AP Courses and Exams: Standing Out

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Sorry for the length - tl;dr version at the end</p>

<p>I've been lurking this site for a few months now and one thing I've noticed is the extreme competitiveness. During AP exams I was reading the AP prep board (rather than studying; whoops) and recently I've seen lots of people mention self-studying, leading to them taking 6-8+ exams Junior year! I always thought I was doing very well until I got to this site.</p>

<p>I'm aiming for top tier schools (UPenn, Duke) and was wondering if I really was that weak compared to what's considered high-end on this site. Freshman year I really slacked off class-wise. Didn't realize how important it was and had no direction. I took half A-level classes and half-Honors, got straight As (easy classes) and ended up ranked 50 out of 400. Sophomore year I took all Honors and kept mostly straight As (one B+; C+ on a German final - class is a joke) and brought my rank to 16. Now as far as APs...</p>

<p>Junior year (where I'm at now) I only took 3. Again, at the end of my Soph year college really wasn't on my mind. I regret not taking APUSH and Biology.</p>

<p>Calc AB - probably 4 on exam, SLIGHT chance of 3; in the class I got an A and a B+ (only B Junior year), probably end up with an A+ for the last MP (block scheduling)
Psychology - probably 5
English Lang - probably 5</p>

<p>Now I'm really serious and in my Senior year I'm taking 6 APs.</p>

<p>Is my Junior year too weak? I go to a pretty large public school and they offer a good amount of APs (maybe 50-60% of the total) but not the ones like World History, Human Geography, and until recently I didn't realize these other APs existed, let alone the ability to self-study for them. Should I bother self studying for any easy APs like Human Geography, which my school doesn't offer, never mentions, and no one knows about, or is it too late and I won't be able to put it on my app anyway? Is there any merit to it at this point so late in my career? </p>

<p>Have I hurt myself by missing out on awards such as National AP Scholar because I took more AP classes senior year and not Junior year? I figure since I won't take the other 6 AP exams until after I apply to college they'll do little in improving my application.</p>

<p>Do I have a shot at the Ivies as far as my schedule/grades go? The rest of my courses are Honors maintaining Straight As. My cumulative GPA is ~4.7 weighted for 16/400+ but now I'm maintaining an average of 5.3 a marking period. I'll have 9 APs under my belt by the end of high school which barely anyone at my large school ever does but those in my class who ARE doing that are doing 6 Junior year and 3 Senior year, rather than what I'm doing (the other way around).</p>

<p>I was going to include information about the ECs I'm doing and how I can improve my app by doing something unique (I need to figure something out soon) but I figured I've rambled for long enough already and I'll make a topic about that another time. Any quick advice on that would be appreciated though.</p>

<p>tl;dr 3 APs Junior year 6 APs Senior year. Did I make a mistake in making my Junior year too weak and now have a very little chance for top tier schools? Am I too late or is there still anything I can do to improve my app? Thanks for any feedback.</p>

2

<p>No, chillax bro. Thats a decent amount of ap’s, It’s pretty hefty actually, well, depending on how many your school offers. Im kind of in the same boat, took less junior year, taking a lot more senior year. (From 3 to 6 as well, however I;m doing one online.) Online is still an option, if you want more you can just take an online course or even self-study with a text/review book and ace the ap test. I am probably going to self study ap psych and human geo for next year, and take ap art history online.</p>

3

<p>If you’re shooting for the Ivy Leagues like UPenn, you need to win that valedictorian seat, TRUST me. You want that. As well, you’ll want to get outstanding SAT’s ~1500/2300+. Of course at this point, getting that is probably an impossible mission, but you still need to get STRAIGHT A’s from here on out, bring yourself up as high as you can, you really most certainly need it if you’re aiming for schools like that. Self-studying for some AP’s and performing well on its exam definitely would have been a positive for determination and goals, but also, it’s too late now. I’d say, where you’re at right now, you’ve got a lot of competition but you can definitely pull it off. You gotta get serious, ESPECIALLY with the SAT. You can’t change your GPA much now, but you can still control your SAT.</p>

4

<p>

Refers to obtaining valedictorian standing.</p>

5

<p>Yeah I know I’ve thought about getting that rank 1, but once you crack the top 5 in my class it’s really competitive. I’m doing very well this year and I know the top 5 are slacking off a little bit Senior year so hopefully I can get a bit of an edge in that last minute. I think I can hit maybe 5-7/400+. I honestly was so unprepared my Freshman year I thought that your GPA reset each year and wouldn’t affect your next year’s GPA, hahaha. So that year is this giant anchor tied to me.</p>

<p>I took the SATs without studying and got a 2050. I’m going to start studying this weekend for the June and take it one more time for a 2200+. I’ll take subject tests next year.</p>

<p>So should I look into online AP courses Senior year or any self-studying, or don’t bother? Is there anything I can do over the Summer?</p>