<p>Just get a good grade in course. Everybody fails AP test anyway.</p>
<p>Not everyone fails the AP Test. By most acceptable standards, a 3 is a passing score. For example with the AP Government and Politics Exam in May 2010, 51.2% scored above a 3. A good AP course grade, without credit earned on the test will not do you much good.</p>
<p>^Agreed.</p>
<p>AP scores help many incoming freshmen save thousands of dollars of course fees. Sure, they usually aren’t used in admissions, but they are definitely still important. In fact, if a student passes enough AP exams, they can enter college as sophomores.</p>
<p>“Everybody fails AP test anyway.”</p>
<p>Hmm.</p>
<p>Out of my seven AP tests in HS, I was only able to use one of them for credit (since MIT doesn’t accept certain exams, or b/c I scored 2). However, AP classes helped me transition better into college…without AP Physics C, I’d be thoroughly lost in 8.012 (Classical Mechanics). Freshman classes at MIT are much harder than most AP classes, but at least the gap is narrower than for regular HS courses.</p>
<p>I wish schools would consider AP scores into admission if your school offered them. I mean I got five 5’s and am tied with the valedictorian for the most 5’s, and I’m also ranked 5 out of 800 with a 2270 SAT superscore, which would have helped me greatly for Stanford EA (I got rejected) :(</p>
<p>Not true, for most high schools AP classes are the most rigorous classes so getting an A in an AP class versus getting an A in an honors class is much more impressive. Not to mention that it provides a good foundation for classes that you’ll take in college. People who get lower than a 3 on an AP test are people who don’t bother preparing for the exam considering how for most AP tests a 3 is around a 50%.</p>
<p>Schools do consider AP scores in the admission process from every source that I’ve heard. AP scores alone will not be a major factor in admissions but they do help present a more complete view of what a person has achieved. I am not trying to sound scornful here but unless you have a hook or are from an underrepresented region, five 5’s and a 2270 superscore is very unimpressive for a school such as Stanford. Your scores were likely considered in the process and deemed too average for the school that is considered the most rigorous to be admitted to from where I am.</p>
<p>The average SAT at Stanford is 2200 so I don’t know what you’re trying to say. The highest average is probably at MIT and Cal Tech which is around 2270. My scores aren’t the reason I got rejected; my extracurriculars weren’t strong enough.</p>
<p>Not everybody fails the exam. In fact, I go to a somewhat competitive high school that isn’t super strong in academics or sports, but we do really well on AP’s. The teacher that teaches the AP history classes has a 75% passing rate. And it does save ALOT of money! It wouldn’t kill you chances if you had pretty school grades and didn’t pass the exams, but if you had good grades and passed all of them, i’m sure it would give you a little leg up.</p>
<p>AP credits allowed me to skip the basic/intro classes in college, and move on to the more interesting and practical classes. Moreover, a 1 or 2 may not destroy your application, but certainly isn’t going to look good on an application.</p>