What to do about a 3 on AP Lang?

Applying to College
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I got a 3 on ap lang and a 5 on APWH. It was mostly because my English teacher was really nasty and didn’t show us how to properly put together an essay (most kids at my school taught by her fail this exam fwiw). I’m applying as a history major to ivies/top 20 unis. I got a >700 on the English section of the sat so I think that should even it out? Idk what to do because I don’t want colleges to think I failed the exam

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You don’t have to report the score to most colleges including most Ivys/T20 and if you don’t they won’t care. So problem solved. (And even if you did a 3 on an AP isn’t going to be the sole reason you get in or don’t; Also, a 3 is not “failing” anyway.)

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I’ll probably submit it, but basically they won’t hold it against me?

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If they’re not going to give you credit, no need to submit.

And please don’t blame others for your score. People want to see that you take responsibility for your actions and results.

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What to do about a 3 on ap lang

You move on. If your question is whether to list in the application for T20’s, probably not.

Now it’s time for some tough love:

Nobody wants to hear that, and it’s not an acceptable answer. Own your 3. You got a 3 because you didn’t prepare, not because the teacher was mean and nasty. There are adequate outside resources to do so. As you prepare for your AP exams next year, and for exams in college, you will need to take ownership for your own learning. Teachers are there to facilitate, not spoon-feed. And some teachers, professors, and bosses are better than others. You need to fill in the gaps as needed. Good luck

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Ivy League schools and other “top 20” universities are reaches for pretty nearly all very strong students. As one example, a few years ago Stanford included an article on admissions in their alumni magazine. They estimated that 80% of their applicants are qualified to attend. They accept closer to 4% of applicants.

However, there are a large number of very good universities in the US. Make sure that you apply to safeties.

If you do get to attend an Ivy League university, or even if you don’t, you will find a lot of very good professors, and a few bad professors. You will need to deal with the bad professors.

Also, whether you get accepted to a “top 20” university or not, you will probably never know for sure why you either got accepted or didn’t. Those of us who did attend a highly ranked university can guess what got us accepted, but we are only guessing.

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I’m worried it might look bad since I’m applying as a humanities major. It’s weird because I got a 5 on ap lit and ap physics last year which is harder than lang

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You worry a lot - about everything.

You’re making a lot of assumptions about where you’re going, where you’re getting into, etc.

Your record is your record.

Just like the other thread - stop worrying - make sure you have two affordable and sure things - and after that, then take your shots.

You want to study History (a social science) - guess what, the “where” you study this likely won’t impact you in life.

You’re in high school - if you’re stressing this much now, you’ll be in for a long life.

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Yes I know, it’s been tough lately because of my rapidly declining physical health and ocd. I just really want to get out of upstate ny

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I’m sure you can get out of up state.

Good luck

It’s a history degree - you’ll be fine no matter where you study. But take care of you first.

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I’m not kidding when I say we never learned to put an essay together. We didn’t learn how to put together any of the essays from the test because half the time she would put on movies most of the time and get super angry when I would ask her about the exam content. The other half of the time she was not in class. English class is not my strong suit but I did prepare a lot. I don’t think my original post elaborated on this enough

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You may consider a tutor then. Or summer class (it’s late). You will need to write multiple essays for the colleges you seek to attend.

Also you got a 3. So you did competent work. So I don’t think, personally, that you can’t write an essay. You wrote one and earned a decent score.

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I understand all of this. BUT in an essay or in an interview you can not blame the teacher/classroom circumstances for the 3. Even if every fiber of your being wants to write about this or tell an interviewer about it, don’t.

I agree with others who say to not report the 3 to highly rejective schools. They will not assume you had a low score, plenty of students don’t take the tests so obviously have no score to report. Report the score to schools that give credit for the 3.

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I also think that if you submit an ACT or SAT, even if you do submit a 3, it’s not gonna matter at all in the long run. It’s ONE number.

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Like others are suggesting, I would just not submit this score if you don’t have to, and I wouldn’t worry about it generally.

That said, I think the substantive problem of not knowing basic essay structures and techniques seems pretty serious to me, particularly if you do end up at a highly selective college. Ideally you want to be a very confident essayist before you start at colleges like that, so I would be thinking carefully about how to achieve that result.

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Here is a very important lesson in life that you need to keep in mind: Attending an Ivy League or “top 20” university does not matter. Keeping your stress to a manageable level and taking care of your health does matter.

I did attend two “top 20” universities (one for a bachelor’s degree, one for a master’s degree). I then spent my career working alongside people who attended more normal universities (some “top 100” and some not). I also spent most of my career working for a boss who had attended a more normal university. In the vast majority of cases, no one cares where you got your degree. They care that you get your job done. They care that you are a reasonable person to work with. They care whether you shower or bathe regularly. They do not even remember where you got your degree.

There are a lot of very good universities. There is generally a shortage of jobs for people with PhD’s in humanities. This means that a very wide range of universities can attract very strong professors.

The US puts way too much stress on high school students. Some of this comes from the pressure to try to attend a “big name” university. You should try not to fall into this trap. Relax. Do you best, but do not get stressed about minor issues such as a 3 on an AP test, or for that matter whether you get your bachelor’s degree from a “top 20” or “top 100” or “top 200” university.

Regarding not reporting an AP score, we did have a bit of experience with this. One daughter was just too stressed out senior year and skipped one of her AP tests. This of course meant that she did not report a score for that particular AP test. There were no consequences, other than not getting AP credit for that one course. She still was 6 for 7 in university admissions (or was it 7 for 8?), still went to a very good university and did well, and still got admitted to a very good graduate program (where she is studying now, with a bit less than one year to go). A year from now she will still be called “doctor”, and missing one AP test will be long forgotten (and a B- in organic chemistry was similarly not a problem). No one is perfect. We do just fine anyway.

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Louder for the people in the back :slight_smile:

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What to do about a 3 on AP Lang?

Nothing.

Some general thoughts/advice to consider:

  1. It’s not the end of the world.
  2. You didn’t fail the test. You passed it.
  3. Should you send the score to every college you apply to? Probably not. Just send it to the ones where the 3 would get you college credit.
  4. Should you talk in a college app essay as to WHY you think you got a 3? NO.
  5. Don’t apply to JUST top 20/ivies. Make sure you have MORE THAN ONE true safety school on your list. And by that, I mean a college that’s: (a) affordable; (b) you have high odds of getting accepted to; (c) has a campus vibe that you like; (d) has a major/program that you like.
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If your teacher fails you, this is when you find other solutions rather than passively accept your fate. As others noted, there’s tutors, books, etc., but there’s also plenty of free options. If you had Googled “how to write a great a great ap language and composition essay” you would have found pages and pages of results with websites, blogs and videos (depending on your learning preference) offering concrete tips about how to structure and write the essays. Some paid, but many free. There’s also a pretty active discussion on Reddit. Obviously its too late this time, but its more of a life lesson. A lot of times you will need to be scrappy and proactive to achieve your goals. Life will more often throw up roadblocks instead of helpful mentors or people who tell you how to do something.

Anyway, again, this is not worth stressing about. A 3 on AP Lang is not going to affect your admissions anywhere. Your odds of getting into a T20 are low because they are low for everyone, regardless of your test scores. A single AP score will not make-or-break it. But there’s also a ton of places you are almost guaranteed to get into that are not in upstate NY.

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