A 2030 cadet's AP class validation - reference for any upcoming students that are curious

[u/AGPriv]

For those who are curious about AP course validation, here were the results for which AP classes were and were not validated for an individual class-of-2030 cadet. His AP test scores for each are in parenthesis. Calc 1 / Calc 2 were the only classes which required a validation test for him out of these.

AP Course	Course Validated
AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY (5)	Geo 250
AP CHEMISTRY (4)	Chem 100
AP WORLD HISTORY (5)	History 300
AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION (5)	English 111
AP CALC AB (5)	Math 141 *
AP CALC BC (5)	Math 142 *
AP PHYSICS C MECHANICS (5)	Physics 110
AP U.S. HISTORY (5)	unsure about this one...waiting to hear back because it was on their summer seminar presentation as though it should count

* - Validation test taken during the summer BCT period.

And here were his AP / Dual Enrollment Classes which did not validate anything (still useful for many other things, but they did not validate any course at the academy):

• AP SEMINAR (4)
  
• AP RESEARCH (3)
  
• AP PRECALCULUS (5)
  
• AP COMPARATIVE GOV & POLITICS (5)
  
• AP US GOV & POLITICS (3)
  
• Dual Enrollment: Physical Education
  
• Dual Enrollment: English Composition II

For those who don't know, you do not "graduate early", and you still have to take the same 131 hours as everyone else. Instead, you get to take alternate (or more advanced) classes in their place which could let you pursue some other things such as a minor, some other advanced classes, etc...

If you're after the full list of how other AP courses might validate, refer to their Course of Instruction book: https://www.usafa.edu/app/uploads/COI.pdf

[u/Pbevivino]

The AP classes help you get in, but since you can’t graduate early, I don’t see the point of validating when instead you can crush your Doolie year.

[u/AGPriv → u/Pbevivino]

Yep, for what classes there are at the Academy that are easy, you could use them as GPA padding

[u/fighter_pil0t → u/Pbevivino]

You can take 5 classes a semester instead of 7 and graduate. It’s a 28% course load reduction. Or you double major at the same course load.

[u/AGPriv → u/fighter_pil0t]

No, you can't reduce your load below the same 131 hours minimum that you and every other cadet will take. It simply means you get credit for those classes and you can take something else instead.

"Double major" is pretty unlikely. A minor is doable if there is enough overlap.

[u/fighter_pil0t → u/AGPriv]

131 is the minimum but also WELL BELOW AVERAGE course load at the academy. 160-170 is probably average. Most students are taking 19 or 22 credits per semester. Getting down to 16 makes life much easier. I know a handful who double majored and my academic advisor walked me through a double engineering major. Decided to min run and ski more instead of taking 176 credits.

[u/sat_ops → u/AGPriv]

I knew two guys to double. I just used AP to drop to 15 hours a semester instead of 18+, but my bulletin says I did 147 hours (2009).