My senior S is wanting to opt out of his AP exams this year. I am trying to understand what the benefits are of him taking them.
His AP classes are AP Physics 2, AP Calc BC, AP Env. Science, and AP Stat. He will be a physics major. He has heard from about half of his schools and is now waiting for the UCs and University of Washington.
For his physics and calculus classes, it seems like as a physics major, the colleges would require or strongly advise freshmen to take those classes at the college. I understand that at some schools for some majors, there is a sequence of classes you are required to take, so even if you have AP credit, they won’t let you count it. How do I find the pathway for his major at each of his possible schools and how do I figure out which classes he would get credit for? And even if he could get credit for the classes, would that be the best idea? I can’t imagine that the high school level classes really are the equivalent of a college course.
If he were on a waitlist for a UC and this waitlist went deep into the summer, i.e., July-August, could having good AP scores help? I saw that scores will not be released until July, and I don’t know if he would be willing to wait that long to decide where he will be in the fall.
Could not taking the tests impact college acceptances?
He said that he will and is required to do all the work in the class even if he is not taking the AP exam. He has given me no reason to doubt this statement was he is maintaining his grades.
I don’t know if we can get a refund as I’ve already paid for the exams, but I am assuming we will be able to.
What are the pros and cons of opting out of AP tests senior year?