As you know, AP exams are coming up and I’m wondering if how I score on these will affect my admissions. For something like AP Chem and Physics I do not plan on using any credit I might receive because I plan on going into engineering. Looking at UIUC, Purdue, Kentucky, etc. will y performance on these AP tests affect my admission chance? Or will schools not even see them?
They’ll only see the scores if you choose to send them.
Why wouldn’t you plan to use AP credits to place out of introductory Chem and Physics courses? Those courses will be freshman-year requirements for any engineering major.
"They’ll only see the scores if you choose to send them.
Why wouldn’t you plan to use AP credits to place out of introductory Chem and Physics courses? Those courses will be freshman-year requirements for any engineering major."
I agree with @NUwildcat92 on this. I’m taking 4 A.P. Exams this year (Calc, Bio, US, Lang & Comp.; lol kill me now pls). However, I’ll probably retake Calc and maybe Bio. I’m using just my Lang and US credits. Plus, these credits are only truly “available” if you first send the colleges the scores (4/5 preferable; 3 occasionally accepted, but not really). But, I would try to test out of the introductory courses. The colleges you’re applying to will probably only see what scores you got, and based on that figure if you could get credit, but actually affecting your application? I doubt it.
If it was Harvard, for example, they prefer 2 SAT Subject Tests for their application process. HOWEVER, instead, they may also accept 4 A.P. Exam scores, all with a 5 score (equivalent A grade). You’re not applying there, so don’t worry about it affecting your actual application too much, but more like whether the credits are available or not if you get a good grade on the exams.
@bloxJacket I was just wondering, if you do retake an AP test, do colleges know you have taken it multiple times? Have you heard of colleges forcing you to send all AP scores?
AP test scores are self-reported on your application. However, if you have an AP class on your transcript and you do not self-report the grade, then if is a natural assumption that you did poorly on the test. Why else would you withhold the score? Colleges do not see the actual score from the College Board unless you send the scores when you are trying to place out of classes. At our school, the teachers generally say do not use the AP credits for classes that are in your intended major. They believe that you will need your college’s intro course as a refresher.
My D didn’t even take all of the AP exams because she decided upfront that she didn’t want to use AP credit in the science courses (so we figured why pay for the exam). It was not an issue.
Like NUwildcat92 posted - why wouldn’t you use AP credits for Physics and Chem? One of my kids tested out of intro Physics and Chem at NU - they scored 5s on the AP tests- and still complained they were bored with what class they tested into. They will finish in 4 years with a Masters thanks to their AP credits.
@nugraddad My D’s AP chem teacher suggested that anyone planning to be a chemistry major in college re-take the intro to chemistry course at his/her college. My D was in that boat. While our HS is rigorous and the AP course was rigorous, the teacher felt that it would be best to re-start the sequence at the college as different schools emphasize different areas of chemistry and students would get to learn the basics of how that particular school likes labs done etc. My D has no regrets about having followed that advice. While there was a great deal of overlap, there were some areas covered in depth in the college course that were not delved into as much in HS. If she were not going to be a chem major then she would have taken the AP test, got the credit, and placed out of the science requirement.
happy1- everybody’s different - I have 2 ChemE majors & 1 re-took Chem in first year college & 1 did not. No regrets by either.
Of course they would know if you took it once or even three times, but that doesn’t matter. Just like your SAT/ACT/SAT Subject Test scores, they throw away your low scores and only calculate your highest.
Well, for starters, it is unlikely that any engineering program would apply AP Physics 1 credits to the major. One could use the credits toward the overall degree requirements, but that’s about it.
Not only are kids different, colleges are different as well. Many colleges do not allow, or at least discourage, bio/chem/physics majors from applying AP credits to their major. Using physics as an example, my intro mechanics course was much more intense than AP Physics C and required MVC. All this is beyond the scope of the OP’s question, however.
To the OP, schools will only see what you report on the Common App, unless your HS lists scores on the transcript. Whether or not you should report your scores is a different question, and one which I will be happy to answer after you get your scores. Don’t worry about things that might not happen.
Sounds good. Let’s say I don’t do so hot on the exam. Will it hurt my chances of admissions if I report the score?
I would not report anything under a 3. I would think twice about reporting a 3, depending on the school and your intended major. This is for admission, for credit, get what you can, no one cares once you are in.