Counting CC science

[danielle]

Just when you think you have everything planned, something else happens. I was positive dd could take AP chemistry & physics at our local high school and cover AP that way. After our 4 day experience (different class), I don't think we'll be having much to do with the school again in this lifetime. So now I'm wondering, if your kid takes, say, a chem class at the local CC, do you count 1 semester as a year's worth of high school chemistry (that's probably how I'd count a language course)? Do you still take the AP Chem exam? Same for physics? These courses would all have a lab component. Dd is so busy with other activities that it looks like a real advantage if each of these courses could be completed in a semester, but I know there are people on this list who are much more science competent than I am. WWYD?

Danielle

[Jane in NC]

Hi Danielle,

 

My son is currently at the CC taking chemistry. He has no plan to take the AP chemistry exam but will take the SAT subject in chemistry, an option you did not consider.

 

The usual rule seems to be one college semester course translates to a high school credit, but I am interested in hearing what others have to say.

 

Best,

Jane

[Moni]

PS round here counts CC units as 3.3 times a high school unit.

 

A year long high sch class would be 10 units.

 

So a 5 unit chemistry CC course per semester would be 16.5 high school units.

 

A 3 unit english CC course would be 9.9 units rounded to 10 units or one year.

 

Other folks just double the length of the CC class for high sch credit.

A one semester Chem class would be a year long high sch credit.

[Nan in Mass]

I'm not doing it that way. I'm counting them as worth however long they took. So a semester of English of some sort is worth 1/2 a high school year of English and a year of chemistry is a year of chemistry. My son is taking chemistry and pre-calc this year, I and II, at the CC and because the courses aren't complete (for prerequisite purposes) until both I and II are taken, I don't see how I could count pre-calc I alone as a year's worth of high school pre-calc, ditto the chem. Instead, I've marked them honours. (The other high school classes I marked as honours are the ones that required lots of travel.) Then I put a note on each saying "marked honours because taken at" CC, or "honours because required extensive travel". His transcript would have a strange number of credits if I doubled the CC units. I thought about this, but for the classes my son took, I don't think it makes sense. Maybe if he took a foreign language class that finished a textbook that is usually finished in one year of high school, or a history class that covered the whole of a history period covered in a normal high school year, I'd think about doubling.

-Nan

[Jane in NC]

It is not only the number of hours but content issues that concern me. I feel that my son's chemistry class is just not as rigorous as a university course would be--even though it would transfer to one of the schools in the UNC system. For this reason I am tempted to give one high school credit for two college semesters.

 

Also, even though my son's AP bio score would give him 8 college bio hours at say NCSU, I can only give him a single credit for the course by convention. As I understand it, AP courses merit a single high school credit, not two, despite the additional work load involved.

 

It is all so confuzzling...

 

Jane

[Alyce]

At most of the state colleges in NC they want you to count any community college course as worth a year of high school class. In my area on NC a high school class counts as one credit. You have to remember doing this will affect the GPA and that is where you get the extra weight. My dd took 3 classes during fall session, 3 classes in Spring and 3 at home. That gave her 9 credits on her report card compared to say 6 if I had done just normal credits. You need to identify that this course is done at a CC. I put (Dual-enrollment FTCC) next to the name of the course. If your son is taking a CC class in NC, the regular state schools know that this includes a lab but the lab isn't given extra weight. If your son has taken these courses at a NC CC they will be accepted at any state school and most private schools in NC as a credit towards college automatically, therefore your student doesn't need to take an AP test. The course is already counted as a college course. My dd took 8 classes at CC before she started at UNCC. She now has a semester of college under her belt, all by just taking courses at the CC. Also you need to remember that when you apply to NCSU or any other state school, you will have to turn in a transcript of the courses he took at the CC. They need to see those to complete their review process. Taking the basic courses pretty much assures you that they'll help towards completing those first two years of college. For my dd we went to her school of choice and pulled up what her first two year courses would be and they had a page that showed what courses taken at the CC matched the course that would be taken at the college. That was a big help for us in planning out which courses to take. I don't know if NCSU has a page like that but it might be worth looking at. Anyway the good news in NC is that almost all courses taken at a CC transfers as a college course and counts that way. No need to take AP tests or SATII's at least for those particular courses. Hope that helps.

