Toward the closing of their freshman year, students gain a wide variety of choices when picking classes for the following year. Among these choices are Advanced Placement (AP) and dual credit courses from Tarrant County College (TCC).Though TCC and AP are the best choices, AP classes make for a better decision for students with time to accomodate the workload.
At the end of each year, AP tests are offered in order to give students a chance at redeeming credit hours for core or elective classes in college. While retaining general success, scores on these exams vary from student to student with a score of three or higher granting credit hours at most universities. TCC offers guaranteed college credit being dual-credit, however many out-of-state institutions are beginning to not accept the credits granted by TCC due to the credit also being used to fulfill high school graduation requirements. AP may not give guaranteed credit, but the likelihood of any credits accumulated being accepted are exponentially higher than the TCC path.
An AP student gains another benefit; the ability to exempt all class finals for which they took an AP test. Per district policy, MISD requires students to take a cumulative exam at the end of each semester and as an extra reward for hard work throughout the school year, counts the AP exams as the cumulative exam for the tested course, while not taking away other TAKS and attendance exemptions as of norm. Because of the dual-credit nature of the classes, exemption is simply not an option for TCC.
TCC has many things to offer, including increased freedoms within the classroom as well as an abundance of independent work. The design of the classes also allows an increased amount of time to be allocated to other aspects of high school life, such as jobs or social activities, making it a much more viable option for the encumbered workaholic or the most overloaded of socialites. Many students enjoy the flexibility that TCC offers and thrive in the more independent, college-like environment.
Although both TCC and AP have their merits and TCC offers more virtual freedoms, AP wins outright when the comparing the ends met by the two programs.
