With AP, you don't have to wait for college to start contributing, because AP is college in a high school setting. They not only give you the knowledge and skills to help you at your college or university but scoring well on the AP Exam can get you credit and placement there too. The AP Exam is scored on a 1-5 scale. In order to obtain college credit, a student must get a 3 or above on the AP Exam.
More information about AP courses and the AP exam can be found at:
http://apstudent.collegeboard.org/home
AP English Literature and Composition
AP Calculus AB
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP United States History
AP United States Government and Politics
AP Computer Science
AP Art
All AP courses are weighted an additional 1.0 quality point on the high school transcript. Students may receive college credit based on the score they earn (1-5) on the cumulative test given in May. Refer to the following website for information on policies for awarding AP credit; each college/university has their own policy: https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/creditandplacement/search-credit-policies