[Ailaena]

Don't forget that at the community college level, there are two levels of most sciences. This basic, high school level and the college level. The one semester class will correspond to one year of high school while college level will correspond to the AP level.

 

So an AP class is equivalent to one full year of college work. The AP class uses a college level book and is supposed to cover the same material. in the same amount of time (1 year). The kids only get one credit, but it is usually weighted. The big difference is that every AP class teaches to the AP test, while a CC class will focus wherever it wants to. This, of course, means that sometimes, the CC class does not seem as rigorous as it should.

If you are going to take the college-level class at the CC and still want to take the AP test, you should probably use an AP test prep book, as well, just to make sure you hit every topic.

[Jane in NC]

No need to take AP tests or SATII's at least for those particular courses. Hope that helps.

 

Thanks Alyce. What you said is applicable for those attending in state public universities or some of the private colleges. A number of competitive schools want several SAT-subjects from all students (not just homeschoolers). Again, it comes down to the specific college.

 

Jane

[Mary in GA]

the college courses counted for the same time unit on the high school transcript as they did on the college transcript. His high school transcript was prepared by an "accredited" school outside of our homeschool.

Mary

[8filltheheart]

Jane,

 

I tend to agree with Alyce. Before P takes the SAT IIs, I would call admission offices and ask if they are necessary for dual enrollment classes. I would think the independent teaching/grading of a CC would satisfy their desire for outside verification (the main purpose behind the desire for SAT II scores)

 

I understand your philosophy behind the CC content, though. I can't begin to imagine your frustration at the poor quality. People could not understand why we paid so much extra money for A to take all of his math and sciences at the uni vs the CC (hugely different prices!!) b/c they would have transferred. Transferring was not my main concern, understanding appropriate content was.

[Sylvia in CA]

my dd took science in cc and it counted as one year course. The UC system in CA still required SAT II's though. Taking the cc course alone was not enough.

 

All the cc courses taken were counted as Honors (weighted GPA) as well.

 

Sylvia

[8filltheheart]

my dd took science in cc and it counted as one year course. The UC system in CA still required SAT II's though. Taking the cc course alone was not enough.

 

All the cc courses taken were counted as Honors (weighted GPA) as well.

 

Sylvia

 

That is interesting. Ds didn't need SAT IIs, but the uni wouldn't accept any weighted grades!

 

The total lack of any resemblance of continuity is astounding, isn't it. Makes you wish you had your own personal guidance counselor.

[Laura in CA]

last week, and he said specifically that contrary to what we may have heard, Caltech does not consider a semester of CC science equal to a year of high-school science (at least, a year of an AP class). Of course, Caltech is a selective private school -- as other posters have indicated, colleges differ on this.

~Laura

[Sylvia in CA]

Colleges differ as stated and CalTech, in particular, because of its selectivity.

 

Public Colleges, UC included, in Ca do count them as such, though. At least that was our experience. It depends on the community college transfer agreements they have with the universities. But that's CA ... don't know about other states.

 

Sylvia

[Moni]

if your kid takes, say, a chem class at the local CC, do you count 1 semester as a year's worth of high school chemistry (that's probably how I'd count a language course)? Do you still take the AP Chem exam? Same for physics? These courses would all have a lab component.

 

The real issue is you can do whatever you want.

As you are reading, this stuff arbitrary.

You can count it as whatever you want for high school.

You can take an AP test without taking an AP course.

 

The real issue is what you want to do with this coursework later.

:-)

 

Our CC has 3 levels of science classes.

One that is basically high sch level (for lack of a better term), another that is non-majors but college level study, and then science for majors.

[Quiver0f10]

Hi Danielle,

 

My son is currently at the CC taking chemistry. He has no plan to take the AP chemistry exam but will take the SAT subject in chemistry, an option you did not consider.

 

The usual rule seems to be one college semester course translates to a high school credit, but I am interested in hearing what others have to say.

 

Best,

Jane

 

This is our plan as well and how we deal with CC classes.

[Ellie]

Any college course, regardless of how many college credits are earned, counts as 1 credit per semester for high school (or 10 credits if you're in California). I did this with all of my umbrella school students in California, and none of their credits were ever questioned by any college to which they applied and were accepted.