for credit by state-funded universities in Virginia–as long as the grade earned is a C- or above, and as long as the courses are considered academic, “general education” course (as opposed to remedial or developmental courses, or technical or industrial skills courses).

To restate, credits for dual enrollment courses taken in high school will automatically–guaranteed–transfer to universities in the same state. As long as the student performs adequately in the dual enrollment course, they will receive college credit. The biggest advantage here is cost savings: those are courses the student (and family) will not have to pay for on the way to a college degree.

Are Dual Enrollment Credits Transferable In-State?

To restate, credits for dual enrollment courses taken in high school will automatically–guaranteed–transfer to universities in the same state. As long as students perform adequately in the dual enrollment course, they will receive college credit. The biggest advantage here is cost savings: those are courses the student (and family) will not have to pay for on the way to a college degree. A dual credit history course taken at a high school in Virginia is the functional and administrative equivalent of a history course at the University of Virginia.

Are Dual Enrollment Credits Transferable Out-of-State?

With regard to whether dual enrollment credits are accepted by universities in other states, the landscape becomes a bit more random. Many publicly-funded state colleges and universities will likely accept dual enrollment credits from another state as long as the credits are listed on a transcript from an accredited community college or university. Universities in Colorado, therefore, will accept credits from Florida, as long as they are academic in nature and the student has earned a grade of C- or above.

However, a receiving university (in the above example, the University of Colorado) would review exactly which courses would be transferred and how they would be counted towards the CU degree only after the student has applied and been accepted to CU. Most universities operate in this way: they tell you that “generally speaking,” courses are easily transferred, but they don’t give any specifics until after you are enrolled and they make a detailed determination of how the credits will be applied to your Bachelors degree.

Part of the reason for this is that dual enrollment credits may be counted differently depending on the major you pursue. For example, your dual enrollment college algebra course might not count toward your math requirements for an engineering degree, though it might count as an elective if you are an art history major.

Nevertheless, it almost always benefits a student to collect dual enrollment credits as a way to reduce the cost of college and, potentially, decrease the time to the degree. If, for example, all the courses a student takes in her junior and senior years of high school are classified as dual enrollment, then effectively that student conceivably could enter as a first semester JUNIOR in college (depending on where the credits are and how they conform to the university’s graduation and major requirements).

Readers should be aware, therefore, that different states have different rules about how they handle dual enrollment credits from out-of-state students. Do not assume that every dual enrollment credit will be automatically transferred. As with everything in the world of college admissions, you need to do the research to find the answers you need. Policies like this shift all the time, and you need to verify what your desired universities will do with those dual enrollment credits.

Do Dual Enrollment Credits Transfer to Private Universities?

Private colleges are a different matter, however. As private entities, they are free to establish their own transfer criteria. Here again, it is best to check in advance of applying what the college’s policy toward dual enrollment credits will be. Some will be happy to transfer the courses in, as long as their college offers an equivalent course. Others may require a grade of B or better to transfer. And some may not transfer any of your dual enrollment courses at all. Some of the more selective colleges may use dual enrollment credits only to waive prerequisites or for placement purposes.

One thing is clear, however: colleges and universities of all types smile upon applicants who have completed dual enrollment courses. These courses demonstrate the ability to do college-level work, and they send the signal to admissions offices that this student is likely to succeed in college–because they have been challenged in college-level curricula.

Which is Better, AP, IB or DE?

The answer is: it depends.

First, some schools are unable to offer both AP and dual enrollment courses. In fact, rural high schools are much more likely to rely on dual enrollment courses than AP, because dual enrollment is less expensive to the school district–especially if there is not enough demand to fill a complete AP course. And IB programs are rare because this program is both expensive and affects the entire curriculum offerings at a school that adopts the program. So if there is no AP or IB option in your school, you should definitely consider dual enrollment options. (If you want to dig into whether you should select an AP or IB curriculum, check out this post that compares the IB and AP programs.)

