A Must-Take: Dual Credit Classes
By Janna P.
As NSA students are well aware, NorthStar offers a plethora of classes to choose from. Take Astronomy, Wisdom Literature, and Digital Photography, for starters. What most NSA high school students aren’t familiar with, though, are the dual credit (DC) classes made possible through NSA’s partnership with Colorado Christian University, or CCU. I intend to lay out what you need to know about the dual credit program and why you should take an interest in it. Dual credit has been nothing short of a lifesaver for me, and I hope it will be greatly beneficial for you too!
First off, I must clarify something important – the difference between DC classes and AP classes. While the two are the same as far as coursework goes, the strings attached to the AP route are snipped for dual credit. In an AP class, students study all year to take the AP exam for the course in May, meriting a lot of stress and late-night studying. The exam is timed and a form of standardized testing; for those who struggled with the SAT or ACT, you may find AP exams difficult as well. For me, the SAT was nightmarish, and I dislike being under the pressure of a time constraint. Additionally, students must earn a score of at least 3, 4 for some universities, on the AP exam if they wish a college to accept it as credit. Put simply, college credit isn’t guaranteed by taking an AP class, and if college credit is your goal in taking the class, wouldn’t you rather be certain of the credit given the hard work and money you’ve put into the class? I sure would! This is where DC classes come in. Only a C or better is required to earn the college credit, and for a fee of 200 dollars in addition to the NSA course tuition, students are able to skip the AP exam that regular AP students would take. In fact, DC students are strongly recommended not to take the AP exam because if they sign up for the exam and fail it for some reason, they are no longer eligible for dual credit, per CCU’s accreditation organization.
Since the program’s creation in the 2015-16 school year, a total of 15 dual credit classes have been added. Covering English, math, science, social studies, and electives, the classes have something to interest everyone. University-bound high school students may take the majority of their general education required for college using dual credit classes. If you are uncertain about your major, taking a DC class at NSA will broaden your horizons and help determine what interests you. Someone considering psychology, for instance, could take DC AP Psychology as a taste of what that would look like. Budding computer scientists might take DC AP Computer Science, and the musically inclined would find DC AP Music Theory appealing. Currently, NorthStar’s DC department is looking into adding DC Systematic Theology, DC AP Art History, and DC AP Latin to the selection.
From a time and money point of view, DC classes are invaluable in the long run. By taking college credit in advance, you won’t need to spend as much time at university and can get started on your career sooner. Moreover, you won’t need to spend as much money at university either. Colleges are notorious for their expense. Classes at university cost quite a bit less taken as DC classes in high school. Both of these factors played a significant role when I decided to do DC over AP.
If DC classes sound intimidating, they really aren’t. Depending on the subject, you could start taking them in your freshman year of high school. However, I would recommend having a good grasp of core subjects before diving into harder material. The coursework is more challenging and time-consuming than regular high school courses, but “With God are wisdom and might; He has counsel and understanding” (Job 12:13 ESV). Armed with a mountain of perseverance and a boatload of dedication, any student will be prepared to tackle a DC class.
Should you decide to take some DC classes, be sure you start them early enough in the school year to allow sufficient time to finish them before you plan to take your summer vacation. I start mine in mid-August and finish in plenty of time. These classes are well worth the extra effort, and I believe you will emerge from them with better preparedness for post-high school life than you would otherwise. Contact Mrs. Melissa Moreno, the head of the DC and AP department, for any questions you may have, and visit NSA’s official DC page for more information. I’d also be happy to talk about DC classes; just shoot me a message in Teams.
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Janna P. is a senior and seventh-year NSA student who lives in Idaho with her family of five. She enjoys reading, cooking, baking, traveling the Northwest, hanging out with her family, and spending time in God's creation. This is her first year on the Navigator. After her schooling career is over, she hopes to become a librarian and published author.