How to Get College Credit Before Attending College
High school students are at a great advantage by being able to earn college credit before graduation. High school juniors and seniors are offered opportunities such as taking Advanced Placement courses or attending college courses under a Dual Enrollment program. Learn ways to succeed in these arenas while following through to earn college credit.
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Instructions
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Advanced Placement Courses
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Find out what Advanced Placement (AP) classes your high school offers. Majority of the high schools in the United States offer a range of AP courses. There are classes for all different interests including but not limited to Art History, Japanese Language and Culture, Computer Science AB and Microeconomics. There are 37 Advanced Placement classes and exams in all, however, each high school has there choice of which course selections they offer.
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Look for other avenues if your school does not offer Advanced Placement courses. The AP section of collegeboard.com assures those who attend high schools without AP courses that they can participate in independent study through homeschooling or internet courses. In order to find out where these resources are located, contact your high school counselor or curriculum coordinator.
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Enrolling in Advanced Placement classes is a huge commitment. Do well in these classes. Treat them as mock college classes. More than likely they will be to some caliber, as hard as some of the college classes you will encounter. Remember, unlike most college classes, these courses occur everyday! By doing well in these classes you put yourself in a better position to get a great score on the AP exams.
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Study for and take the Advanced Placement exams. Whether you take the class or not, the only way to potentially receive college credit is to take the AP exams and receive a 3, 4 or 5. Check with the college or university that you plan to attend to see what their criteria are for accepting Advanced Placement course credit. This is extremely important and may be the determining factor between you taking a class or not. You may also visit the College Board website to view each college's policies for accepting courses for credit.
Dual Enrollment
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Enrolling in college courses while still in high school is becoming increasingly popular among students. In most cases, the high school actually pays the tuition for these classes. Speak to your high school counselor to determine your options and requirements for dually enrolling in college courses.
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Complete all high school credits along side the Dual Enrollment courses. Some colleges will not accept the credit from Dual Enrollment classes if they help you to graduate. Meaning, if you need 22 high school credits to graduate and before the college courses, you have 20 and the courses put you at 22, the classes may not be accepted. Only when the classes are above and beyond the high school requirements will some schools accept them.
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Do well in these classes. Even if your intended college accepts the course, you will have to get above a certain grade point average in order to obtain full college credit.
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Tips & Warnings
Although it is highly recommended, you do not have to take an Advanced Placement class in order to take the exam for the course.
Beware of AP classes that end in letters (example: Physics B and Physics C), some colleges prefer one over the other when awarding college credit (example: Physics C over Physics B)
There is a fee in order to take each AP exam.
Know the schedule of Advanced Placement exams, look out for exams that you have that overlap. You must let your counselor or coordinator know in advance of your situation.