Second, if your goal is to reduce the costs of attending a state university, dual enrollment credits are a guaranteed discount. Because states automatically require these courses to transfer, any PSEO course you take will reduce the number of credits you must complete (and pay for!) while in college. As long you dually enroll in a college prep course and you get a C- or better, you get the college credit.

The AP tests and the IB diploma program, by contrast, come with high-stakes tests: take the course and then take the test. If you pass an AP test with a score of 3, 4, or 5, you might get college credit. The amount of credit would depend on the policy in place at a particular college or university. But note that your grade in the AP course has no bearing on whether you get college credit. The credit you receive depends on your score on the exam. Thus you could get an A+ in your AP US History class, but get a 2 on the test–in which was you would receive no credit anywhere (well, you’d get the high school credit that leads to your high school diploma, but it would not give you any benefit once you arrive at college).

The Benefit of Standardized Testing

The AP tests and the IB exams are standardized. They are normed tests. Thus, presumably, a score of 5 on the AP Chemistry means the same thing, no matter whether student attended a private school in Connecticut, a rural public school in Alabama, or an international school in Uruguay. Similarly, a perfect 7 on the IB English A exam would be considered the same no matter where in the world the student attended secondary school.

By contrast, an A in that dual enrollment chemistry class might or might not be the educational equivalent of a chemistry class in another location. Some high schools have higher standards than others, some community colleges have higher standards than others, and some individual teachers have higher standards than others (a fact that every high school student everywhere understands). Dual enrollment courses are not standardized. There is no “norm.” An A in one place could be different from an A in another.

Thus, highly selective universities in the United States tend to favor AP and IB exam results over dual enrollment credits. Not only are the highly selective less likely to grant you the credits you receive in dual enrollment courses, they are more likely to discount the value of those courses, especially if you had the opportunity to take those rigorous AP or IB courses in your school or community.

Third, if your school has a strong AP program that has a history of success in helping students earn 4s and 5s on the AP test, you might want to consider the AP courses if you plan to attend a highly selective college or university. The reason is this: the AP test is a demonstration of proficiency and competence in a subject matter.

While credit is a demonstration that you did what the teacher or professor required of you, the AP test is a nationally-normed test (and the IB is globally-normed). A score of 5 on an AP test communicates that are you a good student who can handle college-level work, that you are capable of performing well on cumulative examinations, and that you have demonstrated a high degree of mastery of the subject matter. This is why selective colleges and universities strongly prefer AP and IB results over grades in dual enrollment courses.

So Should You Take Dual Enrollment or AP Classes?

Again, it depends. Remember that not every student has a choice, as not every school offers AP courses while most public high schools are able to offer dual enrollment options.

If your goal is to reduce the cost of your college education and you plan to go to a public university in-state, there is no doubt that dual enrollment options are going to save you money and reduce the time necessary to earn your college degree. For the vast majority of Americans, the dual enrollment option is the smartest choice. No high stakes exams. No doubts as to the ability to transfer credits to college. Take those dual enrollment courses, get good grades, and get through college more quickly and more cheaply.

If your goal is to attend one of the most selective colleges and universities in the United States–and your high school offers them–then take the AP or IB courses on offer. They are considered by admissions offers at these universities to be more rigorous, and the cumulative examinations at the end of the course demonstrate clearly how you stack up against other students taking the same subject across the country (or across the world).

The Caveat: Your High School’s Pass Rate on the AP Exams

Standardized tests, despite their flaws, do help admissions officers compare apples to apples. They help to separate grades from proficiency. High scores provide external verification that the grades a student earns are an expression of content mastery.

However, as we have noted, not all teachers are the same. The AP curriculum is challenging and rigorous. Not every teacher is either trained or experienced in delivering this curriculum. For example, there is a low-performing high school in my community where nearly 80% of the teachers are first-year teachers–every year! AP courses at this school are being taught be very, very inexperienced teachers.

