In high school, I went through two phases. My junior year I took three AP classes: Calculus AB/BC ("fast calc"), US History ("A-PUSH"), and Physics C: Mechanics. That... went okay, I guess. More details below!
Then, for my senior year, I took advantage of what my high school referred to as "dual enrollment" and "open campus" courses. Dual enrollment meant that a class from the local community college where taught at the high school by teachers there, but followed the college's schedule (classes two days a week). Open campus was basically permission from the school to leave campus and I drove to the community college and took my classes there!
AP Classes
I'm not the biggest fan of AP classes, to be honest. They are an insane amount of work with no guarantee that you'll actually get credit for it. I got a 5 on my calculus exam, which covered both Calc 1 and Calc 2 at OU. However, I got a 3 on the physics exam and the APUSH exam. The physics score did transfer in as a freshman level physics class, but not the one I needed. OU makes life science and engineering majors take a different set of physics classes and my AP score wasn't high enough tp get me out of that specialized class. My APUSH class was honestly the most frustrating outcome. My 3 would have normally gotten me out of my history gen ed, but OU changed the minimum score to a 4 starting the semester I enrolled. So basically if I had graduated a year earlier it would have counted. The worst part? I finished the actual class with a 98%. I just get nervous on big tests. Needless to say, I can't in good conscious recommend AP classes unless there are no other options available to you.
Dual (Concurrent) Enrollment
I LOVED my dual enrollment classes! It afforded me a level of freedom that my newly minted adult self craved (I turned 18 in December of my senior year). The best part was that, unlike with AP classes, as long as you passed the class (and there was a transfer equivalency) you got credit for it! At OU the credits also transferred in as grade point rather than pass/fail, which helped boost my GPA! I would highly recommend taking community college classes as an upperclassmen in high school if at all possible.
My Schedule Junior/Senior Year:
Junior Year (Fall) Junior Year (Spring) Senior Year (Fall) Senior Year (Spring)
1st English 11 AP Calculus BC FCC English @WHS "Internship"
Period (T/R only) (Not locked to this time-basically a free block)
2nd Forensics Orchestra FCC Biology @WHS Orchestra
Period
* * * * * F L E X ( H o m e r o o m ) * * * * * (Excused - Wednesday Lab at FCC)
3rd AP Calc AB AP US History Aquatics Open Campus (Chemistry - M/W Only)
Period
4th Digital AP Physics Library Open Campus (Statistics - T/R Only)
Period Photography Assistant
**Note: For Open Campus classes, the courses weren't actually held at that time. That was just the school's way of allowing community college enrollment to excuse students from high school classes, because god forbid they just let me enroll in the one (1) class I needed to graduate and then just fuck off... All students were required to be enrolled in 4 "classes" each semester. One for each block/period.
