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We are beginning high school next year with Rev2Rev and are so excited! I've been reading and using "Transcripts Made Easy" per Carrie's recommendation and it is so helpful in planning - nice and easy to use. Everyone keeps talking about doing AP classes and CLEP tests to get college credit. I have to admit that this thorougly intimidates me. I have no idea how to plan this. I see how easy it could be with a boxed high school curriculum that just plans it all out for you - but with using HOD and it not being written for HS levels yet, this is unclear for me.

Does anyone have any experience with doing AP classes? How do you do this with HOD? Do you just take the AP test if you feel the class was college worthy and then call the class AP? Or does the class have to be an "approved" AP class for you to call it that? If so, how do you do this with using HOD materials? And how do you know when to take the CLEP tests? I feel very overwhelmed by these things. It seems that many colleges are expecting this on their transcripts now and I don't want to short sell my kids just because I don't know what I'm doing! I have no doubt that HOD will have my kids college ready at all, but just don't know how to prove that or show that on a transcript so that they can get college credits.

I'd love help!! Can anyone point me to a resource that explains this clearly or share your own experiences? Thank you!

My son did not have any AP courses listed on his transcript. He did CLEP English and is now getting ready to try some other CLEPS. He also took some college courses for dual credit from the local community college. He received several scholarships and we were never asked for any additional information besides his ACT score and the transcript I made for him online.

Tiffini,
CLEP is easier to achieve than AP. With AP you have to take a specified AP class. Most homeschoolers I have seen do this online through something like Pennsylvania homeschoolers. With CLEP you can get a prep book and just after taking say American History you can spend some time studying for the CLEP and then take the test to get the credits. Both of these are more for dc to get a head start on credits for college. My dd plans on going to a Private Christian University. She has visited Indiana Wesleyan University and Cedarville University. Neither school even mentioned wanting to see AP classes on a transcript. They also briefly mentioned CLEP in the fact that they do accept CLEP credits, but you had to look at their website to see which ones. In fact interestingly enough Cedarville only wants to see unweighted GPA so they won't even give my dc the full weight for the Honors English class she took in ps which is supposed to be a weighted grade. What our experience has been is that they are focused on ACT or SAT scores. That and GPA are what they base their scholarships on. One thing you have to be careful with CLEP is that if they earn too many credits via CLEP then they lose their freshmen status and therefore cn loose out on freshmen scholarships. My dd has applied to and been accepted for dual enrollment at Cedarville for her high school senior year. They have rigid criteria to get in and she doesn't have any AP or CLEP. They did want her PSAT score to be at a certain level. She will take 2 classes each semester that will count as college and high school credit. You could easily do this and still use HOD because they are classes like Composition , Politics and American Government and Earth Science. These will transfer to other colleges.

Thanks, gals, this is very helpful info! It gives me some peace of mind about this whole topic. So, it sounds like it's okay for me not to worry too much about doing AP classes for the transcript. My dd can do the college level work, so maybe we'll just go the CLEP route to get some credits. I love hearing real life stories about college admissions for homeschoolers - especially those using HOD!

Lynn, is your dd doing the dual enrollment with Cedarville online from home? I love Cedarville. My dad and cousin went there! It is so encouraging to hear that they didn't even ask for AP or CLEPs. Did you do an SAT prep course? I have College Prep Genius which we plan on using this year. What else was helpful to get her test scores up?

Melissa, same questions for you with the SAT prep? Your experience sounds very encouraging as well. Thank you so much for sharing with me!

She is doing the dual enrollment classes online from home. She is excited and I love it will give her a taste of the expectations for college classes without all the distractions college brings. Cedarville is her number one choice to attend. For dual enrollment we did have to send in her transcript and they were fine with it. She did a little work in a PSAT prep book before taking that this past year. She was able to take it at a local Christian High School that is very homeschool friendly. For the ACT and SAT she also worked through books, took several practice test and then her Dad helped her with the math part which was her weaker area on the PSAT. I had her take the ACT and the SAT just to see if she scored higher on one than the other. Her overall score was equal. In the Fall she will retake the ACT so I have her going through 2 specific ACT books that teach some tricks. She scored high enough for a good scholarship, but just want to see if she can get her English score up, which was actually lower than her math.

Evan used the Real ACT Prep book and Chalkdust's ACT/SAT CD's. He scored a 31. His highest was English and his lowest was math. He did not take the SAT. I am getting my second son ready for the ACT now. We are using the same two prep materials.

I like the idea of the online dual credit courses from Cedarville. That might be a good idea for my daughter in a couple of years. My boys just took theirs at the local community college, but there were some world view issues.

Tiffini, do you mind sharing where the PSAT score needs to be for Cedarville to consider dual enrollment?

Oh my dd did the chalkdust ACT/SAT math dvds as well.

For Cedarville dual enrollment PSAT scores have to be in the 75%.

I think your child has to pass the AP exam (which is administered by the CollegeBoard through local schools) in order to list the class as AP. You would need to contact a local Christian school that offers AP classes to register your child to take the AP exam in the Spring. They don't take the class through the school, just go there at the end of the year to take the test on the day it is scheduled. If your child excels in science or math you might want to check out the DIVE CDs. They offer AP classes for Bio, Chem and Physics as well as Calculus. (I have heard that many universities view passing the AP Calculus exam as a major indicator that a student will succeed at the college level - something to make a goal if you have a child who is mathematically inclined!). The DIVE CDs can also be used for CLEP prep. They are relatively inexpensive compared to the other options out there. I paid $50 for the one we used last year. We have not used them for AP classes yet but have used them along with our Saxon math program and really enjoyed them. After switching from Teaching Textbooks to DIVE/Saxon, my son soared in his math competency. Even he noticed the difference and asked that we use the DIVE CDs again next year.

Thanks for that information, Andrea! Very helpful! I'll have to look into those things as we get closer.

Lynn and Melissa, why did you go with the ACT over the SAT? I'm curious... Is one easier to prepare for than the other? Will most colleges take either one? Do they prefer one over the other?

I live in the midwest, and most students in our area take the ACT. No other reason. We also did not take the written part because the colleges he was interested in do not require it.

I was at a convention this weekend. One of the speakers said most colleges have a conversion chart from ACT to SAT and SAT to ACT. She suggested that your student takes both a SAT practice test and an ACT practice test. Then you can see which test your student does better on. That is the test your student should take!

If your student wants to go to a specific college... you could see which test that college wants.

The colleges dd is interested in will take either test. Although the ACT does seem to be the more popular test here in the midwest. I had her take both so we could compare. They are very different tests. In the ACT time is much more of a factor. Most kids struggle to get it done in the time allowed. The overall score on the 2 tests was pretty much equal for my dd, but she did better on the Math on the ACT and better on the Reading Comprehension on the SAT. She did really well on the science portion of the ACT, but it is more a reading comprehension test than science.