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How many high school credits for comunity college course


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It generally depends on the course. You don't have to credit courses the same way that your ISD does. I mostly credited classes like our ISD did, but I made a few changes.

 

Classes I credited at one semester for each semester:

English I and English II - 3 credits each

Drawing I and Drawing II - 3 credits each

Psychology - 3 credits

Trigonometry - 3 credits

Elementary Statistics - 3 credits

Government I, II - 3 credits

Logic - 3 credits

 

Classes I credited at one year for each semester:

Japanese I, II, III - 5 credits for the first two and 3 credits for the last one

Spanish I, II - 5 credits each

Digital Imaging I - 3 credits

General College Physics - 4 credits

Introductory Chemistry - 4 credits

Chemistry I, II - 4 credits each

Biology I - 4 credits

 

If you do a google search on the name of your ISD (or one nearby) and dual credit, you should be able to see how your ISD credits classes and you can use that as a guideline. You don't have to credit classes the same way they do.

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I think the usual advice is to give one high school credit for a semester-long college course.

 

I give 0.5 credit for a 3 credit hour college course with moderate amount of outside work per week.

I give a full credit for a 4 credit hour college course that requires 8-10 hours of outside work each week (such as science courses for majors, math, foreign language).

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One high school credit for one semester of c.c., regardless of how many units the c.c. course is.

 

Hundreds, probably thousands by now, of us do it just that way and have never, ever had any problems with any outside entity. :)

 

OK, so that explains the huge number of credits some homeschoolers have - but can somebody explain to me the logic behind this? I am confused.

For example:

Precalculus is normally a one year high school course, warranting one credit. It takes two semesters of 3 hour CC classes (college algebra + trigonometry) to teach the same material. Why would that student get two credits for the same work?

Or: The material of a year-long algebra based physics highschool class (1 credit) is taught over two semesters of a 3 hour college physics class for non-majors. Again: why two credits for the same amount of work?

Edited by regentrude
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OK, so that explains the huge number of credits some homeschoolers have - but can somebody explain to me the logic behind this? I am confused.

For example:

Precalculus is normally a one year high school course, warranting one credit. It takes two semesters of 3 hour CC classes (college algebra + trigonometry) to teach the same material. Why would that student get two credits for the same work?

Or: The material of a year-long algebra based physics highschool class (1 credit) is taught over two semesters of a 3 hour college physics class for non-majors. Again: why two credits for the same amount of work?

 

Perhaps it varies with the subject matter. However, usually a one-semester college course covers the same material that takes a year at the high school level.

 

Are you sure that a high school precalc class covers all of the same material at the same depth as those two semesters at the college level? Math isn't my field, meaning I'm not qualified to evaluate that. However, I know in comparing syllabi for high school and college courses on the same topic in, say, English or history, that a year-long high school course covers roughly the same ground as a one-semester college class.

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Perhaps it varies with the subject matter. However, usually a one-semester college course covers the same material that takes a year at the high school level.

 

It must vary - because in physics and chemistry, this is definitely not the case. If I use the material on the subject SAT as guideline for the content of a one year high school course (after all, the subject SAT is supposed to test high school knowledge), the first semester college physics or chemistry covers only half the material, and the second semester is definitely needed to cover the whole content.

The non-majors courses do not go into more depth than a high school honors course. (The courses for majors are 4 hours classes and do go more in depth and can not really be compared)

 

Are you sure that a high school precalc class covers all of the same material at the same depth as those two semesters at the college level?

 

 

It should, if the purpose is to prepare students for calculus.

 

However, I know in comparing syllabi for high school and college courses on the same topic in, say, English or history, that a year-long high school course covers roughly the same ground as a one-semester college class.

 

So I guess it does vary considerably, depending on subject.

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OK, so that explains the huge number of credits some homeschoolers have - but can somebody explain to me the logic behind this? I am confused.

 

For example:

 

Precalculus is normally a one year high school course, warranting one credit. It takes two semesters of 3 hour CC classes (college algebra + trigonometry) to teach the same material. Why would that student get two credits for the same work?

 

Or: The material of a year-long algebra based physics highschool class (1 credit) is taught over two semesters of a 3 hour college physics class for non-majors. Again: why two credits for the same amount of work?

Not all homeschoolers have a "huge" number of credits. :-)

 

Neither of my dds did calculus, so I may be shooting in the dark, but it would seem to me that a two-semester c.c. class has to be covering more than a one-year high school class. :confused:

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OK, so that explains the huge number of credits some homeschoolers have - but can somebody explain to me the logic behind this? I am confused.

