basically what the title says.
my parents told me yesterday I can self-study an AP if I want, which is really shocking after I dropped out of all my AP courses I was enrolled in this school year due to issues surrounding mental health and pressure. I was enrolled in AP Computer Science A, AP English Literature 12, and AP Statistics.
I’ve already taken AP Computer Science Principles, and my intended major would probably be Mechanical Engineering or something in Neuroscience/Molecular Biology or Global Public Health or I could possibly do Data Science (math).
I’m torn between the two math classes: AP Precalculus or AP Statistics; those two are actually tied, I really want to do one or the other. But I cannot physically do AP Calculus AB or BC.
I don’t want to do both, because I’m already in the middle of College Applications, but yeah.
IMO your time and energy would be much better spent focusing on your mental health, completing college applications, and enjoying time with family and friends.
also, forgot to mention this in the main post, but i’m learning disabled and self-studying an English/history AP may be challenging as the information is not ideal; plus I’m also enrolled in a normal physics course right now so doing that and AP Physics would be a nightmare.
see I agree, but I really, really want to try and self-study one of them…
yeah, but like-ahh!!-i really want to take one of them so badly, i have no idea where this intense compulsion (my extreme want) is coming from either when i know that my mental health may be jeopardized yet again.
There is no purpose in doing this. Colleges won’t know you are self studying an AP and you won’t have the scores until the summer, well after all decisions have been made. All you will be doing is putting pressure on yourself for no gain. This is not to say there isn’t value in gaining knowledge but that can be done without the pressure of studying an AP.
so there’s no way to tell them beforehand? like could i put in additional information “currently self-studying [name of AP course]” on the common app?
yes, yes but like I feel stupid in comparison to my graduating class, most of them have taken a lot of the APs possible. last year’s graduating class (c/o 2024) took one or more than the 29 on the school report.
there are very little people in my school who haven’t taken APs mainly because they’re exempt, I think I was exempt from taking them in 9th and 10th grade and only took Spanish 2 and 3 Honors.
Be the best you that you can be. Plus people will have graduated by the time you can gloat. Taking doesn’t mean doing well.
Colleges want you to take a class for a grade so telling them you self studied will not help. Plus just because you say it means nothing til you get a score.
Let’s say you pass and get college credit.
You’ll likely struggle in the next course up. Many classes build a foundation for the next. You likely won’t be prepared via a self study AP.
In general it’s not a good idea but of course it’s up to you.
College admissions officers are generally not impressed by self-studying for AP exams. They care about how applicants fare in the classroom, not if they can successfully cram for an exam.
I would not include any plans to self-study for an AP on your applications – if for any reason you don’t follow through with it, it could become a negative. Plus, the two courses you are considering self-studying are some of the less rigorous APs and unlikely impress admssions officers.
In the end, you will do what you want but I see zero benefit.
I teach APCSA. My school AP coordinator told my students that the AP exam order due date was yesterday.
My students say that AP pre-cal is easier than AP stats.
You can but they won’t care. First of all, as already mentioned, they care more about your performance in the class than the test. Second, what does that even mean if there’s no score to validate it? You could self study and fail, there’s no guarantee that your self study will yield any result at all - so why should the fact of self study impress them? It’s meaningless.
My child self-studied and took APs at the end of senior year. She was happy she did it because she was able to get scores that allowed her to opt out of a few classes in college. By the time she took the tests, she was already accepted into college and knew that her university would accept the AP credits (with a certain score). If she had chosen to attend a school that did not accept AP scores, she would’ve skipped the AP tests that we paid for (and we would’ve lost that money).
For the majors you mention, completing precalculus in high school is necessary to be ready for calculus in college. For most students, it is best to take precalculus in school rather than self study it.
I worked at a high school for a number of years. A good majority of my students were in AP classes. The overworked, unhappy, prestige-hunting students, self-studied for additional AP courses.
Your core teachers see each other often and discuss student progress. They have to write your letters of recommendation. If they know that you have struggled in their courses, their input to your guidance counselor is going to reflect your current issues.
You want to self-study an insane amount of information that may thrust your actual coursework in the trash.
You were taking AP English Lit and, I guess you were not aware that there is no such word as “irregardless”? That’s something every English teacher on our staff immediately corrected (including me).
Here’s the thing, you’re recovering from mental health issues. If you don’t think AP coursework is difficult now, wait until you try to self study it. (My friend/neighbor is on a UC admissions committee. Her committee ignores self-study scores because it tells them nothing about the function of a student in the competitive discussion environment of the classroom.)
look, I use it a lot by mistake and I think it just came out of me…I plan responses before responding.
also I kinda took this as a dig at me and my learning (:o)
i’m currently enrolled in introductory calculus, a class in my school that hopes to prepare students for college calculus…
oh I think AP coursework is terribly hard (heh, no wonder I dropped out! [no I dropped out bc of mental health issues :D!) no, I even took AP CSP last year and when everyone was like “omg it’s sooo easy” I was like, “what do you mean?! it’s so hard!?”
yup! i’m aware and I feel like the odds are stacked against me, big time.
my school extended the deadline.
AP pre-calc isn’t offered in my school; stats is.
I was trying to choose some of the (less rigorous) math courses so I can divert my focus on something not as stressful. the AP Calc AB & BC ones would involve me learning a lot of stuff not covered in my current Calc class curriculum.
overall, I see everyone is trying to tell me not to, and I’m still feeling iffy (70% of me doesn’t / 30% does)
It won’t let me edit my last post but in response to my use of the term ‘irregardless’ - I was in a normal/normal+special ed English environment for 3/4 of my HS career, until I had the grades to be put into AP English Lit.
i’m not using that as an excuse, but just to back up my point.