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Natalia
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| Posted: April 21 2009 at 7:17pm | IP Logged
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What are the difference between these?
Do you have to take them at a certain time of the year or at a certain year (junior or senior year)?
Also, I was wondering if one of those AP exam practice books could be used as an spine for designing a high school course. Has anybody done this?
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Natalia
http://pannuestrodecadadia.blogspot.com
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Tonya
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| Posted: April 22 2009 at 2:06pm | IP Logged
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AP tests are much more challenging and are therefore accepted at more schools. The AP tests are only given on one day a year during a two week period in May. You have to contact your local public school in February to make sure that they administer the test and then order a test for your child. The CLEP tests are a little easier but are not accepted at all colleges. It is my understanding that the CLEP tests can be taken at any time. You can look up online where you can have the test administered. It really depends upon what kind of college you are looking at. If you are looking at an upper tier school, you probably want to do the AP. Both AP exams and CLEP exams will build your credibility as a homeschooler. And both exams can shorten you child's time in college.
My son has tried to build an AP class himself and he was marginally successful. He scored a 4 on CalcAB and a 3 on Calc BC (which is probably not good enough for credit) and he has always been very good at math. On the other hand he has taken several online AP classes and has scored 4's and 5's on all of them, even in subjects that he is not as gifted. I won't try to design an AP class for any of my other children. I think the CLEP exams are easier to design a course around and I might consider doing that.
My son will have over a year's credits in AP classes by the time he starts college. I heard a talk one time about a homeschooling family where the kids all had over a year's credit and some of them had two year's credit by taking CLEP exams.
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ALmom
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| Posted: April 22 2009 at 5:56pm | IP Logged
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The other problem is that with the AP tests, is that they are not always accessible to homeschoolers. Those offering the test are not required to let anyone else outside their school sit for the exam. We attempted to take a few with our oldest - even the one homeschool that was able to offer the test would not let us sit for the exam with them since we were not a member of their school. The Catholic high school would have allowed us to sit for the exam but they weren't offering the ones we wanted to sit for - only Calculus. Find out early about the schedule for the exams - as they don't always offer all of them in a year, just the particular courses recently taught at their school. Most places told us we could not sit for the exam with them, that it was only open to members of their school who took the class with them.
We could take the Clep at the University but these did not fulfill core requirements at the school, though they would give credit for them. Generally, from what we hear, a 3 or above on AP is good. A 3 shows serious course work to the colleges, a 4 and above often gets you credit. A few schools just want to see a certain number of AP test scores, but do not give credit even if you score a 5. Those schools did allow SAT II subject tests to substitute for the AP when the AP test was not accessible to the student.
Janet
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 22 2009 at 6:32pm | IP Logged
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One thing you'll want to check is if the colleges of choice will accept AP credits ... some won't or will give "credit" but won't allow you to avoid taking the basic course ... and some will only take up to a certain limit.
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3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Natalia
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| Posted: April 22 2009 at 8:20pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the response. I am just curious about this.I am not sure that my dd is AP material. I just stumbled on this blog post by Jeanne Fulbright about dual enrollment vs CLEP. We are thinking about doing some dual enrollment at the local college next year.
Almost at the end of the post she makes a comment about using the CLEP guides published by REA to design a high school course even if you are not taking the test. It just made me think about the possibility of using something like this to study subjects that are required for graduation but are not necessarily my dd favorites. I don't know really...
Everything is so complicated!!
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Tonya
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| Posted: April 23 2009 at 7:53am | IP Logged
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My oldest daughter probably would have struggled with AP classes which are extremely challenging. She did dual enrollment and was able to graduate from Franciscan University in 3 years. (She is currently an admissions counselor there). Mary is right that not all schools will give credit for all AP classes. My son is currently taking AP English Language and very few schools will give credit for it which is ironic because it is very challenging, much more challenging than either of my daughters' freshman in college English classes. The very upper tier schools use the AP classes as more of placement tests and don't give you credit for them. Paradoxically, it is very difficult to get into those schools if you don't have AP classes.
Natalia, many people have very strong opinions on which is better: AP, Clep, or dual-enrollment. Just like any facet of homeschooling you know what will work best for your family. It is helpful to have something outside the home on the transcript. That being said, my second daughter was not able to do any of the above until her senior year (and she only took one AP class). We moved in the middle of her junior year to a new state with new regulations. She was admitted at all of the colleges to which she applied. She did, however, have fairly decent ACT scores. What my daughter (the admissions counselor) has difficulty with is a parent transcript where the child has a 4.0, no outside involvement, and then a 16 on the ACT. Although she knows that some people just don't text well, she really needs some documentation.
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StephanieA
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| Posted: April 24 2009 at 4:23pm | IP Logged
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We have done CLEPS with 3 of my boys. My sons were planning on attending our local university, and I knew they accepted CLEPS for some courses. If the third son decides to go elsewhere, then he can use the passed CLEPS on his transcript. CLEPS have gone up to $80, so they aren't cheap. That said, we use CLEPS to get out of immoral or amoral classes that are required: Literature (who knows what they will be discussing in these classes  , sociology, history, and political science, and biology.
I haven't had them CLEP out of math (both older boys are minored in math). They both needed the note-taking skills and the progression in calculus. And they weren't problematic from a moral standpoint. My oldest son CLEPed out of biology, but he did well enough on the test to get out of the upper level bio. But his major required both classes. So he ended up having to take the lower level bio too. What a waste of time and it was problematic.....I read the text and some of his assignments. (Human reproduction, AIDS, se*ual transmitted diseases, contraception....everything you can think of that a "lovely" state college can offer  He would have been better off taking the upper level bio class that got down to business on genetics, cells, etc. Luckily, he was 21 when he took the class and "knew" better. But still, some of the photos in the book would be porno*phic in my mind.
If the colleges don't accept CLEP, I think it can be a waste of money. BUT.....it is a decent test-taking experience for one or two classes.
If my younger sons or daughters end up in a truly Catholic college, they don't accept CLEPS generally and I would WANT them to take the classes there for the Catholic formation anyway.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Stephanie
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4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond
Topic: AP and CLEP, what's the difference?
