Would love to have the boards opinion about this. My son will likely be entering with 33 AP credits. Included in those credits will be Calc 1 and 2, Physics A,B and C, Stat and Chemistry. Would you recommend he repeat the courses or take the credits and take the next logical course. I am a bit worried that the AP courses would not adequately prepare him for the for the next level. (Then again saving a years worth of tuition sounds good too). He is planning on studying Chemistry or physics so these would be core to his major.
I (and I suspect the board) would need a lot more info to give you a specific answer.
Some general info, and some answers geared toward you.
First, IMHO, your son should take as many credits as the college/university he attends will offer him for AP courses. You/he paid for the AP test, and he did the work during the course, and college credits are significantly more expensive than is the AP test.
Second, each university, and in many instances each college within a university, has their own policy regarding AP credits. Some will offer them for 3s, 4s, or 5s. Others will only offer them for 4s and 5s, and others will only offer them for 5s.
As a subset of the second point, there's also the major. The policies vary between universities/colleges/major, but there a number of places where credits for AP courses are not offered if the course is in the major your son selects.
Third, while this is small potatoes in the grand scheme, be aware that most college/universities now charge a fee to have AP credits processed by them and included as part of one's transcript. I know a lot of parents that were surprised and more than a little annoyed at this, so be prepared.
33 credits (if he actually gets that) is a year's worth of studies at most colleges. That's a lot of money to save. If he is offered that many credits, you could save a year's worth of tuition and room & board, or he could use the credits as a means toward earning a dual major (which might mean he'l still need 4 years; lots of variables).
A down side I've heard of, which you may be hinting at in your questions, is that those that take as many AP credits you are mentioning are propelled into 2nd year courses, which can be pretty tough for some students. You/your son, (and college advisors) are the only one that answer whether this would be an issue.
Looking more closely at the AP courses your son has taken, there's another variable to be aware of. Some colleges/universities will only give credit for 1 physics course, so you only 1 of his courses will count, and some will only credit for B and C (basically the same thing). You may run into the same thing with Calc. (You lost Calc 1 and Calc 2, though I believe the AP courses are Calc AB and Calc BC.)
There's also a hybrid answer. Depending on the college your son elects to attend, and his choosing to major in chem or physics, you may find that most of the AP courses he's taken will not enable him to get college credits in his major. However, they may offer him college credits for the tests, but not for courses in his major (meaning that he can use them for general courses (Gen Ed at PSU)). At the same time, there other colleges that don't allow this.
As the above indicates, the issue you raised is rather complicated. You should be able to look up online what are the policies for the majors your son is interested in at the colleges/universities he applies to/is interested in.
