I recently got my AP scores, and I got a 3 on one of them. One of my schools that I plan on applying to is Rice. While I understand that a 3 doesn’t grant credit over there, would not reporting it make AOs think that I scored worse in the AP exam? And will reporting it be useless and hurt my chances?
Other info: I had two teachers in the span of this AP class. The first one didn’t teach us the material at all (and didn’t have their certification to teach, as they were a vacancy fill, as far as I know) and the second one came in less than a month before AP exams. If I report the 3 on this AP exam, should I clarify this circumstance in somewhere like the additional info section?
Sorry if this seems like a dumb question to ask, I just needed to get an answer to this.
I would not bring this up, as I think it would sound like an excuse and highlight the score that you want to downplay. Teachers switching, or an underprepared teacher during the term, happens all the time in AP classes. (Has happened to my D and S multiple times.) It’s frustrating when you aren’t getting the best teaching, but students can still study for the test with other resources.
I would either report the score without commentary, or not report the score without commentary. I don’t know much about Rice, but I’m sure those more familiar with it can weigh in on whether it would be better to report this score or not.
My personal opinion is that a score high enough to get credit at a particular school should be reported. If it is not high enough to get credit, do not report it.
No. Not for a single exam. There are other valid reasons why there would not have been a score
No. Blane the teacher is never a valid excuse. You’re basically telling admissions that you require spoon-feeding and are unable to learn material in your own. You may well have college professors who aren’t that good. The students who want to perform well will look for other resources.
Anyway, I’m of the opinion that scores if 4+ should be reported. 3’s can be reported if the college gives credit, and omitted if they don’t.
No.
Student don’t take all the tests for which they took the class. Not reporting an AP test this doesn’t imply you didn’t do as well as you wish you had. Nothing implied if you don’t report scores for every AP test you took.
I’m curious, at our HS students need to take the exams, pay for the test by the second week of school or get dropped from the class. Two of my kids reported all scores, another reported none. Did the colleges know the exams were mandatory?
Datapoint of one… My D21’s school had a similar policy and it was noted on the school profile (at least it was in 2021). So in that case, AOs would see that the exams were mandatory.
I would suggest not sending the score, but more…I would suggest not saying this was the fault of the teachers or teaching. Even if that is the case, it’s not a good look for you.
No…they don’t unless noted on the transcript. Sample of one here. Same policy at our HS…the exam was required, but it was noted no place that this was mandatory at the school.
Our D’s HS went a step further and all standardized tests, including APs, were on the official transcript. That may have changed as parents were already complaining about it when D graduated in '18.
OP - you should easily be able to find out your school’s policy from your guidance counselor.
They do if it’s on the school profile.
Not all schools have this policy - in general, it’s designed to discourage “tourists”/insure motivation in the AP class (and/or keep class size manageable, especially if there are few qualified teachers or not enough teachers to satisfy demand).
It can often also be related to the school paying for the test - if the school pays for it the student must take the test to avoid wasting public money!
Schools that want to encourage the challenge of an AP class make no such demands.
And if the student family pays for the tests there can’t be a requirement since only students whose families agreed or were able to pay would be able to take the class.
The parents have to pay for the test by the second week in September. No payment, no class. One of our closest friends (went to school with us) is the HS principal, I’ll try to remember to ask him. The policy is under 10 years old, it was not in place for my older kids.
Like others, I would just not report this 3 to schools where you would get no credit.
In a slight departure, I have now heard a couple hints here and there that if you are mostly reporting and then don’t report one, they may in fact suspect you didn’t get a score worth reporting. But the important point is they typically would not care if it was just one anyway.
What some do seem concerned about is a pattern of multiple APs in which your grades in the class are As but you get a 1-3 on the exams. Across a decent number of APs, that happening once is not unexpected, and not something that would typically concern them. If it is happening a lot, then it is not so much the AP scores themselves that concern them, it is that there might be a lot of grade inflation at your school, such that you can get top grades in what are supposed to be advanced college-prep courses without actually being well-prepared for college.
And then if you take a bunch of APs and are reporting some but also not reporting a lot of them, then maybe they will start getting worried about this being a possibility.
But I am pointing all this out just to make clear that is NOT what happened with you (as far as I understand it). And that is good, it means if you don’t report this one, they may suspect you may have gotten a score below their credit line, but they are very unlikely to see that as an important fact in the first place.