Therefore if you are considering AP courses offered at your school, ask questions and do some investigating. Some schools have very low pass rates on the AP exams. Even students who get high grades in their AP courses core only 1 or 2 on the exams. (In other words, these students fail and will absolutely not receive any college credit, nor will they be able to brag about their high scores on their college applications).

Just because a course is labeled AP does not mean that it is a good course. Nor does the label mean that a student will achieve the level of mastery required to score a 5 on the AP exam. Many, many schools across the country offer AP courses that are very poorly taught. Many teachers simply do not have the content background or pedagogical skills to prepare students for these rigorous exams.

The College Board is trying to ratchet up the standards. They know that parents are noticing the disconnect between the brand name and teacher preparedness. Efforts by the College Board to verify AP syllabi in all courses labeled AP is a good start. But in the end, success in the AP (or IB) program is not about the curriculum alone. It is about the teacher who delivers that curriculum.

As a quick aside, huge variances between classroom grades and results on the IB exams are less common–though they do happen. The most important reason for this is that schools that adopt the IB program pay very high fees to participate in the program, the syllabi are much more standardized, and the International Baccalaureate Organization requires schools to train their teachers in the delivery of these syllabi. Schools that have been offering the IB curriculum for many years are generally pretty good at delivering the program and helping students to achieve good results. Nevertheless, it is important for students and parents to inquire about a secondary school’s IB pass rates before enrolling in the program.

Jaime Escalante of Stand and Deliver fame enabled his poor, inner-city students to pass the AP calculus exam. He was a fantastic, talented, workaholic teacher who did not rest until his students passed that exam. Teachers in your school’s AP program may resemble Mr. Escalante. Or they may resemble Mr. Larson. He was my high school math teacher. He was as creative as a lima bean and as dedicated as an assembly line worker two weeks before retirement. An AP syllabus in his hands would make it highly unlikely that anyone but Einstein himself would pass that AP Calculus exam.

A Student Vouches for the Value of Dual Enrollment Courses

Over the years, students have read my blog and written to me to share their own experiences and insights. A young woman who attended the College of William and Mary read this post a while back and took the time to write to me to advocate for dual enrollment courses. She attended a high school in Virginia and then enrolled at the selective, public liberal arts college in that state. I think it’s worth quoting this letter in full, because it speaks to the priorities and choices students face as they choose the right path for themselves. There is no right and wrong answer to the question, “which is better, AP or dual enrollment classes?”. Each student and family must make decide what makes the most sense given their values, priorities, and preferences.

So thank you, Sarah, for writing in with your opinion, and I’m happy to share it below.

Mark Montgomery
College Counselor
Great College Advice

Mark,

As a current college student, I vouch for the dual enrollment option when high school students are looking through their course options. I went to a very small, rural high school in Virginia, and had the opportunity to take DE credit classes through local community colleges. I finished at the top of my class and I am currently an academic junior at the College of William and Mary.

During my freshman year in college, I came to find that a majority of my friends took AP classes, got an A or a high B in the class, but couldn’t get a 4 or 5 on their AP exam (mind you, these students came from great private and public high schools all over the country, each with its own long-standing AP track). William and Mary requires a score of 4 or 5 to get credit from an AP course. I can’t tell you how many of my friends got burned by taking AP. All 39 of my dual enrollment credits transferred and I am graduating in 3 years.

A lot of really great colleges and universities require high AP scores. So it is very important to do your research on the school you wish to attend. Taking an AP class may look good on a transcript. But how good will it look when the student doesn’t pass the exam with the necessary score? I feel like AP is put up on this pedestal as being the best of the best. However, there is nothing wrong with dual enrollment classes, and taking DE doesn’t mean that one could not handle the supposed “harder” AP course load. I can assure you, the classes I took through my governor’s school were more than challenging.

