Say if I learn AP World History, and I also take SAT World History. Is this an effective way to go, or is it just redundant?
What if the pair were AP French and SAT French?
Hoping for any opinions :)>-
I wouldn’t call it redundant. AP scores aren’t usually used in admissions very much and they don’t offer much granularity (the top 10 percent of students get a 5 on AP Chem while only the top 2-3 percent get an 800 on SAT chem, making it a more accurate measurement). I would take both if I were you.
They are not redundant. AP scores play little to no role in the admissions process; they are primarily used for placement and/or credit. Some colleges require the SAT Subject Tests; obviously in these cases, they are more important in the admissions process.
More to the point, the 2 exams are testing different levels. The SAT Subject Test is meant to be taken after a college-prep course in the subject, while the AP tests on college-level material. Obviously for some subjects, like USH or WH, the average HS student will only take one year, so either a CP course or an AP course, but usually not both. However, the students taking the AP course may still desire to take the Subject Test, and that’s fine. For other subjects, e.g. Chemistry, the typical AP student would have taken the college-prep chem class as the prerequisite for the AP class. Despite what some on College Confidential think, there is no expectation that an AP background is needed to get a top score on the subject test.
For a subject like French, or any European language, The SAT Subject Test is at an A2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, while AP tests at the B1 level, so requiring at least a year more of study.
I’ve always found that taking an SAT II at the end of a year in which you took the equivalent AP class in your school is the most practical course, because you’ll already know most of the material on which the SAT will test you. It saves time, and is pretty much a no-brainer.
Thank you @Smargent, @skieurope, @normanxi for your advice!
Ah – I keep hearing on CC that AP scores aren’t important for admissions, but there is a section on the Common App to report the scores, right? My friends also worship APs (our school only offers 4, but some people took 10). Is this AP craze essentially a mistake circling around?
Yes, you can report your scores or not report your scores - your choice. That said, if an AP class appears on your transcript and you took the test, I’d recommend listing your score.
Many schools, including elite private schools, have stepped away from offering as many AP’s. Some have gone so far as to offer none at all. They have done so for a variety of reasons: they do not want to go through the College Board’s course audit process, they do not want to “teach to the test,” they can put together a more effective syllabus that the CB, etc. Yet year after year, students from these schools get admitted to top universities.
AP’s are in no way, shape, or form the end-all, be-all that some applicants seem to perceive them to be.
I see - thank you very much, @skieurope ! 
I suppose taking the 4 that my school offers and self studying the few that I’m interested in (e.g. Euro, languages) will be enough.
As for SAT II, I’m thinking about Lit, Math 2, and maybe Japanese right now. Hope that isn’t too generic a list, and studying shall commence over the summer!
The thing about doing Bio/Chem/etc is that I’m not sure if the Canadian curriculum lines up with the SAT II, so I guess doing something more “universal” (in my mind, at least) might be more beneficial.
Thanks again everyone for your advice!
@Ciella – the College Board website includes practice questions for each subject test. You could look through those questions to determine if your curriculum lines up well with the exam content. If the overlap is significant, you may be able to self-study the content you have not learned in school. My son did that when taking the Bio subject test after taking 9th grade honors Bio. He knew he would never take AP Bio, so decided to self-study the few topics not covered in class.
Alright thanks, @CT1417 ! it’s also great to hear someone’s own experience. It seems like Grade 11 will be an even intenser year!
“intenser” nice