ALL 5's?

<p>It seems like a silly question, but do MIT admits have all 5's on every AP test they took? What about 4s and 3s? I got my AP scores back, and I got a 4 on my AP Stats test. Its math, and I know im actually good at it, but I feel Im just not up to it . . .
And I got a 3 on AP European history . . .</p>

<p>Definitely not. I mean, some do get all 5's, but not everyone. Most probably have a combination of 3's, 4's, and 5's.</p>

<p>Re: AP's, my son had seven 5's, eight 4's, one 3, and one 2. Yes, he took a lot of tests (some without taking the courses), but obviously not all 5's.</p>

<p>When I was applying, I had 3 (Euro), 3 (APUSH), 4 (English), 5 (Bio). So no, we're not all-5ers.</p>

<p>When I applied, I had one 5, in AP Chem. <em>shrug</em> My school simply wasn't very AP-heavy. What was far more important was that I planned to take more APs next year, and that (even more importantly) I was taking the most rigorous curriculum available to me.</p>

<p>two friends of mine have gotten into MIT without any 5s at all (half 3s and half 4s). while i'm not saying that getting 5s is a bad thing, it certainly isn't make-or-break material.</p>

<p>I did not get all 5s.</p>

<p>When I got in I had one 4 in Chemistry. Then afterwards in my senior year I got a 3 in US History, and 5s in Calculus AB and Physics B. I was really surprised about the 5 in Physics, since I didn't know a lot of the stuff on the test (Quantum physics, optics, and thermodynamics, and perhaps some other things), but I suppose I must have guessed and BSed well.</p>

<p>^
Ha, I got a 5 on physics B too! And I didn't know/do most of the stuff. We didn't cover quantum physics but there was one free-response question devoted entirely to quantum physics. Everyone in my class just looked at the equations on the equation sheet and started plugging in the numbers that looked right.</p>

<p>AP's are not used for admission purposes, but your college counselor/teachers will see them and they may indirectly impact admissions through your recommendations. </p>

<p>I would make it a priority to get a 5 in the AP Calc, chemistry, and physics. Though not absolutely necessary, it helps a lot to master the fundamentals in these areas before college--especially if you end up at a place like MIT. If you take other science AP's (bio, stats,) I would try to make sure you are prepared enough to get a 5. If you are taking like 20 AP exams or something like jessiehl did, obviously it's less important to get all 5's. Also, if you take the AP exam (or the SATII) without the AP class, I would be less concerned about your performance on the exam. </p>

<p>My high school did not have AP classes (it was against its philosophy,) so I only took the AP english exam as well as the math and science ones. So I don't really know if the humanities AP exams are a good measure of mastery of those areas or how teachers view them. Also, I only had taken two AP exams at the time I applied to college (AP Calc, AP chem.)</p>

<p>Just as AP scores can make an "indirect impact" through your teachers and counselors, they can also do this (probably even to a greater extent) through admission officers. No one can ignore a humongous string of 5s nor a humongous string of 1s. For the most part, though, yes, anything in between - from only 5s, but not a tremendous amount of them, to only a couple 1s or 2s - will play almost no role in admission purposes.</p>

<p>No admissions officer is free from making judgements or getting impressions subconsciously when you report your scores. Furthermore, them seeing those scores firsthand is going to be more significant than anything your guidance counselor (whose recommendation already factors minimally in most college admissions) or teacher (who you would likely not get a recommendation from if you got a 1 or 2 on the test anyway) says from seeing those scores.</p>