Camas High School (CHS) has benefited from various courses that allow students to acquire college credits on top of standard high school credits. For many students, this makes the college application and admissions process much more efficient, as they are not required to take as many classes going into their first few years of college because they have been able to acquire the credits throughout their high school career.
In America, many high schools offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which provide college credits upon completion and passing the respective AP exam.
Many AP classes are offered at CHS, spanning all topics from English to Economics.
College credit is given to students who take AP courses and receive a passing grade of three or higher on the AP respective exam.
In addition to AP courses, Central Washington University (CWU) and the University of Washington (UW) both offer classes at CHS. The most well-known of these courses is CWU English, offered for both juniors and seniors, which both guarantee college credit as long as the student passes each semester with a C+ or higher. “With CWU the [college] credit is easier to get, by far,” CHS AP Literature and CWU English teacher Lori Lackland said. “It’s based on what you do in the classroom, whereas in AP classes credit comes from the AP test, and you have to get a three or above to pass.”
AP courses do not guarantee college credit, rather, it is based solely on the student’s performance on the AP exam. Students who receive a three or higher on an AP exam are likely to receive college credit for the course they took, however, if a student receives a two or lower, it is unlikely that colleges will consider their efforts.
“It’s all of the same challenging coursework just with less of the stress,” CHS Junior Addison Stewart said. “People should consider that CWU is automatic credit if you pass, whereas AP you have to take a test to even have a chance at getting credit.”
Many CHS students go the route of taking either CWU or AP in order to increase their productivity in college applications and admissions.
New this year at CHS, the college-level statistics program is offered as both AP Statistics and CWU Statistics in one class; with this program, students get to choose how they would like to obtain college credits.
“[Students] can choose at the end of the semester if they want to take the AP test or if they want to take the CWU credit… or if they want to do both,” CHS statistics teacher Kealey Sitler said.
The dual-course class gives students taking AP Statistics guaranteed college credit. However, the course may not be offered in the following years. Additionally, CWU and UW courses are free, contrary to AP courses which usually cost $100 per test.
Many students highly regard AP and other college credit courses as an opportunity to take on an academic challenge and gain a further understanding of the topics of which they wish to learn more.