Best of luck,

Sarah

The post AP, IB, and Dual Enrollment: Which Is Better for College Admission first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Choosing a High School or School District To Boost College Admission Chances

Jared Hobson — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:18:33 +0000

I received an email from a reader this morning that wondered whether it was worth it to move to a different school district where the schools have a better reputation, in order to give his kids a boost in the college admissions process.
Here’s his question:

My answer is equivocal, in some sense. Generally, a big move is not going to give you a big advantage. However, it is important to investigate the quality of teaching at your kids’ schoools. Here is my response:
The factor of high school rigor is usually factored into the equation. For example, a student in Lexington or Wayland may get an extra “brownie point” for living there, rather than in Saugus or Chelsea. They are interested in the academic rigor of the offerings, not the “ranking” or “reputation.” the irony is, however, that ambitious (and wealthy) parents all flock to the same towns, hoping to give their kids an edge in college admissions. But if 14 kids from Lexington apply to Harvard each year, only 1 or 2 (or sometimes 0) will get in. However, a really amazing kid from Chelsea? Since he’s a stand-out, he has a good chance, too, despite his lack of town-based “brownie points.”
If you are really thinking of moving to a place where your kid has the best chance of getting into college, I have three recommendations: Wyoming, North Dakota, and Mississippi. Top flight colleges are always seeking qualified applicants from those states. But if you live in Woburn and are thinking of moving (at great expense) to Dover, I’d tell you to focus, instead, on providing great opportunities for your kids, undergirding their extracurriculars, promoting their academic interests and talents, and being involved in their education. The “edge” you might get from moving is slight, and certainly would not be enough to make it or break it in admissions at the most selective colleges.
However, I have one caveat. You do need to consider the quality of teaching at the school your kids attend. This especially important when it comes to the AP and IB classes. I have seen kids earn straight As in AP courses at some schools (or in some subjects) and yet fail the AP exams. This is silly. The tests are nationally normed, and a grade of A ought to correspond to the rigor of the test. Experienced AP teachers will grade classwork in this way: if they expect that the work would earn a perfect 5 on the AP test, then the kid is awarded an A in the class. But if teacher is over-the-moon about a kid’s classwork, and then that same kid flunks the exam…well, the teacher isn’t aware of the level of proficiency required, and isn’t calibrating his or her expectations to the national norm. Some teachers in my own kids’ school will sometimes even give out a conservative grade in the AP course, but then change the grade if the student aces the AP exam. Thus a kid who received a B in the course but a 5 on the exam can ask to have the course grade boosted to the A. So the bottom line: be on the lookout for grade inflation, especially when it comes to these high-stakes, nationally normed exams. Just because the school labels a course “Advanced Placement” doesn’t necessarily mean their kids are passing the exams with flying colors.
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

The post Choosing a High School or School District To Boost College Admission Chances first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

The Value of Dual Enrollment Courses–A Student at William and Mary Chimes In

Jared Hobson — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 02:13:18 +0000

Today a student at the College of William and Mary wrote in to comment on our post analyzing the differences between Advanced Placement (AP) courses, International Baccalaureate (IB) and Dual Enrollment (a.k.a. Post Secondary Enrollment Options, or PSEO). She is a student at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and she pursued Dual Enrollment. As she writes below, her decision prepared her for a very selective college AND saved her a bunch of money.

Here’s what she said:

Mark,

As a current college student, I vouch for the dual enrollment option when high school students are looking through their course options. I went to a very small, rural high school in Virginia, and had the opportunity to take DE credit classes through local community colleges. I finished at the top of my class and I am currently an academic junior at the College of William and Mary.

During my freshman year in college, I came to find that a majority of my friends took AP classes, got an A or a high B in the class. But couldn’t get a 4 or 5 on their AP exam (mind you, these students came from great private and public high schools all over the country, each with its own long standing AP track). William and Mary require a score of 4 or 5 to get credit from an AP course. I can’t tell you how many of my friends got burned by taking AP. All 39 of my dual enrollment credits transferred and I am graduating in 3 years.

