<p>How important are AP Exams? I took World History as a sophomore and received a 4. But this year I am taking AP: English, US History, and Calculus.
Here are the grades I think I will receive for each.</p>
<p>English:3
US History: 4
Calculus: 2 OR 1 (My teacher, in her own words, teaches to: 'Raise our GPA' The best score ANY of her students has received is a 2. Furthermore, I just recently received a practice book and all the material is beyond what I have learned. Out of 10 multiple choice questions, I could probably answer one correctly. By the way, I have a 96 in the class)</p>
<p>So my question is..will a poor/average AP Test score, look bad on my application if I am applying somewhere like UVA or Wash. of U in St. Louis? Do I have to even put my AP scores on the application?</p>
<p>Very few colleges ask for the scores on the application. NU is the only one that I can name. No colleges require that you send the AP score report from CB unless you are already accepted and want to get AP credit for classes.</p>
<p>The most important thing in admissions is to take the most challenging curriculum avail at your high score. The AP scores themselves have mimimal effect. (The SAT II's do mean something however at the colleges that require them.)</p>
<p>If you do have good AP scores, it is impressive and you should either write them in the margin and put them in the supplemental section of the online app.</p>
<p>i hate those kind of school because of grade inflation.. at my school my teacher says "he is teaching us the material completely" meaning he is going to try and challenge us.. he is a MIT graduate and he comes up with the trickiest problems.. I had a A- going into the final and after the final I had a B-.. I would have had a C+ but he decided that since everyone in the class did so bad he was going to only make it worth 15% and not 20%.</p>
<p>One of the reasons (I hope) that colleges don't put alot of emphasis on the AP scores is that the level of teaching varies so widely from high school to high school. My S went to a mediocre, but not that bad, high school and things were bad. In the AP English course, a new teacher from another hs came in with a long syllabus. By the fourth week, a project was due and only 3 out of 25 people had turned it in. By the tenth week, only 8 had turned it in. He pretty much gave up and went back to the other hs at the end of the year. In chemistry, they didn't do any math problems. He tried practice tests for the SAT II Chemistry and was scoring about 300. He took chemistry at the local CC over the summer just so he wouldn't get killed freshman year in college.</p>
<p>but if they dont emphasize AP scores then there is rampent grade inflation... i work extremely hard for a B- but other people in other schools can do nothing and get a A. But I'll be better prepared for the AP test then some people in other schools.</p>
<p>The bigger issue is that somebody with a 1280 in a inner city high school where the average SAT is 710/1600 is probably more impressive than someone with a 1480 from a private prep school.</p>
<p>They never look at the gpa without considering the applicant's class rank. This gives them an idea of the grade inflation at the hs. If the hs doesn't rank, they will look at the gpa distributionn on the high school's profile to judge. Your preparedness will show up in other places such as the SAT and SAT II's.</p>
<p>i doubt that a 1280 from an inner school is more impressive than a 1480, unless of course the inner city student is a URM and the prep school kid is white</p>
<p>to judgedee- i effortlessly get As in my ap classes, but only get 3s and occasional 4s on the exam... so i agree with ur statement</p>
<p>At my kid's school, kids who get Cs & Bs in their AP courses easily get 4s & 5s in the AP exams. No grade inflation here--the teachers are tough & so is the grading!</p>
<p>Oh, I don't want that one teacher to be a reflection of my entire school. I've had to work my ass off in every other AP class I'm taking (for example. APUSH: the highest grade my teacher gave on the midterm was a 92. And that was only to the top 2% of his students. Me being one of them :D ). </p>
<p>But I can see how you can be a little ****ed off at my situation in calculus. I fo feel guilty but there's nothing I can do about it unless they change the system. AP's really depend on the teacher. I mean, I can only really put in, what the teacher is putting into me. </p>
<p>Im 5th out of 297 in my class with a 4.05. So not so much grade inflation, considering our number 78 has like a 2.8?</p>
<p>This is where exeptional students differ from great students.. if you really wanted to bad enough you could read your class book, do half-to-all of the problems in the book and then be prepared to receive a 5 on the AP. Even though your teacher doesn't prepare you, you should prepare yourself. in my class, teachers make us take a mock ap where we lose points if we don't receive a 5 (sometimes 4). </p>
<p>the APs(excluding foreign language/english) are not that difficult. for instance, calculus and statistics only requires you to get 60-70 points out of a 100. The problems that are on the AP are no suprise and there are no problems where you actually have to use your brain. It is straightforward problems that test to see if you know the information. Crack open an AP review book if you are unfamiliar with the material. The APs do not test how smart you are, and therefore one can receive high marks if one has enough desire.</p>
<p>Also, do you know how bad a 2 is? That's like getting under 50% on the test. Calc tests at my school are harder than the AP problems. Everyone at your school would have an F at my school.</p>
<p>"Im 5th out of 297 in my class with a 4.05. So not so much grade inflation, considering our number 78 has like a 2.8?"</p>
<p>Sorry but no. A school can still be inflated even if its students aren't doing well. That's because there are areas(normally more affluent) where students are smarter and areas where students are not as smart (as a whole). If there was no grade inflation in any HS in america, a student who got a 3.5 at one school would get a 3.5 at another school. However, this is not the case.</p>
<p>I think you misread what I was trying to say. I meant that in terms of course difficulty. I can't force my teacher to teach the class at a faster pace. </p>
<p>Of course I'm going to study for the AP Exam on my own but I'm not exactly the math specialist and so reading the book is difficult. IHAVE, however, been teaching myself through the book for the last month. </p>
<p>"Everyone at your school would have an F at my school"</p>
<p>That is not true. If we were sit in the same class, for the same amount of time as you, and receive the same teaching, then we would receive the same knowledge. and thus we would most likely not fail. </p>
<p>I'm not some stupid kid that colors in maps and does crossword puzzles. That one course is not a reflection of my entire school. The truth is, just because you receive B's at a school that is supposedly tougher does not mean that I could not go to that school and receive A's. There is just no way to compare them.</p>
<p>
[quote]
This is where exeptional students differ from great students.. if you really wanted to bad enough you could read your class book, do half-to-all of the problems in the book and then be prepared to receive a 5 on the AP.
[/quote]
Does this mean that the exceptional students don't need to go to elite colleges because they can learn just as much at community college?</p>