Random advice: Teenage U.S. LW-ers should probably be taking more AP exams

In general, teenage LWers should be aware that they can go far, far faster and higher than their peers if they take the initiative and are willing to put in the effort. Schools are just not very efficient. Homeschooled kids appear to reach 12th-grade proficiency at 8th grade.

CLEP, another examination program by the College Board, might also be of interest.

Honestly, just google "self-study APs" and find the huge number of resources available at College Confidential.

Also, if you're highly motivated and aren't prone to video game/social media addiction, dropping out of HS to unschool yourself is an excellent idea. Just self-study APs and contact professors at the local university to do research (and then use this research to enter the Intel STS/Siemens competitions, and also to apply to summer programs like RSI/HSHSP/SSP). You can also then have all the time in the world to self-study for the National Chemistry/Biology/Math/Physics/Computing Olympiads, and easily qualify at least for semifinalist status.

If you're a voracious reader of fiction and a decent test-taker, you can walk into the English Language and English Literature exams with no preparation and get a perfect score.

Data point: I read a whole lot of fantasy and sci-fi during high school and remember only getting a 3 on English Literature. I think that that it asked enough questions about a specific body of works typically read in high school English classes that it substantially affected my grade (I had read enough of these to have something to write about, but my essays weren't much good because I hadn't looked at some of the books I was writing on since freshman/sophomore year.) I got a 4 on English Language, though, because the knowledge required was more general.

As a teenage U.S. LW-ers who took and passed ten AP exams and one CLEP exam, I fully agree. This got me a quarter of the credits I need to graduate, thereby making it less embarrassing when I ended up dropping five classes and failing two more out of my four semesters so far.

Based on the experience of one friend and one acquaintance, microeconomics and macroeconomics can be done with a day or two of preparation if you sufficiently clever and generally educated about current affairs (though you may have to talk to someone who understands the grading standards in addition to taking a few practice tests).

Just note that top academic institutions don't accept most AP credit.

I personally would much rather go into college knowing multivariable calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, and algorithms than AP bio, AP chem, AP CS, and AP US History.

Also, in some states there is the option to take college classes while in high school. Where I grew up it was called Running Start. It was possible to get 2 full years of free college if you took advantage of it fully.

The way in which the AP scores are reported change each year; be certain you know the rules prior to taking an exam. For instance, it has sometimes been the case that scores can be withheld entirely (with no record of having taken the exam); other years, the exam is listed to universities as "score withheld". Still other years, it's been possible to completely cancel the record of having taken the test only prior to receiving your score.

If you wish to attend a university whose admission requirements you easily meet but wish to graduate early, this is of no import: take all the tests you might plausibly pass. If, however, a prestigious university would be highly beneficial to your expected goals in life, you would be well advised to calculate your chances of doing well on an exam prior to taking it along with your ability to hide the results if a poor score is obtained. Naturally, if you are taking a high school AP course, failure to take/do well on the exam will look particularly bad. If you simply decided (as I did) that watching Forrest Gump provides adequate preparation for the US History AP, then this does not apply to quite the same extent.

YES! If you're already going to graduate and look good enough to get into the college you want, this is probably more important than whatever else you're doing right now. Take a few tests, then get an extra year of your life out of school. Worth it.

Some college science classes have lectures, labs, and recitations, so they take up twice as much time as normal classes for only slightly more credit. I'd prioritize science AP tests.

As a high school senior myself, I do not see how 12 passed AP exams is more impressive than becoming the valedictorian. Does this presuppose that the valedictorian took 0 AP exams? Even from a college standpoint, I realize that the focus on the actual grade (1-5) received from taking the AP exam is becoming less emphasized.

Considering that paying for even a single semester of college can be very expensive, being able to graduate college in less then 8 semesters is also a large boon to your early financial situation. When you consider that it also gives you more time to work as well, the effect is further magnified, and it's then made even larger by having the extra time where you can get some of the largest amounts of interest compounding. I think I've probably thanked my Mom a dozen times for making me work hard enough to graduate a semester early by starting college with AP credits from Highschool.

When applying to a college, if your academic transcript contains, say, twelve passed AP Exams, it will look twice as impressive as that of a high-school valedictorian.

Minor nitpick here. At least at my High School, it was impossible to even be valedictorian without taking more AP classes than everyone else.

Otherwise I agree with the general message. When I was doing my college shopping several years ago, I actually found that colleges were far more impressed if you were taking straight up college courses during High School than if you were taking AP classes. Of course, not everyone lives close enough to a University or Community College to pull it off, but it's definitely something worth doing.

I disagree strongly. GTFO of high school ASAP. Take the GED at the absolute earliest allowed and go to community college.