<p>Do I have to tell Harvard my AP scores when I apply? I REALLY REALLY REALLY dont want to because they are a string of 3's. I dont want them to think that my scores are a reflection of my not understanding the material when it is actually the reflection of me being a really bad test taker (I'm trying to get over this for my SATs which are more important). I have A's and B+'s in all my AP classes and thats not weighted so i dont really want to demean those grades by submitting AP scores....</p>
<p>I wanna know this too :)</p>
<p>Why do you think the CollegeBoard prescribes such a short amount of time for each AP test? Because if you can't sufficiently/correctly answer those questions under pressure, then you DON'T know the material well. Most students can sit there comfortably for 5 minutes and reason out each question, but the CB is not testing for your reasoning skills. AP tests are about rapidly reading the question and knowing the answer, or at least being able to quickly recognize it among the choices.</p>
<p>Also, if you know you are a bad test-taker, then why did you take the tests in the first place? Obviously you should have known that no matter how well you knew the material you would still have gotten a bad grade and would be in the predicament now of having to withhold from or explain away your bad grades to colleges.</p>
<p>However, you actually imply that you are not a bad test-taker in your own post. According to yourself, you get A's and high B's in your classes at school. Well I don't know about your school but if I got C's (equivalent to 3 on AP) and other bad grades on all of my tests, I sure as heck wouldn't be getting A's and high B's in my classes. So, it seems strange that on one group of tests one time a year, you freeze up and absolutely cannot do well, not because of your lack of knowledge, but because of your bad testing skills, while on every other test you manage to do alright.</p>
<p>you just wasted a whole bunch of minutes from your precious life reprimanding me (what's done in done, in the words of macbeth) and did not even asnwer my question....</p>
<p>That was really mean of you magicmonkey07. Everybody has their own strengths/telents in life and you should realize that. I absolutely hate it when good test takers like you make fun of other individuals who have better grades than you but can't preform as well on standardized tests. You need to grow up and realize that strong work ethic over tiem matters a lot more than the results of a 3-hour test one weekday morning.</p>
<p>sudaneya4ever, it seems that AP scores aren't considered to factors really in college admissions. If your AP scores are good, then they may help you but otherwise they won't hurt you. I think their point is basically to give recognition to students who come from rigorous prep schools whose grading scales are often depleted. As long as you have suficiently kept up with the standards that your high school teachers require off you, then even competitive schools like Harvardcan't possibly ask much more of you. So, I recommend that you do report your AP scores to show that you took the tests(3's may not help but they DEFINITELY won't hurt) to colleges and focus on more importnat stuff liek your SAT scores and the essays.:)</p>
<p>thank you evil<em>asian</em>dictator. Your advice was not only helpful, but reassuring. Many of the people who submit their strings of 5's are coming from elite prep schools or very strong public schools. My school is neither and I personally think that success/failure on AP is exams is co-related to how good the teachers at the school are, or in my case, how little they care about their students performance on AP exams. I think the SAT II's are a better indication because they requiire EVERYONE to self-study and completely rely on themselves, not on the teachers ability to teach material or not. I do, however, have to get over this testing-phobia of mine...</p>
<p>I almost threw up before my second AP test I was so nervous, but there's still no such thing as a good or bad test-taker. Once you see the question, you should still know the answer no matter how nervous you are. When you are nervous do you forget when the declaration of independence was signed?</p>
<p>If by mean you mean realistic, then yes I was being mean. But one of you hit the nail on the head when you said that AP tests give kids coming from tough schools the chance to show that their classroom grades don't represent what they know. Unweighted, I got a B twice in APush and I even had the highest grade(s) in the class. I got annoyed because of your implication that the AP tests don't measure knowledge like your GPA does. </p>
<p>Asiandictator:
low gpa and high standardized test scores VS high gpa and low standardized test scores...I didn't wake up on test day and suddenly know the answers. </p>
<p>You also changed your reason for doing badly:</p>
<p>"I personally think that success/failure on AP is exams is co-related to how good the teachers at the school are, or in my case, how little they care about their students performance on AP exams."</p>
<p>If you'd just said that in the beginning, instead of indirectly demeaning the accomplishments of others, then I wouldn't have bothered with all of this.</p>