AP Test Retake worth it in the long run?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

Hello All,

A month ago I finished my first year of high school (woohoo). Freshman year was pretty easy I finished with all As and a perfect GPA. I chose to take one AP class (AP Human Geography) since it was the only one available. The class was challenging and I worked well in it. I scored well on the various mock exams averaging a 4 so I felt as though I was ready to take on the AP test. On the day of the test I was surprised that the test was a lot harder than the mocks that we took but I safely made it through the MC. The FRQs were what hit me the hardest, they were very difficult in my opinion because they were about topics that my teacher had barely touched on during the school year. That’s where my mistake was, I should’ve self-studied harder. After the exam I found my classmates freaking out and panicking, I didn’t freak out though, I thought that my MC would outweigh my FRQs until I was informed that the FRQs make up 50% of the whole exam.

A month later the results came in and I got a 2. I knew that I didn’t do well but I at least thought that I passed. So I did what any paranoid nerd would do, scroll through College Confidential forums for solutions. I found 3 options.

  1. Keep the score on my application and pray that it doesn't effect my chances.
  2. Don't report it on the common app but have AOs question why I took the course but not take the exam or assume that I'm hiding a bad score.
  3. Retake it.

For the first option, sure they would see that I messed up but maybe they would admire my “honesty” or give me a little leeway since it’s my first AP. Also I’m not blaming the teacher AT ALL. He prepared us well but I was lacking in my self-studying. This is not a case of grade inflation.

As for the second option, they would question why the exam score isn’t there since I have the AP course in my transcript. They would assume that I’m unmotivated and I didn’t take the exam, I couldn’t afford the exam, or I did poorly on it and I’m hiding it. But hey, at least they don’t know for sure that I failed it. The problem is that I am a motivated person and I could easily afford the exam since I was provided with financial aid.

Lastly, there’s the third option of retaking it. Surprisingly this is the option that I’m leaning towards. Hear me out. Ok so my school offers 1 AP class in 9th grade, 1 AP class in 10th grade, and then up to 6 AP classes in 11th! That’s a huge jump. Until junior year, students are used to studying for 1 AP test so they are overwhelmed when they have to study for multiple AP tests at a time. But if I study for my AP Human Geography retake simultaneously with my AP World History exam I’ll be used to studying for multiple AP tests a whole year before my peers. Ideally, it will work in my favor. One of the main reasons that people don’t usually retake AP tests is that they don’t want to pay another ~100$ but that doesn’t apply to me since my family is “low-income” so I took my test for a whopping…10$. The only con is that I have to study for it on top of APWH, but I’m sure I can pull through.

So my question is what should I do?

Thanks for reading, it was a lot longer than I expected…lol

P.S. If anyone knows for sure, can you please clarify if the ApplyTexas Application requires all AP scores?

2

I am not really sure about Common App, but most colleges don’t take AP scores into consideration when you apply to colleges. You can self report them for your advantage but not all colleges need that. I have been through the UC application (future ucsd student), and they did not ask for ap scores till the end.

Also I recommend you not retaking it because in my eyes it is just a waste of time and your future college might not even allow you to skip a class in college (example Apes for my engineering major did not help at all). So what I recommend you is just continue working/ studying and taking more Ap tests. Apes, Ap psychology, Apbio, ApGov, ApApush are great classes to take and even selfstudy for. And if you want any AP credit to benefit you the most take AP Calc (just a sidenote). Hope I could help. Don’t retake it. Unless you are dedicated in that field and it could be your future potential major.

3

Oh I couldn’t care less about the credit, I don’t plan on going anywhere near that field in the future. I just don’t want that blemish on my application. Thank you for replying though, your advice is greatly appreciated.

4

Not worth retaking. You will be very busy next year studying for another set of AP exams. Trust me.

5

I only have 1 AP class next year but I’ll take your word for it…Thanks for replying!

6

Move on.

Here’s the thing: AP classes are supposed to be equivalent to college intro classes. We can quibble about whether APHG should even be an AP class; I say no, as do most top colleges. Whatever. So it is not surprising that many HS freshmen do not get stellar scores on AP exams. Here’s the better news: College AO’s are not surprised by this either.

Omit the score from the Common App. Yes, the AO might think that you are not listing it because you failed the exam, but guess what? You did. Better IMO for them to think that than for you to list it and for the AO to now know it. Additionally, as said upthread, AP scores carry little to no weight in the admissions process.

The time spent preparing to retake an exam is better used elsewhere. So put your energy into acing that exam, and in getting good grades in your classes, and developing your EC’s.

7

That actually makes A LOT of sense. Thanks for replying!

8

@TXRaised what part of Texas do you live in? Fellow resident lol. Anyways, yea, don’t retake the class, as HGAP is one of those “intro to getting used to AP” classes that don’t matter.

However, I wanted to point out one thing. I would not recommend self-studying for any extra AP classes besides the ones you are signed up for. Why you may ask? Colleges want to see the rigor of the classes you signed up for, and they want to see how well you succeed based on your grades. AP scores are a very small portion of applications, and self studying AP Pysch or APES, classes I’m assuming you won’t go into for a major, won’t help improve anything really. Focus on GPA, ECs, and SAT. AP tests are very minimal in the grand scheme of things. If you got a 2 in AP Biology as a junior wanting to go into premed, maybe that’s a different story.