<p>For the next school term (as a sophomore), my school has allowed for me to take some exclusive AP science and mathematics course; being the like of AP Calculus BC, AP Physics B, AP Environmental Science, and AP Chemistry. Additionally, I plan upon taking that of Northwestern University's Online High School courses, and Stanford's EPGY program.</p>
<p>Then, I discovered that of the award Siemens provides to students who score the highest on the AP exams on several mathematics and science AP classes. Now, as a recap, saying that I score 5's on the AP classes that I'm to take, is it worth it for this award? And, how is this viewed by universities on a college application?</p>
<p>^Oops, I meant to put that I’ll take the AP exams for Calc. BC and Physics B; not the courses. I apologize for the confusion of this compared to other threads.</p>
<p>Well of course it will be looked upon favorably by colleges – to win, you have to be the best male or female high school STEM student in your state. But it’s not so easy to win – if you’re only taking the 4 AP classes you listed above you won’t come close to qualifying in most states, even if you do get all 5’s. You’ll probably need 6 to 9 AP 5s, depending on your state and even then you haven’t won: The Siemens committee gets the chance to look at your actual raw score, not just your 5s. It doesn’t take much to get a 5 – maybe 60% of the answers right. But to win the award, you’d have to beat out any other candidate in your state with the same number of AP 5s – and those candidates will almost certainly be math and science “naturals” who got 90% or more of the answers right in the vast bulk of the tests.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, my son discovered this competition about 4 weeks before the AP exams started during his sophomore year. He was already set to graduate high school in 3 years and the rules state that you need to qualify before your final year in high school. Thus, he would have needed to qualify during his sophomore year. He decided to teach himself 4 math/science AP classes over 4 successive weekends to have a shot in strongly-competitive Illinois. He took 8 AP exams (7 for Siemens) and got a 5 in six of the seven. He successfully taught himself BC Calculus, and the two Physic Cs courses in 3 weekends, but did not have enough time to read the book for AP Environmental Science, so he got a 4 in what is often considered the easiest of the lot.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, he was accepted at 4 elite colleges and 3 of them wrote him personalized letters mentioning his effort in pursing this objective as a factor in his acceptance. It’s of course hard to say if the adcoms were mostly impressed by him taking 8 AP tests or by him teaching himself 4 subjects in a month.</p>
<p>Thank you greatly for your reply, LoremIpsum! Indeed, your post was quite insightful and gave me other items in which to ponder on, and to agree with. Also, congratulations on your son’s achievements; they were quite remarkable academic feats. </p>
<p>It varies by subject, etuck. I seem to recall that 60% was the 5 threshold for Physics B. Physics C is even lower, 55-58%. AP Bio is around 65%. AP Stats may require close to 70%.</p>
<p>Sorry to burst your bubble. But Siemens AP award does not exist as of July 2013. I feel really bad for all the kids who have already tried to so hard to game this award. I dont know why they cancelled it…they could alternatively just give less of a monetary reward or give less awards…IDK</p>