<p>My sophomore year I won't be taking any AP classes (I took U.S.H 9th grade.) I'll take three AP classes junior year and 5 my senior year. I heard there's no point in getting any AP scholar award during the senior year, and as it says here: "Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams." It will only add up to 5 my senior year, after exams. At the end of my senior year I will have taken 8 AP classes total. Should I still go for it? Does it matter to colleges such as Middlebury, Dartmouth, Columbia, UPenn, and other elite schools? Thank you.</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>yeah, it shows that youre not a slacker.</p>
<p>bump bump bump bump bump</p>
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<p>AP ‘awards’ are slick marketing by Collegeboard. Just get 5’s on the tests that you take Jr year.</p>
<p>tbh though, AP tests really don’t have much of an impact on your college applications. Why? Because, as bluebayou put it, they are exactly that: slick marketing by Collegeboard. There’s a reason why most of the top tier private schools refuse to give you more than a certain amount of units/credits even though you’ve received 5s on all exams. Just show that you aren’t slacking off and whatnot.</p>
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<p>Bluebayou said that the AWARDS were slick marketing, not the tests. I think the tests do have an impact on your college applications.</p>
<p>A student with mostly 5s on the tests has demonstrated to an unbiased audience that s/he did master the material. On the other hand, a student who presents a schedule heavy with AP classes in which s/he received As, but who has 3s or lower on all of the tests is a student who may have come from a HS with serious grade inflation. That’s why schools look at standardized tests: HSs aren’t uniform. It’s all part of the picture.</p>
<p>Even colleges that don’t give credits toward graduation for APs demonstrate that AP tests are meaningful by using them for placement.</p>
<p>@Consolation so it’s sort of like the SAT of APs, eh?</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much!!!</p>
<p>@Consolation: that may be true, but i believe the AP tests don’t matter half as much as the SAT. every school offers placement exams so that people who went to high schools that didnt offer many AP classes have the opportunity to get placed out of intro classes.</p>
<p>I agree that the SAT is far more than APs, though the latter are important. The College reports the incoming class’ SAT scores, while it doesn’t report AP scores. Perhaps that is one reason it may emphasize SAT scores more than AP scores.</p>
<p>Another reason SAT scores may be more important is because, as Consolation said, high schools aren’t uniform. Some schools prepare their students better for the exams, which, unlike the SAT, test subject-specific material that can - and should be - prepared for explicitly.</p>
<p>But at the end of the day, shouldn’t you do your best on your AP tests anyway? Shouldn’t you take the classes to challenge yourself? Do it for yourself, not college admissions. If you do things because you want to, the college situation will solve itself. It’s tough to believe now, but you’ll find this fact to be true after the admissions process is over…</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
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<p>Exactly right!</p>
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<p>Bingo! A bunch of 5’s can only look good. </p>
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<p>There is really no way to separate the two. From a practical matter, most who take an AP courses also take the Subject Test corresponding to that subject. And, the AP scores are highly correlated with Subject Test scores. Thus, an 750+ in the Bio subject test, for example, is likely to result in a 5 on the AP Bio test. A ~600 correlates to a 3.</p>
<p>OTOH, if one’s HS does not offer AP, than the ST is the only thing to go on and thus, becomes “most important.”</p>
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Well, technically you can self-study for the AP test.</p>
<p>@stl2cali2k1 thanks for your answers 
@dartmouthforever “The College reports the incoming class’ SAT scores, while it doesn’t report AP scores.”
- colleges don’t look at one’s AP scores?</p>
<p>^^That’s not what he said at all. They just aren’t judged for AP scores by U.S. News. </p>
<p>Look, take the most challenging schedule your school offers, and if that includes AP’s, take APs. Having taken the class, decide if its worth it for you to take the test. Dartmouth does offer credit for a decent number of them, and useful placement for a decent number more. So why there may or may not be a “point” in terms of admissions, there could still be a “point” in life. More flexibility in taking terms off, more flexibility in studying abroad, the self satisfaction that comes from acing the test having put in all that work. On the other hand, if you know at that point none of the schools you’ve been accepted to/are interested in offer credit or placement for a particular test and it’d be a waste of time and money, don’t take it if you don’t want. (I know tests are after the final decision, but I can’t remember how early you have to sign up for the things) So: take the classes you are going to take and if so motivated, take the associated tests. and if its your senior year, you’re already into school, and that school isn’t going to give credit or placement or a pat on the back no matter what your score, don’t take the test if you don’t feel like it. But don’t do so or not do so based on whether it’ll earn you a gold star from College Board.</p>
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As I have said before, colleges place less emphasis on the AP scores. Why? Not every high school in the U.S. offers AP classes. Although it truly depends on which high school you attend, and how many AP courses it offers, the bottom line is that it wouldn’t be fair to compare someone how wasn’t given the opportunity to take any AP tests to another student who has taken 10+ exams. Why do you think that people who have failed AP exams still get into top notch schools, even though that is still pretty rare? They shouldn’t have ANY chance at all, if they placed as much emphasis on the APs as they did on the SATs.</p>
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<p>Correct. But it is fair to compare someone at a HS where plenty of APs are offered against someone at another HS where plenty of AP’s are offered. Further, it is fair to compare two students at the same HS, one who takes a lot of APs and one who does not, i.e., course rigor.</p>
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<p>For the same reason that people are accepted with an 1800+ SAT score: a hook, or something else awesome in their app.</p>
<p>i highly doubt that someone with an 1800 SAT got into top notch school, hook or no hook</p>
<p>Check out the Dartmouth forum a couple of years ago: a poster here, EmekChris, got into D off the waitlist with an 1800. IIRC.</p>
<p>^^I know a couple people at Dartmouth with SAT scores in that range. Two were highly valued recruits where the team average counts (a couple of 2300+ recruits and that one 1800 is in), but the other is a friend who never did well on standardized tests, but is brilliant and talented. And Dartmouth looked at the well documented issue with standardized tests, looked at the applicant as a whole, and accepted her.</p>