A lot of really great colleges and universities require high AP scores. So it is very important to do your research on the school you wish to attend. Taking an AP class may look good on a transcript. But how good will it look when the student doesn’t pass the exam with the necessary score? I feel like AP is put up on this pedestal as being the best of the best. However, there is nothing wrong with dual enrollment classes, and taking DE doesn’t mean that one could not handle the supposed “harder” AP course load. I can assure you, the classes I took through my governor’s school were more than challenging.

Best of luck,

Sarah

So you heard it here first: if you want to prepare for a good college and save lots of money. Give serious consideration to the dual enrollment options at your local community college. You may thank me later!

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

The post The Value of Dual Enrollment Courses–A Student at William and Mary Chimes In first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

High GPA or Rigorous Courses? Think Academic Preparedness

Jared Hobson — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:20:44 +0000

As a college consultant, I continue to receive many questions about which is better: taking easier classes and getting a high GPA, or risk losing a few tenths of a point by taking rigorous classes.

I’ve started asking others their opinion on this matter. When I was at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, last week, I asked Mathew A. Cox, the Dean of Enrollment Management, how he would advise students.

It’s sometimes disappointing that in this whole admissions frenzy we lose sight of the goal. It’s about learning. It’s about training the mind. It’s about acquiring and using knowledge to solve the world’s pressing problems.

Mark Montgomery
College Counselor

The post High GPA or Rigorous Courses? Think Academic Preparedness first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Are Advanced Placement Courses Good for College Admission

Jared Hobson — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:05:30 +0000

When it comes to the Advanced Placement or AP program offered by the College Board, parents and students have all sorts of questions. Are Advanced Placement courses good for college admission? Which AP courses should I take? How many should I take? When should I begin taking them? Do I have to take the exams?

Conventional wisdom holds that AP courses are excellent preparation for college. They are considered to be rigorous. The general idea is that they are the equivalent of college-level, introductory survey courses, and often colleges will offer credit or advanced standing for those who perform well in them. And in many respects this is all true. But it’s also true that not all students should take loads of AP courses, and in some contexts, an AP courses may not be all that rigorous or helpful preparation for college. Like everything in the college admissions process, there are no black and white truths. Every decision a student makes has to be taken within the student’s own context.

Let’s look at the value of the AP program and the reasons for its rapid adoption across the United States. Later we’ll look at some of the downsides of the program, as well as some of the other options that students might to consider instead of the AP program.

AP courses are a de facto national college prep curriculum

Globally, the United States is unlike any other when it comes to public education. We have no national curriculum. The authority for education is left to the 50 states and, more unusually, to the 14,000 some odd school districts. These districts set policies, establish curriculum, and provide the majority of funding for local public schools. This is what we call “local control” of our schools. Whatever one’s thoughts on the wisdom of this arrangement (and believe me, I have a lot of thoughts), the fact is that each district is allowed to set its own curriculum, its own standards, and its own educational policies.

The result is that these 14,000 districts and 50 states don’t agree on much (it turns out that letting legislatures and politicians decide what should be taught–or not taught–in our schools becomes a political feeding frenzy). There is no national curriculum. There are no national benchmarks for what students are supposed to learn. There is no standard for what students must know and be able to do to pass an an individual class, or even to graduation from high school.

This makes it difficult for colleges and universities to compare one student with another. Since no two students may follow the same curriculum or be assumed to acquire the same knowledge, colleges must come up with their own flexible, subjective (universities use the nicer, more positive term of “holistic”) system for evaluating candidates with wildly different credentials.

Enter the College Board with its structured curricula and college-level examinations to fill the void. Since our state and national governments cannot agree on a national curriculum, private enterprise has created one for us.

Today, the College Board offers this “national curriculum” in every major subject area taught in US high schools. It offers courses in English (2), math (6), history and the social sciences (9), natural science (7, including 4 different courses in physics), the arts (6), and a capstone program with its seminar and research courses. Other courses are being developed and introduced, including one on African-American history that has caused some political controversy.

