Everyone has signed up for high school classes before, filled out those forms with seemingly endless class options, and not known anything about most of them. Maybe you’ve found yourself wondering what all those acronyms mean – HN, AP, CE. All you know is that they mark more challenging courses, but you’re not sure which one is for you. But these course acronyms don’t have to be confusing.
The majority of students in high school take the basic core classes – regularly paced math, science, and English courses. Students who want a little more of a challenge can take Honors (HN), which moves a bit faster than the basic classes but still covers much of the same material. But what happens if Honors is still easy? That’s when high school students can look to Advanced Placement (AP) and Concurrent Enrollment (CE) courses.
The main thing about CE and AP classes is that both give high school students the opportunity to get college credit and high school credit during the same class. For many classes, only one of the two is offered. For example, AP Art History is a class at Taylorsville, while CE Art History is not. Occasionally, both are offered for the same subject. At our school, there is an AP Chemistry class and a CE Chemistry class. In a case like this, which one is better?
The first thing to understand is the basic technical differences between them. AP classes function just like a normal high school course, except at an accelerated pace, more complex content, and more material. Near the end of the school year and the course, AP students take the AP exam, which is a test graded from 1 to 5. This test doesn’t affect your class grade, but it does affect your college credit. Scores of 1 and 2 mean that the class doesn’t count for college credit, while 4 and 5 are almost guaranteed to give college credit. With a score of 3, only some colleges will accept the credit.
Senior Natasha Barlow has taken a lot of AP classes. “When you take an AP class,” Barlow explained, “even if you fail, colleges will still look at it in good nature towards you because you tried.”
AP classes and the AP exams are run by an organization called College Board, which AP students must sign in to if they want the college credit from the class.
There are no end-of-year exams for CE classes. As a whole, CE classes look a lot like a regular high school class. However, like with AP classes, there’s a third party factor. Instead of signing in to College Board, CE students sign up for local colleges. Here at Taylorsville High, this is usually Salt Lake Community College (SLCC).
“[CE students] get to practice being a college student,” said Melinda Karp, assistant director at the Columbia University Community College Research Center. CE students are actually enrolled in the class both in high school and in the college itself. As a result, the grades from CE classes are directly imported into the college’s system and are there forever. If a student fails a CE class, the grade will show up on their college transcript permanently.
Even with all this information, the choice can be hard. One of the most important things to consider is what subject in college the credit earned from these classes will support.
Natalie Paxton, a chemistry teacher, teaches both CE Chemistry 1010 and AP Chemistry. “I can only speak for my classes,” Paxton said, “but for my classes it’s really – what are your future goals?”
CE credits and AP credits can be used for different college credits. In Paxton’s classes, both CE and AP can count for the general education requirements for college, while AP can also be used for higher course requirements. It might be worth looking into AP and CE classes and finding which will give credits in the college course you plan on pursuing.
Most high school students don’t want to bother trying to learn about credits and college requirements. Many don’t know what college they plan on attending or what major they want to pursue. Instead of focusing on the college aspect of CE and AP classes, they want to know about the high school aspect – how hard the classes are and how they work.
The most important thing about AP classes is the AP exams. It’s well into the summer before anyone gets their results back. “One giant test measures your entire learning curve in an entire school year,” Barlow said. “It is not always accurate and it’s hard to pass if you struggle with testing.”
Even with this anxiety-inducing element, lots of students take AP classes every year.
“If you fail the AP test, it’s not as bad as if you fail the CE class,” Rachel Troth, another senior, explained. Since the exams don’t automatically and permanently get sent to colleges, it’s not as large of a potential problem.
“I feel like AP classes are more about learning and understanding the concept,” Troth said. “When I go to the AP class, I know I’m going to learn about the subject. I’m not just going to be told to get through the homework.”
The biggest quality of CE classes to worry about is the fact that the college course grade is permanent. It can’t be removed from college transcripts, even if the class is dropped. “If you fail, or just struggle in high school, that goes on your college grades and transcripts forever,” Barlow said.
On the plus side, there is no huge end-of-year exam. “CE goes straight to college, right, so if you get an A that’s an A in your college,” Troth added. “You don’t need to take some test and hope you get the college credit.”
As for the classroom feel, though, it is a bit different than AP. “I find that CE classes are less about learning and more about the grade,” Troth said. If the subject matter isn’t the most interesting, but the credits are needed for college, CE might just be the way to go, especially since CE classes are usually accepted as being easier than their AP counterparts.
No matter whether CE or AP is ultimately better, the most important thing to remember is that both kinds of classes are a lot of work.
Paxton explains the most common student struggle. “I would say for both, and I think this is true of all students, it’s staying on top of your work and not getting behind,” she said. “Once you get behind, there’s always more being added each day and that makes it a lot more difficult to stay on top of things.”
It’s also important to remember that it’s okay if AP and CE aren’t the right thing for you. But for those students who’d like a little extra challenge in their lives, they can be perfect. In the words of Troth: “I want to prepare for college, I don’t want to just take the easiest option available.”
