It can depend on both the school and the exam. S23’s school gives useful credit for a 3 on some exams, 4 on some other exams, and in some cases only a 5 will do the trick.
Here’s why I’m asking:
On the common app, a student would basically self-report whatever AP scores they want to include in their applications to colleges. Then later on, if you get accepted and decide to attend, that’s when you send the official score reports from College Board to the college…that’s the advice from our HS’s college counselor, anyway, when D24 was going through the process.
Of course, there’s nuances and can be variation to this depending on the student’s specific circumstances, such as:
- student is applying to a highly rejective institution. Highly Rejective College is known for expecting you to get all 5’s on all of your AP exams.
- student is applying to a college where for that specific class, the only course credit you’d get is if you scored a 5 on the AP exam.
- student attends an intensely competitive high school where something like half the graduating class all applies to Stanford and every year, if the HS is lucky, 1 or 2 students from that HS are accepted to Stanford. Almost everybody at the HS are high achievers. So the student & his/her/their parents are worried that having an A in that AP class yet a 4 on the AP exam will mean that the kid won’t get into Stanford.
- Student or parent heard through their social network grapevine that 3’s or 4’s are poop scores and you shouldn’t send them at all no matter what.
Recently (can’t remember if it was on this site or elsewhere), I read a comment by someone who said that getting a 3 on an AP exam is basically like failing the exam and the person’s opinion was that you shouldn’t ever report a 3 to a college you’re applying to.
…which is foolish, in my opinion.
Totally depends on the context of the student with that he/she/they have going on in their life that year, what’s going on at home, the context of their high school, etc.
Maybe you’re an under-resourced student and scoring a 3 or 4 is pretty phenomenal for you, since you’re having to work 20 hr/wk outside of school to help pay the rent at home. Or maybe this was a really hard subject for you this year + your teacher’s teaching style made it a lot more challenging. Or maybe you’re in a situation like what happened to my D24 during AP Calculus AB in 11th grade, where you had 3 different math teachers over the course of the year because the original teacher of the class left the school and then you had a substitute for 2 months (during which time you basically were given worksheets to do each day and didn’t learn anything new) until they could hire somebody permanently…so the 3 you got on the AP Calc AB exam in May was, therefore, really fantastic.
Or maybe your student went through a lot of health challenges during the school year and there was just no way that 5’s were going to happen.
You get the idea. 
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As for reporting AP scores during the admissions cycle, I guess I wonder if the reach schools on S26’s list will not appreciate 4s, particularly when viewed next to a 35 ACT. We’d certainly submit them to his chosen school to get credit. I don’t think my D22 submitted any of hers, but I don’t remember why. At the application point, she had two 5s in AP Euro and APUSH, 4 in AP Lang and 3 in AP Stats.
My hope is that AOs will take AP tests for what they are- a singular data point at 1 point in time. Not like ACTs/SATs where you get another crack at it. My kiddo took her math AP this year while she was really sick- we were emailing with the school the night before to see if there was a make-up time that would work in case she couldn’t do it…she was already slotted to take APES during the make up date due to test conflicts. She took the test, got a 3 and is happy with that- considering she felt absolutely terrible! I’m certain that happens all the time, and surely AOs realize this. My S23 did have a couple of 4s that he reported, and he’s currently at Brown. My guess is that an admissions person isn’t going to ding a kid for having 4s, and they understand that these are big, high pressure tests that don’t always go the way kids want them to.
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I agree. It never even occurred to me not to submit a 4. I would think (hope?) that a score of 4 – coupled with a good grade in the class – shows an understanding of the material and ability to perform in a pressure test environment. I would actually worry that if my D only reported her 5s, the assumption would be her other scores were a 3 or lower.
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Truthfully, a 3 means that the student “passed” and is deemed “college-ready” in that subject. Most regular (non-highly selective) schools take a 3 for credit for most AP subjects (although sadly not for the test my D26 took 
).
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D26’s only 3 is in foreign language, but she’s actually excited to take another language in college, so she will not be reporting that score, seeing that she’s not trying to seek credit or placement. She will be reporting her other scores (4s and 5s).