AP tests are good college admission–if you have a high score

The value of the AP tests is quite clear. The AP tests are normed. In other words, the score that one student gets in one place is considered to have performed to the same standards. The AP tests (as well as the SAT and ACT) are the very definition of “standardized tests”.

In the the holistic (or subjective) realm of college admissions, these tests provide some sort of way to compare students across the country and across the world. Thus, those students with scores of 5 on the AP US History test will be judged to have masters the content from the AP US History curriculum, while those who score a 2 or 1 on the same test will be judged to have failed to masted that content. In that way, the high performing students will be considered more desirable by admissions officers.

AP courses in college admission

The syllabi for the AP program’s many course offerings are available for free for anyone who wants them. The College Board wants these courses to be accessible to all (the College Board makes its money by charging for the exams, not by the distribution of the curriculum or syllabi).

The good thing about these courses is that they are relatively rigorous. The syllabi make clear what should be taught (and learned) in the courses, and the content of the exams consistently mirrors what is supposed to be taught (and learned) in the classroom.

The Advanced Placement program, created by the College Board, does have its critics who decry the amount of rote memorization or brute calculation that the exams tend to emphasize. I do not necessarily disagree with these critiques. For today’s purposes, however, I’m going to set aside these criticisms. Generally speaking, the transparency of the curricula demonstrate that the courses expect a fairly high level of intellectual engagement.

This is why many, many colleges and universities across the country offer “advanced placement” credits for students who perform well on the exams. Universities consider AP courses to be “college level” and therefore reward students to take them by offering credits toward their college diplomas.

The problem is that while the exams are consistent from one place to another, the courses themselves are not. In some places, the teachers are unprepared to teach the rigorous content of the AP courses. For example, at an poorly-resourced urban school in the Denver area, nearly 75% of the teachers–every year–are first year teachers. These freshly minted teachers are barely older than the high school students themselves, and may not have the content knowledge themselves to teach these rigorous courses, and they are unlikely to have any specialized training in delivering AP curricula or preparing students for the examinations.

In other wealthy, suburban locations like Lexington, Massachusetts, or Boulder, Colorado, teachers are generally more senior, more highly paid, and better prepared with advanced degrees in their content areas. These teachers also have access to professional development funds to help them learn how to deliver the AP curriculum and help kids cram for the tests.

“Access” to AP courses does not mean that the AP courses are good for college admission

Statistics from North Carolina further illustrate the disconnect between the AP courses and success on the AP tests. North Carolina loves the AP program. In fact, the state pays for the administration of AP tests so that all students in North Carolina have access to a rigorous curriculum. But access, by itself, does not create a pathway to success. Even though North Carolina’s AP pass rate has increased over the past five years to 59.2% in 2022, it is still no better than the national pass rate of 60.2%.

Think about that for a second.

Nationwide, fully 40% of the students who attempt an AP exam fail it, even though–presumably–the students taking the class are prepared for a a college preparatory curriculum.

It’s great that more and more kids have access to rigorous AP courses, and certainly would not want to deny any child who wanted to challenge herself to enroll in a rigorous, college-level AP course. But if she enrolls, don’t we have a responsibility to support that student so she can perform well on the test, too?

Why do so many students fail AP tests?

I work on a pro bono basis for several students at an inner-city high school in Denver. One of my students is ranked second in her class of over 500 students. Academically, she is a stand-out. She is beloved by administrators, teachers, and peers.

She has been singled out as a rare talent in a school with more than its fair share of problems. She is enrolled in AP classes. And she even got to take one during her sophomore year. She received a score of 1 out of 5 on the AP test. How did that happen?

Perhaps students at this school are simply not as bright as the students across town in the wealthy suburbs, where it’s relatively routine for students to score 4 or 5 on the same test. Perhaps this poor girl simply doesn’t have the same preparation, so there is no way she—or any of her peers at this school—could perform on the same level as her peers across the city boundary.

