There is no cost to cancel an AP score.
http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-score-cancellation-form.pdf
https://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/ap/scores/reporting/for-students
If you don’t like an AP score, just cancel it. It’s free and the college will never see it. (Now, if you took the AP class and there’s no score to go along with it, that’s another story. You’ll have to think through that one, but for some people who take AP exams on their own without the AP class and the don’t like their score, cancelling might make sense)
@shutiao -Your question is off topic for this thread but if you send me an “Ask the Dean” question, I’ll try to answer it there.
Can you take multiple AP tests in the same subject and report only the best score?
i think i took 8 AP tests during high school (3 of which were world history, repeated)
only passed 2 of them, spanish and AP gov (4 & 3, respectively)
everything else is a 2 or a 1.
should i even report them when applying to UC’s like berkeley? some of them were for classes i didn’t even take (ap us history) lol
We visited Yale last month. During their info session they said that they like to see all AP scores, but it’s not mandatory. They said that if you take an AP class and don’t submit the corresponding test score, they will assume you blew the test. My takeaway – if you took the AP class and got a 3, you might want to submit it (so they don’t assume it was a 2 or less); if you took the AP class and got a 2 or less, you might want to withhold (in case they happen not to notice or assume maybe a 3); if you didn’t take the AP class, they have no reason to expect an AP score, so definitely withhold any bad scores (unless the school mandates submitting all AP test scores).
Nobody said there was. There is, however, a $10 charge to withhold a score from the score report.
https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-score-witholding-form.pdf
As I said earlier, it’s a question of semantics, but the cancellation form needs to be sent in by June 15th and the exam is never scored. Once you receive a score, there is no cancelling, only withholding.
Yes, but as Sally said earlier, your transcript may list both scores. Additionally your CB score report will show both scores unless you withhold the lower one.
They should make an article, regarding how much Regents scores affects admissions 
Please read this again:
Score Cancellation
Canceling an AP Exam score permanently deletes it — it cannot be reinstated at a later time. Scores may be canceled at any time. However, for scores not to be sent to the college indicated on a student’s 2015 AP answer sheet, AP Services must receive the cancellation request by June 15, 2014. Students must complete the AP Score Cancellation Form (.pdf/198KB) and mail or fax it to AP Services. Once a cancellation is requested, the exam will not be scored, and a score for that exam will never be available. (Archived scores cannot be canceled.)
If you aren’t graduating, you aren’t going to be listing a college to which the scores can be sent; therefore, as per the above, scores can be canceled at any time. My older two sons cancelled scores after they got scores that they found unacceptable. The June 15th date only refers to scores that are due to be sent to a college, and specifically addresses the point that said exam will not be scored.
My oldest took 4 AP exams in his freshman year. He got a 3 on both AP Calc B/C and AP stats. He cancelled the scores in July after he got them, and then later retook the scores. No problem-it was all free. The report that showed up at MIT after he graduated high school had those dates on it, but there is a blank where the score was. The report has the new, improved scores on it, as well.
My middle son took the AP Physics B in his junior year and got a 2. When we saw his score in July, we cancelled it, no problem, no fee.
Hope this clarifies my point.
I stand corrected. Thanks. @sbjdorlo
Don’t report scores that hurt your application. Report things that help your application. Unless specifically asked to report all AP scores, leave out the low scores. That is my opinion.
Schools will still assume that you got a low score anyway, especially if all the other courses you’ve taken have an AP score associated with them.
What if you took an AP class and did NOT take the test. Why would the college assume you took it and did poorly. For example, daughter took AP Music Theory and got two As. But the AP music theory exam includes a bunch of voice work and she plays flute so she didn’t take it. How do you let the Ad Coms know she didn’t get a 1 on it and cancel the score? And for that matter, why would they assume it? For the record, she also didn’t take her science class AP exam, The rest of her exams were 5s.
Thanks for posting this @Sally_Rubenstone ! This was really helpful 
Hi, I’m going to be a junior this upcoming fall, but I do have 6 APs under my belt. I am satisfied with all my scores, except Calc AB/BC (which I took freshman year), as I scored a 4, 3. This is weird because math is easily my strongest subject. It was my first Ap test, and I did not study at all for it, forgetting most of the formulas/methods by the test.
Now the question is, should I retake the test? I honestly did not worry about it until I read this article, so I didn’t retake it last spring. Although it’s been a while since I’ve done Calc, I’m sure if I put in the effort, I can raise my score. But is it worth the effort? Or will my other AP scores cover-up this blemish.
Thanks!
BTW: I am aiming for an elite (top20) school
you must be in linear algebra already @deeeznuts
Yup took it last year, taking Calc 3 next year (so studying AP Calc might come in handy anyways)
@BananaChips -You’re welcome. I’m glad I could be helpful.
@deeeznuts, take it again. My son got the same scores when he took it freshman year, after taking Calc I, II and III at the community college in 8th and 9th grade. He took the exam without studying, and we erroneously thought BC covered Calc II and Calc III, rather than Calc I and Calc II. Being that he’d had Calc I in 8th grade, he was rusty. So, he self-studied with Thinkwell materials in his sophomore year, and got a 5. We figured since he planned to be a math major, he should have a 5 on the B/C exam regardless of how far he was in community college math (and he took linear algebra and dif equation in sophomore year).
The retake doesn’t sound like it would be a big deal for you.
@Sally_Rubenstone What if I have a 4 in Physics C: Mechanics and want to do some type of engineering? I do have a 5 AP Calc BC (5 as well on AB subscore) if that makes a difference. I know a 4 isn’t bad, but the percentage for 5s was so high I feel like colleges would look down on a 4.
@meaa7130 - As I mentioned earlier, it’s irresponsible of me to try to advise students based on the little information I have here. But, with that disclaimer in place, my advice to you is not to worry about the 4. Admission officials will be far more concerned with your course selection and grades. Have you taken the physics Subject Test? If not, that would be worth adding to your to-do list … and chem as well. And the 5 on the calc will definitely be a plus.