What if your kid’s school doesn’t require the AP tests and your child only took 7 AP exams out of 9 AP classes. He will report the 7 scores (all 3+) but won’t have anything to report for 2 AP classes. Should the counselor mention “testing not required” and “only 7 exams taken”? I don’t want to AOs to think he bombed those two exams. I don’t believe the AP testing (not) required information is on the school profile sheet.
Edited to add:
All testing history does appear on student transcript including ACT, SAT, SAT2, AP, etc. Does this make a difference?
If I intend to apply to top 20 schools, will a lack of AP scores be a deal breaker? I took two AP courses my junior year but I had never heard of an AP test until now. I’m taking five APs this year and am scheduled to take SAT Subject Tests in Math 2 and Chemistry (both of which I have had AP equivalents of) and Biology.
Are the subject tests held in the same regard as AP tests during application review? And is there a way to mention in my application that I am not omitting 1s or 2s and simply haven’t taken the exams?
@renott Lack of AP scores should not be a “deal-breaker” so to speak, but they can boost your application a little. If you score very well on the Subject Tests that will look just as good as AP scores. They do like to see rigorous courses in high school, though. Just my $.02
@MileSwimmerDude After experiencing senior year, I see that my school places a lot of priority on higher level humanities courses. Most of which are sponsored through a local university and are required for a gifted diploma at me school. I think that it’s rather rigorous as I’m taking four of these courses at a time in addition to my basic courses. I hope that the humanities courses count as the course rigor while my SAT II scores show that I also learned non humanities information
That’s definitely worth mentioning. Whether or not the admission folks pay much heed to the “missing” two scores will depend on how busy and rushed they are and also on which tests were not taken. For instance, if a student has AP Physics or AP Calc on a transcript but no exam score, that is more likely to be noticed and discussed (with questions about a poor score) than if it’s AP Psych or Econ (often considered more lightweight AP’s) with no corresponding exam results.
And even if all testing history is on the transcript, the admission officials may note that AP tests are missing, if they are reading carefully and if the subjects are the more rigorous ones, as explained above. Thus, it’s worth a counselor mention that two tests weren’t taken. But if there’s a reason why the tests were skipped (other than “Junior was afraid he’d bomb them”), that should be included, too. For example, at my own local high school last fall, the AP Bio teacher left after a month or two into the semester and then the job was filled by a series of substitutes. The class was a minor disaster, and students were advised to feel free to skip the exam … which most did.
Thanks @Sally_Rubenstone The skipped tests were APCS and APES. He skipped them because he didn’t like the classes much and wasn’t interested in getting college credit for them.
@Dragonflygarden -I really don’t think that skipping those two tests will have any impact at all on his college outcomes, whether the counselor mentions that the tests weren’t take or not. So no worries.
@HariboGoldBear -Some folks may tell you not to send the 3’s, but I recommend submitting ALL scores. The two 3’s are certainly respectable, even if you won’t get credit for them, and will show that you did decently … albeit not superbly … in areas that are not your interest or strength.
Here’s another situation. I took AP World in 10th grade, in which I got a C+ first semester (long story, this is the only really bad grade on my transcript) but an A in 2nd semester. I got a 3 on the test (I wrote my essays too slow and definitely could have done much better). I got 5s on my 2 other APs that year (incl. 1 self studied). In junior year I am taking 5 APs and expect to get 4s/5s on all of them. Should I report the 3 or not? Or should I try either retaking the World test or taking the subject test this year without really re-studying (I don’t have time) and hope I can get a better score?
@nac7890 -No need to report that AP World score, and I wouldn’t recommend retesting at this point (or taking the Subject Test) now that the material isn’t fresh and you don’t have time to prepare.
Thanks @Sally_Rubenstone but if I don’t report the score wouldn’t colleges assume I bombed the test, which would be a logical conclusion seeing as I got a C? And if so, wouldn’t that somewhat devalue my 2nd semester A?
@nac7890-Admission officials are barely going to spend nanoseconds looking at your AP results. And, for World History, they will only look at your final grade in the class, whether that was an A or some version of a B. If you prefer to keep the AP score on your list of results, that’s fine, but what I was saying before is that it won’t matter if you leave it off. The admission folks will not be wondering about it or hunting for it. That might be the case for other tests/scores (e.g., AP Calc or science taken in junior or senior year) but they really aren’t going to be giving any time to a 10th grade history exam. So whatever you decide to do with it is really fine and won’t affect your admission verdicts one bit.
I was in an AP Chemistry class with about 15 other students (my school is kind of small since it is private). Of those students, all got a 1 except for one student who got a 2. I knew our teacher was horrible and asked our counselor if I could not take the test but I was forced to. I had a 110 average in that class with weight and was awarded a highest average award at our end of the year school assembly.
I would just ask someone to mention it in a letter of recommendation but I don’t really have a person that it would be relevant to as my counselor left last year and I don’t really know my new counselor (who will be there my senior year).
Will colleges will know that I did my best by looking at my transcript and my award or will I still be penalized.
PS: I have gotten 4s on the other three AP exams that I took.
@cr_02 -Even if you don’t really know your new counselor, it wouldn’t hurt for you to explain the AP Chem situation to him or her and ask for an explanation of the teacher’s deficiencies and low class exam scores to be sent to colleges. If it doesn’t happen, it’s not a big deal, but many counselors are willing to explain extenuating circumstances like this one in their letters.
I’m an incoming junior who took AP Physics 1 as a sophomore. I got a 2 on the exam, however, & I’m not sure if I should self study and take the exam again or if I should just not send in that particular score. I want to major in biochem & next year I will be taking AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Spanish, & AP Physics 2. What should I do?
@bhavyad2018 - My vote would be for you to work hard in AP Physics 2 and hopefully perform well on the test. A good score on that exam will override your 2 in Physics 1. If your Physics 2 score is good, you can actually just send that one and not the Physics 1. But if you do poorly on Physics 2 as well, you really can’t ignore BOTH test scores. But let’s hope that you aren’t facing that decision, and that’s a bridge you can cross when you come to it.
Hello, like bhavyad2018, I am also an incoming junior who took AP Physics 1. I took the class during my freshman year and it was extremely easy. I didn’t bother to study at all and ended with a 2. (By the way I am a first generation student and an immigrant, so I didn’t really know about ap exams.)
My sophomore year, I took AP Bio and World History and got a 4 on both. I only study a month before the exams and now I really wish I studied more. I am going to take 4 AP classes junior year year and 5 more senior year, hoping for 5s.
Anyways, my question is would my best option be retaking the AP Physics 1 exam? I’m pretty confident I’d do well if I actually study. I’m also thinking about taking Physics C senior year if it matters.
@Sally_Rubenstone So I want to go to a very very top school for computer science. I got 5s in Calc AB, Stats, Lang, Computer Science (self-studied, and in 3 days btw haha). I got 4s in APUSH, Physics 1, and Physics C: Mech (self-studied). And finally I got a 3 in Gov… I got consecutive As for all of my classes. In your opinion, should I send in my Gov score or not (keeping in mind that government has nothing to do with my intended major at all).