How early to start working on college credits?

[cookderosa]

I've never heard of a school only offering AP exams to seniors. That would suck, as they are already only offered once a year (and on specific days and times) - so a senior might have conflicting dates and not be able to take the exams they needed after taking the course. It wouldn't make a lot of sense.

That is the major downside to AP exams though - each AP exam is offered ONE single day each year, at a specific time. And all schools don't administer all exams (the schools here don't offer German, for instance, so they don't offer the German AP exam). They are also allowed to say that anyone who isn't a student at their school can't come on campus to take the exams. So you not only have to find a school that is offering the exam you want, but you have to get permission to take it. And, you have to be ready to take the exam when offered, rather than when you feel ready to take it. It's a pretty wacky system, but it's what we've got.

and, as of 2016 all AP exams are aligned down to Common Core (K-12) while CLEP exams remain aligned up with 100/200 level college courses.