Choose Your AP Courses Wisely

I recently read advice in a newspaper column stating that it doesn't matter which AP courses a student takes. This advice isn't entirely true. On the one hand, any AP course is better than none -- a student's academic record is the most important piece of the college application, and college's want to see that students have taken the most challenging courses available. Those are usually Advanced Placement courses.

At the same time, some subjects are more challenging than others, and some subjects are more likely to receive college placement than others. As an obvious example, the Calculus BC exam is going to provide greater college placement than the Calculus AB exam. For a student going into science or engineering, the Calculus BC exam will be far more impressive than AB.

Also, nearly every college has a language requirement, so the language AP exams are often a good choice. A subject like microeconomics, however, may or may not result in college credit.

If you know where you'd like to go to college, browse the college website to see which AP classes are most likely to give you course credit and placement. Doing so can have huge benefits when you're fulfilling your undergraduate degree requirements.

Related AP Articles:

• AP Courses -- Why They Matter
• What AP Exam Score Do You Need?
• The AP Calculus BC Exam
• The AP Spanish Language Exam
• The AP U.S. History Exam