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I’ve been following this “Application Nation” group on FB (there is a monthly cost) and they don’t always recommend submitting a 4. It depends on the schools on your list (how selective), whether the AP class is related to the intended major, and what the other AP scores look like. The trend I’m seeing is that if you have several tests and there are mostly 5s with a random 4 here and there that is in a course not related to the major, they say submit all. They seem to also sometimes recommend submitting only the 5s and not the 4s.
Importantly, they also note that whether you submit the score in your application is not the same as whether you submit for credit. After an acceptance, you could submit 4s for credit then.
I asked about whether they would recommend submitting my daughter’s lone IB test on which she scored a 6 (the equivalent of an AP 4) and they said no. They said if there were a slew of 7s and just one or two 6s, maybe. But a sole test with a 6 they would not recommend submitting.
Again, all of this advice is dependent on the college list. If applying to schools with 20% or lower acceptance rate, this is generally their advice.
Interesting.
D26 is looking to major in biochem. She got 5s in Chem and Bio.
She has zero interest in humanities. Got 4s in Lang, APUSH, Microecon, 5 in Gov.
I’ll have her check in with her HS counselor. Figures that her school of choice has a <10% admit rate, but she’s a recruited athlete, so it might be a wash?
Thoughts on AP Calc BC 5, AP Stats 5, AP Lang 5 and AP French 4? Non heritage speaker so we feel like the 4 is ok to submit in this scenario. Her speaking is more advanced than her grammar from a foreign exchange. She also skipped French 4 and went right to AP. Maybe a mistake but too late now and did free up her schedule senior year.
Is this advice coming from students, parents, or professionals such as college counselors or application readers?
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Professional college counselors. They are former admissions officers who now work for this company. (Sara Harberson is the name to google).
So I’m not the professional of course!!! But based on what I’ve seen in this FB group, they’d probably recommend to submit all of those unless she intends to major in French.
Thank you! It’s amazing how we start second guessing so much. I have D25 and now D26 and I can’t believe we are heading into college app season again!!!
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S22 had all 5s, one 4 and one 3, which was in Physics(during covid). He reported all, got into a lot of very selective colleges, that too as an engineering major. In my opinion, you have to look at all the aspects of your kid’s, application, AP scores are just one small part of it, they don’t make or break the application.
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I agree. If a student gets rejected from a highly rejective college/university, it’s probably for reasons other than a single AP exam score.
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Well this has certainly been an interesting discussion. I had no idea an AP score of 4 could be considered low by some schools’ standards – but those colleges are probably not a good fit then. My kids are definitely not striving for perfection.
I’m not sure it is considered low. The thought is more that in some cases it does not add to the application. Also, the person whose advice I’m parroting used to be an AO at Penn and has said they would sometimes put an applicant who was on the cusp in the no or waitlist pile based on a 4, esp if in a course that was related to the intended major.
It’s just one person’s advice, so take it or leave it!
Part of why I chimed in though is just to point out that getting college credit for the 4 can still happen even if the score isn’t submitted with the application.
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This is why context is important when it comes to the sort of question of “Should I submit my AP scores with my application to colleges?”
- Which colleges is the student applying to? At many colleges, even a 3 will get you course credit, depending on what the subject is and which college it is. Whereas at other colleges, they expect 5’s all across the board and won’t give you course credit for anything.
- What major(s) is the student applying to those colleges with?
- What are the other AP scores, if any?
- Is the student attending a highly resourced or under-resourced high school or somewhere in between? E.G.: student attends a rural high school where only a couple of AP classes are available and a ‘high’ AP score in those classes would be a 3 or a 4 and most of the students who take the AP exam don’t pass it.
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D26 had a 5 (Lang) and two 4s (Psych/APUSH), but she was most excited for a 3 in Physics 1! The class was poorly taught and D26 has no interest in Physics at all - she’s 100% humanities - but she was hoping to manage a 3 and did so. I doubt she will report it on applications, but there’s an outside chance she could eventually get credit if she ends up at a likely or lock school.
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