Or is it the teacher? Is it that the teacher of this class in this school does not have the content expertise or the teaching skills to push the students hard enough and far enough to pass the test? How many inner-city high schools are full of talented, passionate teachers like Jaime Escalante, who “stand and deliver” advanced calculus to black and brown students? (Answer: precious few: this is one of those schools in which the overwhelming majority of teachers are in their first year of teaching!)

Or, is this young girl’s failure on the AP test a symptom of something more insidious at work in our educational system? It is simply the culture of low expectations that allows us to offer a course with an AP label, and then neglect to push poorer, browner students in the same way we push their richer, whiter peers?

It’s complicated. But there is no way to escape the disconnect between providing “access” to Advanced Placement and providing the adequate resources to help students pass them. It’s great that North Carolina pays for the administration of the AP tests. But if we want to see pass rates go up, we’d have to examine how North Carolina is creating a system in which the statewide pass rates on AP exams surpass the national average.

How can you find out if Advanced Placement courses are good for college admission at your school?

Putting aside these real issues of educational equity, how can students and their families decide whether an AP course is good for college admission? But for now, I want to focus on what parents can and should be asking about their students’ AP courses.

Essentially, you need to be asking about pass rates. The fact that the AP course is not enough for it to be a “good” course. An AP course in which a high proportion of enrolled students fails the exam is not going to be good for those students when it comes time for college admission. Of course, the rigor of the AP course may be the the best way for the student to access a rigorous curriculum.

Parents should value the availability of AP courses in their schools. But parents should also be digging deeper.

Parents should be asking administrators and teachers some better, tougher questions about those AP courses.

What can I ask my school to learn if Advanced Placement courses are good for college admission?

Basically, you’re trying to find out how well your school supports the AP program and how well it prepares students enrolled in the AP program for success on the nationally-normed examinations. Here are some questions you might ask of administrators and teachers at your high school.

How long has this course been taught in this school?
How long has this teacher been teaching this course?
Has the teacher received special training to teach this course? If so, what kind of training, and from whom?
Are students who take the course required to sit for the AP exam? If not, why not?
What percentage of those who take the course attempt the test?
What is the teacher’s pass rate? If the teacher taught the course at a different school, what was his or her pass rate there?
Of those who passed, how many received a 4 or 5 on the test?
Are the teacher’s grades for the course related, in any way, to anticipated performance on the AP test?
What sort of assessments does the teacher use in the course? How similar are those assessments to the actual AP tests?
How much is writing emphasized in this AP course? (Many of the tests require substantial writing, not just multiple choice questions.)

These sorts of questions will help you better assess the value of a particular AP course at a particular school.

If you find that the answers to these questions are unsatisfactory, there might actually be better options for your college-bound student. Perhaps one of the best is to seek out dual enrollment options at a local college or community college, where your student can take a bona fide college course—at no cost in most states—and be guaranteed of receiving college credit if the student passes the course. (Check out this post for more comparisons between the AP, IB, and dual enrollment options.)

As with most everything else in this world, you cannot judge something merely by its label. The AP brand is generally pretty good. But you’d better look carefully at your school’s ability to help students succeed in those courses before you encourage your student to sign up.

Still wondering if Advanced Placement courses are good for college admission in your particular circumstances?

The decision about whether to take AP courses–how many and which ones–is a big one for many students on the road to college admission. The professional college counselors at Great College Advice help individuals students make these decisions. We help you decide whether AP courses are going to be better for you than other options, like dual enrollment opportunities. We help you decide which AP courses would be best for you to take, and which ones you may not need. We want to help you get into college, and we also want you to take full advantage of all your educational opportunities while in high school. The AP program is a great way to challenge yourself and prepare for college. But as you enroll in those courses, you need to be sure that you have the tools to succeed–not only in the course but on those dreaded exams. Give us a call or contact us online if you’d like to discuss your personalized plan toward college success. We’d be happy to chat with you.

Mark Montgomery
Independent College Counseling

The post Are Advanced Placement Courses Good for College Admission first appeared on College Admission Counseling.