My junior year I got all A’s in my three AP classes but due to sickness I got two 2’s on the AP exam. I’m scared this will look bad on my application and make it seem that the tough A’s I earned in the classes were actually inflated. Should I mention I was sick in my application or just let it go?
bump
Sure, you were “sick”… lol. Everyone has used that excuse. Depending on where you applied, just own it up. Colleges go through thousands of applications, often fifty per day per reader, and will not be buttered up by an excuse. So just relax, everything will work out. I am a believer that you end up where you deserve. This applies to life beyond college too.
An excuse for a low grade needs mentioning ONLY if you have something extremely dire like parents’ divorce, homelessness, serious disability (eg paralysis) etc.
When the Adcom has thousands of applicants scoring almost like you, or indeed more than you, that too without an excuse, why would they choose you?
So, avoid writing you were ‘sick’ and just let it be.
On the common app, you can choose to self-report your AP exam scores. This is optional. Colleges do not use AP scores in their admission process, so not to worry. Once admitted to college, you can then send the official scores to the school (usually in July) to see if you can earn credit for either an exemption from a class or a placement in a higher level course.