Shiloh Smith

Students in AP Bio discuss a lab.

Mead High School is now offering AP Biology to be worth college credits as of the start of the 2024 school year. 

AP Biology is now worth eight total college credits, four per semester through CU Succeed. This course is everyday for the first semester, and drops down to every other day second semester due to being 1.5 credits for science.

Mr. White said, “I thought [AP bio being worth full college credits] would be a great opportunity to allow students to get a jumpstart on college credits through science.”

With this opportunity of earning these credits for college, even without majoring in a science, this is a great way to check off some general education courses for college. 

Mr. White also stated that it is so much cheaper to earn these college credits through the CU Succeed program versus a university or college program, adding to why this course is a huge benefit to students.

It is an estimated cost of between $30-$320 per semester here at Mead High School, while at some Colorado colleges such as CU Boulder, the price would range from about $2,000-$3,000. 

This class is graded by a 30/50/20 system. 30% of your grade is homework, class work and lab activities. 50% is quizzes, exams, and projects. 20% is your final.

Some main lessons learned in the course are general topics from biology, going from the minutiae of cells and molecules all the way up to the organism levels and ecology, having a very wide range of topics.

This class is recommended to anyone who plans on going into a premed field, science field, or any of the basic science fields. 

Mr. White is the only AP Bio teacher here at Mead High School, but recommends everyone to look into this opportunity due to the benefits and, “because it’s fun!”