Reporting AP Scores on the Common App

Applying to College
1

Hi,
I am a current senior and had a few questions regarding the AP scores for college applications this fall. I’ve gotten the following scores thus far:

2015
Calc BC: 5 (AB Subscore: 5)
Chem: 5
US History: 4

2014
Macro: 5

I am currently taking AP Spanish, AP English Language & Comp, and AP Stats. I’ll also be taking AP US Gov. next semester.

  1. Even though I got a 5 on the AP Chem exam, I only got an A- in the class. This was NOT because the class was deliberately hard; in fact, this teacher/class were known for being infamously easy to get A+'s in assuming one was hard working and decently smart. Will my getting a 5 on the exam potentially make the A- look less significant to admissions? If so, by how much?
  2. I am hoping to apply to some very competitive colleges and was worried that only getting a 4 on the APUSH exam might look bad. Would it be better to send that score as well to show that I was able to perform pretty well on 3 exams in a single year, or would the fact that it was not a 5 be a potential turnoff?
  3. Some of the college websites that I looked at stated that they did take into consideration an already admitted student's performance in their last sem of high school, but were very vague about what this meant. Does anyone know if this refers primarily to grades & extracurriculars, or will they also consider the AP tests that I'll be taking next May if I state that I wish to report them on the common app?

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly.

2

Addendum to #1: Not THAT easy to get an A+ in. I exaggerated a bit, though I did make some foolish mistakes in that class.

3

Relax. A- is a good grade. It would be bad the other way around if you have a poor score in AP exam but a good grade in school. They may think there is grade inflation in that case. AP scores have little impact in college admission. Particularly with scores of 4 or 5, you really have nothing needed to be worried.

4

4 is a good score on the APUSH Exam, don’t worry about including it on the common app. What they mean by 2nd semester grades has more to do with your grades taking a nose dive than helping you. They will ask for and consider 1st semester grades in their March admissions decision

5

No. AP scores carry little to no weight in the admissions process; they are mostly used for credit and/or placement. That said, if you had a slew of 1’s and 2’s, that would not help your cause. Additionally, an A- is by no stretch of the imagination a bad grade.

Same answer as above.

EC’s and AP exam results will not matter at all once you have an admissions decision. They will expect you to maintain your grades and not get arrested.