For example:

Precalculus is normally a one year high school course, warranting one credit. It takes two semesters of 3 hour CC classes (college algebra + trigonometry) to teach the same material. Why would that student get two credits for the same work?

 

 

I had the same thought, Regentrude.

 

Amongst the first classes my daughter took at the local community college were College Algebra (a five hour class) and Trigonometry (a four hour class). She did these two classes in consecutive quarters as our community college is on the quarter rather than semester system. Had she taken a year long class in Precalculus at home or at the local high school, she would have earned one high school credit. Since the combination of College Algebra and Trigonometry is considered Precalculus (and in fact the text used in both of these classes was Sullivan's Precalculus), I assigned each of these classes one half high school credit. To me, it would have seemed too generous to give two credits for this combination of classes. On her transcript, I included a note that each community college class of three hours or more was assigned a value of one half high school credit.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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OK, so that explains the huge number of credits some homeschoolers have - but can somebody explain to me the logic behind this? I am confused.

I cannot explain the logic behind it. I think it is absurd.

 

At our CC, after Intermediate Algebra (which is considered a college level class but can only be used as an elective if you are actually in college and is worth 1/2 year HS credit), the student must take:

College Algebra, Trig, and Pre-Calculus Algebra before they get to Calculus. Each of these classes are worth 1 year of HS credit (according to the CC guidelines). So, if I just count math credits starting with Geometry in 9th, ds will have 4 1/2 credits of math and not even have made it to Calculus. He'll likely take 2 more semesters senior year and will wind up with 6 1/2 math credits. But, that's what the ISD does so that's what I'll do. And if he continues at a state school (not my first choice), he'll get college credit for College Algebra and up.

 

Had he taken Pre-Calc at home or at PS, he would have earned 1 credit. Since he is dual enrolled, he'll earn 3. :001_huh:

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OK, so that explains the huge number of credits some homeschoolers have - but can somebody explain to me the logic behind this? I am confused.

For example:

Precalculus is normally a one year high school course, warranting one credit. It takes two semesters of 3 hour CC classes (college algebra + trigonometry) to teach the same material. Why would that student get two credits for the same work?

Or: The material of a year-long algebra based physics highschool class (1 credit) is taught over two semesters of a 3 hour college physics class for non-majors. Again: why two credits for the same amount of work?

 

 

It is actually even more confusing when I really think about it. For example, a 5 on the AP chemistry exam will actually earn 8 hrs of college credit at many universities. It is only a 1 hr credit, though, on a high school transcript. But, those 2 semesters of chemistry would count as 2 credits on most high school transcripts. (oldest ds took chem dual enrolled at a uni and got 2 credits while youngest ds took AP and got 1.) :tongue_smilie:

 

FWIW, it is pretty standard for non-high school level courses to count as a full yr's credit on a high school transcript. I would feel strange about giving a full credit for a more typical high school content course. (I'm guessing the actual # of credit hrs is probably just as easily adjusted by admission folks as weighted/non-weighted GPAs, maybe?? Never really thought about it before.)

 

The above paragraph is pretty much how I make the decision. For example, ds will be taking cal physics 1 and multivariable cal first semester and physics 2 and diffEQ second semester at a university this yr. I will give him 4 credit hrs on his high school transcript for the courses. (just cal physics 1 and multivariable cal are 9 credit hrs on the full semester system, not 1/4 system. That is only 3 hrs shy of full time enrollment. I have no problem giving a full high school credit each for the semester courses.)

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For what it's worth, my daughter is dual enrolled at a local private university for her senior year; their "Early Honors Program". Here, a 3 or 4 hour course is 1/2 high school credit. They are actually going to bulk up her 2 hour college health class with some extra work so it will meet the 1/2 credit requirement needed for high school grad.

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OK, so that explains the huge number of credits some homeschoolers have - but can somebody explain to me the logic behind this? I am confused.

For example:

Precalculus is normally a one year high school course, warranting one credit. It takes two semesters of 3 hour CC classes (college algebra + trigonometry) to teach the same material. Why would that student get two credits for the same work?

Or: The material of a year-long algebra based physics highschool class (1 credit) is taught over two semesters of a 3 hour college physics class for non-majors. Again: why two credits for the same amount of work?

