What is an online AP course?
Advanced Placement Courses, as the name suggest, offer a rigorous course experience to you. It is offered by certain online high schools. AP courses are generally taken by students in case they have a fixation on a specific subject. Also, students resort to these courses to better their chances at college admissions or jobs. These courses certainly add that extra weight to your application or resume. Augmenting your analytical skills, these courses tend to heighten your overall test scores. It can also boost your overall credit points. These courses are way more challenging than the core or the honor courses. The main objective of these courses are to drill the student for college-level or even job-level work environment.
How does an online AP course vary from that of a traditional high school?
It is always better for you to compare both the scenarios before you take a decision of going for an online or formal AP course.
- Pre-requisites:
Both online and formal schools have their unique set of rules. The College Board might suggest some recommendations for the pre-requisite courses that the student needs to pass. However, online as well as traditional schools have the flexibility to zero in on which prerequisite courses are essential for a student to pass to be eligible to take an AP exams.
- Approval of the course:
The first step for any online or formal high school is to get the approval of the AP class by the College Board. For this, the syllabus for the course has to be submitted to the College Board. Things can proceed further only is this syllabus is approved. In case of a traditional school, the AP course teacher submits the syllabus. However, in an online school, the entire curriculum department submits the syllabi for the range of AP courses offered in each subject. Online teachers use the same approved syllabus.
Online school students are typically referred to traditional schools to take the AP Tests.
How to enroll for an AP course?
You need to get the entire list of all the AP courses provided by your online school. You can consult with your school counselor or online teachers regarding this. You should get all your trifling to intense concerns cleared out by them. You might want to get a more detailed info regarding the prerequisites, the varied courses offered, and the courses that are well-suited to his taste of interests. While taking a plunge into an Honors or AP course, you should be confident enough that you can consistently produce fairly good grades of an “A” or a “B”. The student needs to juggle these courses with core subjects in an efficient manner.
What is the value of an AP course?
AP courses can be the career-making factor for students. Here are the major reasons as to why students take an AP course:
- Walking an “extra” mile
If you have taken an AP course, it proves that you have a special interest in a specific subject. By completing some challenging courses in the subject of your interest, you have shown that you have taken that extra effort to gain more knowledge on the specific subjective area. The college Admission Officers or Advisers get impressed by such out-of-the-way efforts. It not only proves your credibility, but your diligent dedication towards that particular subject. It demonstrates your genuine love for the subject!
- Higher scores
AP courses sharpens the analytical, reading, writing and objective analysis and evaluation skills of the student. This leads to higher scores in standardized tests. No wonder AP courses lead to a significant increase in the ACT and SAT exam scores of the students.
- Higher GPAs
AP courses also impacts the overall GPA scores. An “A” grade in an AP course may make the student attain 5 points. Normally, in conventional grading system, an “A” earns 4 points. However, it might not be the case in every online school as grading scales might differ school wise. So, make sure to check it out further by consulting with the Education Counselor of the school.
Students with one or more AP course degree stand a higher chance at getting through the admission phase of their dream colleges. Moreover, most of the top-level colleges contain a Secondary School Report that help the college officials to know more about the specific online high school. It gives an overview of the location of the online school, what kind of courses are offered by the school, how many AP courses are offered in each subject, grading system, highest GPA score in the class etc. If the school is imparting a wide array of Honors and AP-level courses, then it is likely for the colleges to expect from the student to have availed at least one or more of the Honors or AP courses. This report is filled by the Education Counselor of the online high school. It helps the college officials to scrutinize the relative performance of the specific student.
What are the Advantages of Online AP course?
- Flexibility
Online AP courses provide a high degree of flexibility. The student can manage his traditional high school classes with an online AP course.
- Affordable
Many online schools offer discounts in the cost involved in an online AP course. So be on the lookout.
- Socialize with like-minded folks
It gives an opportunity to socialize with other students with the same goals and passion. The bonds can be very strong in this case, since like-minded people flock together!
The Ogburn Online School offers the choice of AP courses to the online high-school students. The subjects are US History, Environmental Science, Calculus AB and English Language and composition. All the courses offered at Ogburn are College-board approved. These Advanced level courses are taught by specialized instructors.
If you do not have a solid purpose to get enrolled in an online school, do not enroll. Without self-motivation, you shall never be able to give the extra efforts required to complete an AP course. However, if you have your “why”, jump into an AP class.
