I am a junior in high school and this will be the first year I have taken AP classes, so I have no idea how AP Exams work/ are graded.
Right now, I have the choice to register for the AP English Language Exam. From what my teacher and others have said, the exam consists of reading passages/ multiple choice and a few essays. I am okay at writing essays on the spot (have gotten mostly A’s or B’s on the in-class ones I have written with no preparation), but I am-- to say the least-- horrible at reading passages and doing its correlating multiple choice. I have found this through ACT prep as well that Reading is something almost always perform poorly in.
That being said, should I take the AP Exam and risk getting a 1,2, or 3? Or should I just not take it at all?
Also, I don’t really care much about the college credit I would/ would not be receiving. I’m more worried about what college admissions would think of a low score. I have done research and there are mixed replies on whether it is better to just take the AP exam and get a low score, or just not take it at all.
For the AP, there isn’t an official report that gets sent out like with the ACT or SAT. That means that you can report the score or not as you see fit.
If your high school doesn’t require that you take the exam, and you don’t think you will do well on the exam, It is perfectly OK to skip the exam. But before you make that decision, get a sample exam at the library or from your teacher, and see whether or not you think you will do fine.
For junior and below, you should take the AP exam if you are taking the class. When a student does not self report an AP score for a class taken, the admission office may think one may get a low score. Although the score itself should not affect too much your admission, but it may affect the impression on your school’s grading scale if you do get a good grade at school.