<p>Will colleges be concerned about admitting someone who got an A in an AP class but got a really bad score on the AP exam. And what about vice versa?</p>
<p>Better define ‘really bad’, to some CCers that could mean a 4 
.</p>
<p>Might mean that the person didn’t have a good grasp of the material and coasted by all year on grade inflation.</p>
<p>Vice versa might mean that the person knew the material but was too lazy to apply him/herself during the year. Either way, not ideal, but the person could compensate for it with other scores or stellar essays/ECs/recs.</p>
<p>like a score of a 2…
@bodangles- so colleges only care about the students taking rigorous courses? I got the 2 on my very first AP class during my sopmore year…</p>
<p>I’m just saying it’s not great but I don’t think it’ll be a deal-breaker. You’re not even required to send AP scores when applying for most places, right? You can choose to self-report or not on the Common App.</p>
<p>When Lehigh University and Lafayette showed up at my school they said AP scores don’t factor too much into admissions. The course grade matters much more, as it shows how you succeed in a classroom. Too much is variable, they said. Students in the north could have two weeks less school (like this year) because of snow, or they could have a teacher that goes deep into discussion at the expense of covering ground.</p>
<p>However the AP grade will be used for placement once you’re accepted. Which hopefully you won’t submit! Because a 2 isn’t worth it.</p>
<p>That’s not HYPSM, granted, but it’s straight from their admissions director’s mouths, so take it for what it’s worth.</p>
<p><a href=“Guidance Office: Answers From Harvard's Dean, Part 2 - The New York Times”>Guidance Office: Answers From Harvard's Dean, Part 2 - The New York Times; indicates that Harvard believes that the predictive ability of high school credentials for college grades goes like this:</p>
<ul>
<li>AP and IB scores</li>
<li>SAT subject tests, SAT writing section, ACT writing section</li>
<li>High school grades</li>
<li>SAT CR and M, ACT other than writing</li>
</ul>
<p>Nice link.</p>
<p>Interesting that they place the writing tests so highly, because common wisdom is the writing sections hold little weight among admissions offices. But they explicitly say the opposite, which means common wisdom is wrong.</p>
<p>Harvard may be in the minority, as there appear to be lots of other schools that consider only the CR and M parts of the SAT. Indeed, relatively few schools consider in admissions the achievement-based tests (AP, IB, SAT subject) compared to the number of schools that consider the SAT (CR and M) and ACT.</p>
<p>So the common wisdom may be applicable to most schools, but perhaps not to Harvard.</p>
<p>You don’t have to submit the AP score if you don’t want to. Even if it is a 2, all that will happen is you will not get credit for it. </p>
<p>I “accidentally” forgot to include my 1 on the AP Chem exam on my applications. I personally feel like it has not put me at a disadvantage. </p>