<p>Is anybody else not sure if it is worth taking the rest of their AP tests (i.e. AP Chemistry). Afterall, unless I do advanced standing, the credit will only go towards upper level placement. I would definitely have to do major cramming for Chem (horrible teacher). Advice?</p>
<p>I'm not preparing for any of my ap exams. I just go in...do what I can do... the sleep. haha</p>
<p>haha me too! good to know that i'm not the only one going in cold...all of my friends think i'm crazy, but they're the ones that actually get credit for APs and thus should study...not me!</p>
<p>Yeah, I registered for all of my tests thinking that I was going to the University of Wyoming, then lo and behold, I got into Harvard. If my school allowed refunds, I probably wouldn't have taken my exams, but now I'm stuck with six. >.<</p>
<p>i'm taking them but i'm not studying. whatever i get, i get.</p>
<p>Ouch...lol. Only taking 1/8 as many tests as last year. Well, I took it already (Lit) and still haven't been asked to pay for it yet.</p>
<p>In our school, AP courses are "weighted". The school adds a point to your grade for honors classes, then another point (or maybe more, we don't really look into this closely) for AP courses. The catch is, you only get the AP credit if you take the exams in May.</p>
<p>So, if kids decided not to take the AP exams, their grades/GPA/class rank etc. would go down. If that matters to them, that is one reason some take the AP exams I think. Is this "weighted grades" policy unusual?</p>
<p>Also, in our school, and I think this is more important to our daughter, a student would feel like a total slacker or quitter not taking the AP exams. Which is funny, because ours is a low quality, low pressure, low aspiration kind of place, in general. But everyone always takes the AP exams, and then the teachers bring ice-cream, or little presents, at the end.</p>
<p>Most kids here go to state schools, and maybe AP exams are more useful there-?</p>
<p>It is a horrible time in seniors' lives for exams like this. Not studying sounds like a sane response. Some people just have to do their best in whatever they do, and study a lot, but I think a course that teaches well should leave you with enough knowledge to avoid a huge amount of studying.</p>
<p>My D thinks they are valuable in that they can help her get out of some low level classes and on to more interesting ones. She has been studying, although not as hard as last year.</p>
<p>I actually ended up using my AP credits in grad school. I agree though that getting out of low level lecture classes is a good reason to take the APs.</p>
<p>After getting admitted my daughter kept working hard right up through her last AP tests, mostly I think becuase she wanted to finish what she had started.</p>
<p>I did some research, and here's the information I got. Unless you want sophomore standing, here's the deal.</p>
<p>If you want to test out of introductory physical science, fives on Chem and/or Physics may help your case.</p>
<p>If you want to skip out of Ec10, fives on Macro and Mircoeconomics will definitely help your case.</p>
<p>If you want to place into higher language classes (I want to take language, so I'm not sure if you can place out), fives on language tests will aid you.</p>
<p>My understanding is that the rest of the grades are unimportant, as you'll have to take Harvard's own placements tests anyway.</p>
<p>Also remember that your results on placement tests are non-binding...so if you think you can handle a higher-level class, go for it.</p>