 

Not by way of explanation, but musings of a sleep-deprived mom:

 

Students get equivalent credits for non-equivalent courses in high school and in college ALL THE TIME. So it doesn't seem that huge of a leap to me to get different amounts of credit for the same amount of work.

 

For example, dh attended a local university for his freshman year, then transferred. The university to which he transferred offered some of the same courses he had already taken using the same textbooks, and awarded the same number of credits. However, the course at the second university was really much more rigorous due to the quality of the professors and the peer group. So, one could argue that the local university was essentially giving the same credit for less work. Dh admits that he learned less in the course at the local university than he would've learned at the second school.

 

Heaven knows his high school experience in large-metro-area Missouri was much different than my high school experience in small town Indiana. We both had the credits needed to graduate high school, but if you probe you'll find that we spent time very differently. Yet we ended up at the same university, and both got a BS.

 

As for amassing huge number of credits, you could easily get 20 - 30 credits of fluffy dual enrollment courses around here. I usually assume that's what those kids are doing. I also assume that not all credits actually transfer to colleges and universities we'd be interested in.

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I give 0.5 credit for a 3 credit hour college course with moderate amount of outside work per week.

I give a full credit for a 4 credit hour college course that requires 8-10 hours of outside work each week (such as science courses for majors, math, foreign language).

 

This is how our school district does it, although I don't think they count outside work hours.

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Is there any reason not to leave the cc courses off the high school transcript and just attach a copy of the cc transcript? Wouldn't the admissions just figure their own credits and weighted GPA (if they do a weighted one)? This would be for courses not needed for completing high school graduation requirements.

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Is there any reason not to leave the cc courses off the high school transcript and just attach a copy of the cc transcript? Wouldn't the admissions just figure their own credits and weighted GPA (if they do a weighted one)? This would be for courses not needed for completing high school graduation requirements.

 

So give an example of what courses you're thinking of.

 

I've been out in the sun all day, so my brain is a little fried. But I'm sort of thinking in many cases, the time spent at CC replaces time spent on that subject at home (or in a B&M high school).

 

So for example, if my kid took calculus at CC, I wouldn't have another math course at home.

 

Counting courses at dual enrollment might allow the student to enter college as a freshman and then try to get credit for the courses and achieve advanced standing without going in as a transfer student.

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So give an example of what courses you're thinking of.

 

I've been out in the sun all day, so my brain is a little fried. But I'm sort of thinking in many cases, the time spent at CC replaces time spent on that subject at home (or in a B&M high school).

 

So for example, if my kid took calculus at CC, I wouldn't have another math course at home.

 

Counting courses at dual enrollment might allow the student to enter college as a freshman and then try to get credit for the courses and achieve advanced standing without going in as a transfer student.

 

My brain is in the same condition without the sun for an excuse. :tongue_smilie: I know that usually the cc classes are taken in place of high school courses and are required for fulfilling the high school graduation requirements, but in this case, all high school course requirements will be met without cc classes. This has always been our plan, but we've recently come to find that some universities won't give credit for any cc classes which are also used for high school credit - effectively anything listed on the high school transcript. So I guess that instead of dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment would be a better term.

 

I had planned on including all the cc classes on the high school transcript as it would help provide for a weighted GPA, but with the new information from some colleges, I'm thinking I'll leave them off and just attach a copy of the cc transcript (and have an official one sent to them directly from the cc).

 

As an example, dd will take English 9, 10, 11 and 12 and they will go on the high school transcript. CC classes might include composition, creative writing, literature, etc.. The goal is to go under freshman admissions and then move up in status depending on the credit accepted from cc. For some schools, she will have too many credits to apply as a freshman and would be able to apply as a transfer student only. As this affects scholarships and other financial offerings, we won't be able to consider those schools.

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I award 1 full credit for each CC course. I mark those courses with an * and make a note in the key at the bottom. I send a copy of the CC transcript with my home made transcript and haven't had any issues with the colleges we have applied to.

Edited by Quiver0f10
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  • 2 weeks later...
I had decided to give 1/2 credit for the 3 unit community college course until I read on our local public high school website what they do.

 

They give 3 1/3 high school credits (or 0.3 1/3 Carnegie credits) for each college unit (semester system).

 

But they even give more for foreign languages. For one semester of foreign language (5 units), the community college specifies that is equal to 2 years of high school foreign language.

:001_huh:

 

You know, it's just simpler to give your dc credit for completing a year-long high school course in one semester. To my knowledge (and I confess that I am not all-knowing :D ) no one has ever had problems doing that, and it keeps us sane.

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