I think I blew it...

[Modulation]

<p>

Your AP scores mean ABSOLUTELY nothing.

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<p>I somewhat disagree. While AP scores aren’t necessarily a deciding factor, there are certain instances where an AP score could help or hurt your application. </p>

<p>AP scores can hurt if they:

1. do not reflect your performance at school. For example, getting a 1 or 2 on AP Bio while getting an A in the class could really undermine the A that you got. Conversely, if you had a mediocre grade (like C) in said AP course and ended up getting a 5, admissions officers might question your work ethics (though this could also happen in a simply hard AP class).
2. are consistently low. For example, having a slew of non-passing AP scores would significantly hurt your application as it shows that you REALLY haven’t mastered the material. (Let’s face it, a typical % for a 5 is 60-70%.) I would advise against reporting a 1 or 2.</p>

<p>AP scores can help if they:

1. are self-studied and of a passing grade. I wouldn’t say self-studying helps significantly, but it does show initiative if you have a passion for the subject. For example, I self-studied for music theory and environmental science (5 and 4, respectively) because music is a big focus of my life and I want to study environmental engineering. So yeah, self-studying can add another dimension to you as long as you have a purpose in taking the exam.</p>

<p>AP scores are “neutral” if they:

1. reflect the grade you received in the AP class. If you got like an A or A- in the AP class, then it’s almost “expected” that you ended up with a 4 or 5. If that’s the case, I don’t think that 4 or 5 would “help” a lot necessarily. </p>

<p>DISCLAIMER: Those are just my personal opinions based on what I’ve read on CC.</p>

<p>HOWEVER, it seems that a Harvard admissions officer somewhat agrees with me. =]</p>

<p>

There are a lot of students with A’s, and test scores help us distinguish among them. Standardized tests are comparison tools. The better predictors are SAT II Subject Tests and AP tests. They are more important than the SAT I or the ACT. You may have read that colleges are expressing doubt about standardized tests, but I’ll give you a clue: We won’t be cutting back on tests. We might require five SAT II tests. Those are less coachable than the SAT I. Working hard as a student is more important than taking tests.

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<p>Source: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/579659-report-harvard-info-session-sunday-28-september-2008-a.html?highlight=information+session[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/579659-report-harvard-info-session-sunday-28-september-2008-a.html?highlight=information+session&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In conclusion, generally speaking, APs aren’t that big of a deal in admissions (but like all things, little nuances will be scrutinized when dealing with similar applicants). However, I think it will be more important as admissions gets more competitive.</p>