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4 years ago
Admissions Advice

How can I take college classes while still in high school?

I will be entering my junior year of high school this fall, and for a long time I have considered taking classes at a local community college while I am still in high school in order to get ahead on college credit, but I don't quite know how to go about doing this. I would also like to know if there are any other benefits of doing this other than getting ahead on college credits. Are there any disadvantages? Also, if I do this, will it allow me to graduate from college faster? For a long time I have thought about taking enough classes so that I could graduate with my associate's degree at the same time that I earn my high school diploma, however, I have heard that graduating with my associate's degree might not make me eligible for certain scholarships. Is it true that earning my associate's degree can prevent me from earning certain scholarships? Should I avoid earning my associate's degree so early? I have also heard that you can earn college credit by taking AP classes or IB classes. Is taking AP classes or IB classes the equivalent to taking classes at a community college, or is one better than the other? Which one should I do? My school currently offers only two AP classes, both are senior-level classes, and I would like to take more, but only because I think it would be good for me. I know that AP classes add to your GPA, and I have also heard that if you take certain AP classes you might not have to take certain classes in college. I have also heard that some people took AP classes in high school but they ended up taking the class in college again anyway, and I of course want to avoid this, but I was just curious to know why that happens to some people and what I can do to prevent it from happening to me. I have also heard about the CLEP exam. What is exactly is this, and should I consider taking it if I can? How would this be beneficial to me?

AP
CLEP
dual-credit
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Let’s welcome @Claudia_C to the community! Remember to be kind, helpful, and supportive in your responses.
@CameronBameron4 years ago [edited]

You are getting downvotes because you are asking like 10 followup questions? You need to ask 1 question, keep the background simple. No one can efficiently give you a singular answer when you have 10 follow up questions ready to go. People want to answer your question, they do not want to read a rambling paragraph.

[🎤 AUTHOR]@Claudia_C4 years ago [edited]

Sorry, this is my first time asking a question on this website. I will try to be more concise in the future and less confusing, but thanks for letting me know. Feel free to only answer one or two questions.

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1 answer

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4 years ago

In regards to AP and IB I’ll address that: I’m more familiar with AP so I will focus on it as it is also more widely available

So Ap/IB classes provide college credit to nearly all schools but it’s not from the class it’s from a test you take that the class preps you for. It can give 2 credit hours all the way to 12 based on score class and college. You only have to retake it if the test equates to the wrong class ex

AP Calc equals Calc 101 but you need Physics & Calculus go proceed with class.

Frequently AP is better as college credit than community college due to how the credits transfer as Florida community college may not equate with a UC course

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