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Many private schools are dropping AP courses. Schools in the DC area that have taken this drastic action include Georgetown Day, Holton-Arms, Landon, Maret, National Cathedral, Potomac, St. Albans and Sidwell Friends. All throughout high school, students are taught that AP courses prepare for college, help earn college credit and save money, but both schools and students are realizing that this isn’t necessarily the case.
The reason behind this change is that you aren’t guaranteed college credit even if you do well throughout the year in your class. Researcher Weinstein from CNBC noted that 86% of the top 153 colleges, ranked by U.S. News and World Report, restrict AP credit in some way. It all comes down to your score on the AP test. A score of 4 or 5 is the threshold for college credit. But also, a lot of schools still don’t excuse you from those intro level classes even with a 4 or 5 on the exam, since they want you to take them.
Taking AP classes is still a valuable asset as it better prepares you for the college workload that awaits you after high school. Even without the college credit, a student is better off taking the same class in college with a head start and better understanding than going in completely unprepared. Getting adjusted to college life and workload after just coming out of high school is hard enough and getting ahead start on the material is a huge help in adjusting students in such a difficult time. In the end, private schools are wrong to take AP courses out of the curriculum, as students should be given the option to take them if they feel it would make them better off.
