Hello,
With the AP exams less than 2 weeks away, I am getting cold feet. Is there a way a kid could not take the AP exam? How will it go as to the college board? Is it mandatory to send all AP scores if the kid did not do well? Marked absent, marked score zero?
Where to best find out answers to all these questions? This is not for a school AP but for home schooled course?
Thanks!
My kid is only taking two AP tests, one for AP Lang and the other for AP calc. She was having second thoughts about taking the AP Lang test after one of her practice tests got her a B grade (she has an A in the class). Her teacher told me she doesn’t have to take the test, but she should, and that she doesn’t have to share her results with any colleges if she doesn’t want to. It is for her benefit to try and get the high enough score to count for college credit. It’s a $92 gamble I am willing to take.
Are you not doing well in the subject you are supposed to test in?
I think it is the preparation that is not enough. Another question is - if you don’t take it, does it mess up those rankings like AP scholars etc?
If an AP exam is not taken, it counts as a test not taken. So it does not count into an AP scholar awards as attempted. The CB cannot send the (non)score to colleges, because, again, the test was not taken.
If she takes the test, and decides not to send to score, she can omit the specific score from the test report to the college, but like everything with the CB, you pay extra. Honestly, just send the full score report. If she’s not yet a senior, she self reports AP scores on the applications, which is optional. Admissions does not see the official score report since the report goes to the registrar’s office, and the clerical processing the report is certainly not going to care.
You don’t send any scores to college admissions, however many colleges ask you to self report scores. If an AP course is on the transcript and you don’t report the score, as an admissions officer I’m going to assume you did badly or skipped the test because you thought you’d do badly. Admissions officers do care that you challenged yourself by taking a rigorous curriculum, and they do know that some schools don’t teach AP courses very well. They often say they care more about you taking the course than what the score was.
The AP Scholar award just counts the number of APs you took and got above a 3. I suppose if you get a 1 or 2 on an exam you can never get an AP Scholar with Honor or Distinction award, but really I think as far as honors go, this is probably about as low on the totem poll as you get. Many students won’t get these awards until after they graduate from high school because they don’t take enough APs junior year or earlier to be eligible for these awards. You won’t get official results from the tests until fairly late in the summer after you take them.
There’s no point in paying extra to send colleges official reports until you know where you are matriculating and at that point there is no point in withholding scores from tests.
@mathmom, I dont understand when you say AP score is on transcript and you don’t report the score? It is not a test sponsored by school or part of the school curriculum. Which transcript are you talking about?
Also- "there is no point in paying extra…no point in withholding scores from tests? Again can you please elaborate!
Thanks!
One daughter took I think 5 AP classes, but only took 4 tests. There was no problem at all. She did well on the tests that she took which was probably helped by being able to concentrate on those. Her university gave her AP credit for the tests that she took.
She means if a course is listed on a transcript as, for example, AP US History, and the applicant does not report an AP score, the AO may wonder why there is no score. They may think, as @mathmom says, that the student bombed the exam. Alternatively, they may think that the student could not afford it or just could not be bothered to take it. Most likely, they just won’t think about it all.
It is rare that it happens, by I do know cases where the AO has contacted the student or GC to explain.
@skieurope, “transcript” is what I am confused about. It is not a school course. Why would there be a transcript in teh first place? Does College Board send out a composite list with courses taken or not taken, even though i do not request certain course scores? Or is it college transcript?
That was not made clear, at least to me. I was referring to a HS transcript. If it’s not a credit course, then it really does not matter.
If you are taking a course outside of school, then there is definitely no harm done by skipping the AP.
And @skieurope is correct, there are probably plenty of students who can’t afford to take the AP test (our school will pay for anyone who asks, but you have to ask), or who are sick on the day of the AP that colleges really can’t make assumptions about unreported scores.