Ahh, but according to my son, he doesn't need to check them because he makes no mistakes! And apparently he doesn't remember what he needs to do in order to "check his work."
I think this behavior is normal. My 12-year-old is only now beginning to get the idea about checking his work. I typically push him to check problems and his usual response is akin to what you wrote. But recently, he's actually checked them and found errors. He seems pleased when he finds the errors and even more pleased when we check what he did against an answer key and he gets, say, 100%. I can see he has a real sense of accomplishment.
I don't think he's going to suddenly check his work as a matter of course, but I think that he's finally on the path to that place.
Perhaps the workload of AP courses will prove taxing, but probably more related to the volume rather than complexity.
I steer my son away from AP courses. Why take an AP course when you can just take an actual college course? Yes, I know why people take them, IMO, they aren't generally worth it.
