AP EXAMS VS AP COURSES « Application Boot Camp – College Admissions, Admissions Counseling, College Acceptance Help

AP EXAMS VS AP COURSES

Ambitious students flock to AP classes, and with good reason: they are rigorous and indicative of intellectual curiosity. And many top schools simply expect to see transcripts laden with AP classes. Colleges look at your grades in AP classes and assume that it represents a higher level of achievement than an equivalent grade in a “regular” class, so it’s almost always an advantage. Many students, however, ask about the value of the
AP exams themselves.

First, many schools give course credit or advanced standing to
students who score well on individual tests – usually you need at
least a 3, if not a 4. So that’s an obvious reason for taking the
test seriously. Even if your intended schools don’t recognize AP
credit, if you’re a junior you still want to do at least as well
on the exam as you did in the course—getting an A in the course
but a 3 on the exam will not look good! If you took an AP course
and did NOT take the corresponding exam colleges will wonder why
not? It will raise a flag. If you’re a senior, it might be
harder to motivate for the AP tests, but if nothing else, you
should view them as a culminating achievement and a way to
acknowledge the effort that you—and your teachers—have expended
throughout the year.

REPORTING AP SCORES

We find that there is still much confusion about AP tests. AP
tests are part of the College Board – the very same people who
bring you the SAT I’s and Subject Tests, and yet, the sign up and
score delivery are different. For those taking AP’s, there are a
few things to keep in mind.

If you take an AP test and you are SURE you did horribly — a 1,
maybe a 2, you have until June 15 to cancel your score BEFORE it
is scored. You must notify the College Board in writing if you
choose this option and your score will be gone forever
(interesting enough, an AP representative actually incorrectly
told us on the phone that the date was July 15 and that you COULD
see your score before deciding to cancel, but he was wrong as we
confirmed after several hours more speaking to AP supervisors –
nice to know there are those who actually work for the College
Board who have no idea what their policy is!).

But, let’s say a student ends up with a bunch of really strong AP
scores, say 4 and 5 range, and then one score of 1 or 2 — the AP
actually gives you the option (of course this does involve, as
usual, more money for them) of paying $10 per school per score to
“withhold” a score from one or all of your colleges. This is a
handy option especially for students who are thinking of taking
an AP exam in a subject they might not have had an actual class
for — it encourages students to take risks, so we like it! The
key is – and read this carefully – do NOT list any colleges in
May to send your scores to because that way it is easier to
withhold scores later. You can still withdraw a score even if you
sent then already, but it’s a much cleaner solution to wait till
July 1 (and, again, spend an extra few $ to get scores by phone),
see what your scores are and THEN pay to send you scores to
schools. For more information go to:
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/exgrd_rep.html

If you cancel a score, it is gone forever and never gets scored,
hence it does not count in your AP average for AP scholar
designations. BUT, even though you might choose to withhold a
score from a college, note that it DOES count in your AP average
and will affect AP scholar designations. In short, use this
version of “score choice” to your advantage and take some extra
AP’s that you study for on your own.

One final note: AP Information is tough to find on the
CollegeBoard.com website. Remember, you have to request your AP
scores separately from your SAT’s. Head here for more info:
APCentral.collegeboard.com

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