How to list AP physics from APUSH on transcript (also econ)

[Alice]

This has probably been asked and answered somewhere here already but I can’t find it. 

My son is planning on taking AP Physics this year doing the AP Mechanics C class first semester and the Elec/Mag class the second semester. Is that two science credits on the transcript or is each one half a credit? I know a semester class is usually a half credit but I didn’t know if you’d give a full credit for Mechanics especially as it’s also offered in a full year version so the semester one is just more intensive. 

Same question for Macro/Micro Economics. Is that two half credits? Macro is offered as a full year class as well. 

[UmmIbrahim]

2 hours ago, Alice said:

This has probably been asked and answered somewhere here already but I can’t find it. 

My son is planning on taking AP Physics this year doing the AP Mechanics C class first semester and the Elec/Mag class the second semester. Is that two science credits on the transcript or is each one half a credit? I know a semester class is usually a half credit but I didn’t know if you’d give a full credit for Mechanics especially as it’s also offered in a full year version so the semester one is just more intensive. 

Same question for Macro/Micro Economics. Is that two half credits? Macro is offered as a full year class as well. 

 

My son had both of these classes, so I'll mention what we did (there is surely variability in awarding credits among different families/students). Last year he did exactly what you are describing, took AP Physics C - Mechanics during the first semester (he took it with Kernion from PA Homeschoolers) and then took AP Physics C - Electricity and Magnetism during the second semester (from the same provider). I gave him 0.5 credits per class, even though I knew that AP Physics C - Mechanics had the option to be taken over an entire year. I guess I felt like there are a lot of kids in public schools who take it in the same way (Mech then E&M) in one year and get 1.0 credit for the entire year. I didn't want to give him more credit than a traditional student on a college-prep type track. 

When we did certain subjects as dual enrollment (university-level chemistry, for example), I did award 1.0 credit per semester. I felt that the time spent on those classes (3 hours per week for lab, 3 hours per week for lecture, then problem sets/homework on top of that) really made them more deserving of 1.0 credit per semester. AP Physics C is certainly very rigorous, don't get me wrong, but didn't seem to have quite the amount of "in-class" time as some of his DE classes.

With regard to the two econ classes, I gave 0.5 credit for each. High schools in my area teach those subjects as one semester electives, and, even though my son took them at the community college (and the general consensus is that 1 semester of community college credit = 1 year of high school credit), I didn't feel like those lecture-only, 3 credit-hour classes took up the kind of time that his DE lab science classes or his DE foreign language classes did. Again, all of this was just my judgment call based on the kind of work that he put into the various courses. He did end up taking the AP exams after both of those econ classes as well, and felt prepared having done only the one semester DE classes.

Good luck working on your transcript!

Edited July 12, 2020 by UmmIbrahim

[daijobu]

You raise a good point, @Alice, but it was not one that entered my mind for some reason.  Like @UmmIbrahim we awarded a half unit for each since each was taken in a semester.  I expect those students who take mechanics only for an entire year award a full credit, though.  

Like I just read yesterday, (maybe here on WTM?), the whole way we award units is nonsensical.  

[Roadrunner]

Nobody locally even offers Electricity and Magnetism class. The fancy private schools have Physics C Mechanics as the only upper level physics offering and they are awarding a credit for it. 
Same goes for economics. I don’t know a single school that offers micro. I do know few that offer AP Macro and award 1 credit. 
My kids haven’t taken these courses, so I have no idea what I would do, but just reporting the local situation. 

[Alice]

Thanks everyone. I posted this, went on vacation and totally forgot I’d asked the question. 😄

The half credit for each makes sense. I’m totally stressing about the transcript, this being my oldest. My husband finally looked at me and said...”seriously, if they don’t accept him because one of the fonts you used was slightly misaligned, is that even a college we want him to go to?” Which helped put everything in perspective a little bit until I started stressing about some other miniscule issues. 

[UmmIbrahim]

25 minutes ago, Alice said:

Thanks everyone. I posted this, went on vacation and totally forgot I’d asked the question. 😄

The half credit for each makes sense. I’m totally stressing about the transcript, this being my oldest. My husband finally looked at me and said...”seriously, if they don’t accept him because one of the fonts you used was slightly misaligned, is that even a college we want him to go to?” Which helped put everything in perspective a little bit until I started stressing about some other miniscule issues. 

This was me last year with my oldest! Hang in there, it will all be just fine. I honestly wonder how many of the universities even looked at my 22 page course description document 😂

Just get everything that you did on there the best that you can, and I'm sure things will go great. Good luck and feel free to pop off questions as they occur. Lots of older threads on these forums about common app issues were very helpful for me as well as I went through the process.