<p>ok i know the best is always to get all 5's on 10 ap exams but im wondering if what im doing is good enough for harvard.</p>
<p>ive taken
ap bio-4
apush-4
aplang-3</p>
<p>am taking
ap euro
ap econ macro and micro
ap physics
ap psych
ap gov (comp and the other one)</p>
<p>that adds up to 10 ap tests by the end of my junior year. im planning on taking a lot for my senior year as well (im going for state scholar) what im wondering is that even though i will have taken 10 tests, will they frown because i got so many 4s and 3's? i know i can get at least a 3 on every test most likely 4s, and less likely 5s. also will they think of ap psych and ap gov as half credit classes? im self studying ap gov comp or somthing like that (lol) </p>
<p>bassically i have a bunch of ap classes im taking, but i dont know if it will hurt me greatly because i did/am most likely going to do poorly on many of them. it seems that harvard admits have all 5's and maybe one 4. for me, i dont know if im up to harvards level in terms of aps. what do you think? also do you think it will help to self study some other test? if so which one? which is easy?</p>
<p>Don't worry... I have one AP (AP US History) and I got a 2 on it. They look more at how well you did in the class, not the test. Though, taking the class and then not taking the test is frowned upon. Just do well in the class and do your best on the tests.</p>
<p>definitely grade inflation. Coming from a school in which you bust ur *** to get a 5, which you later get a plurality of and get "Bs" for the course.</p>
<p>well i dont think so, i used to get a lot of b's in honors (non ap) classes just because i was super lazy. i work hard for good grades. i still get the occasional b+ or a- though. i can see how they might think that it was grade inflation. im almost positve that my euro class has inflation but most of my classes are pretty straight forward. some are even more difficult then normal in which only 2 or 3 kids get a's and everyone else gets b's like in my anat and phys (non ap) class.</p>
<p>Honestly, the "admissions officers don't care much about AP scores" mantra seems like more of a myth than anything else. What support do you guys have for this?</p>
<p>I think AP scores should (if they don't already) play a pretty big role in college decisions. I know that they aren't really fair economically (they are expensive! and a lot of lower income schools don't offer them). However, I think that they are the best indicator of a student's ability to do college level work, so I would say it would be best to have a decent quantity with respect to your school's offerings, as well as some quality 4s and 5s.</p>
<p>im hoping they dont look at my 3's and 4's and say this kid will stink in college. i can see harvard looking for straight 5's. i think i might be able to get national scholar if i try hard. </p>
<p>wow its all about ecomnomics isnt it. the awards to get you to take more ap's, the sat retakes etc. how much money does harvard make on apps? do they make any money at all? does it even out? i can see the reason that they dont have a cut off or anything is because they can convince less qualified people to apply boosting their revenue and their usnews rank. its not just harvard either. wow theres my rant on the money transfer of college.</p>
<p>Unless Harvard has built a computer to read and process its apps, it has to support its admission staff through the application fees. And you can get fee waivers if they pose a problem. I think AP tests are worse economically because I'd imagine it is harder to get a waiver (some states automatically do them, states like mine don't) and not everyone has them. If they were a standard part of every high school's course offerings and the tests were much more widely taken, then I'd imagine they would rival the SATs (or surpass them) in importance. Of course, by then the College Board would be practically a part of the government because it would have to be immense in scale. So, I can see where you are coming from for app $, but I think AP tests are a far better thing to rant about lol :p</p>
<p>callthecops2, the APs would "balance out" the SAT result for most universities, but not Harvard. Scores of 4 are, if anything, looked at as slightly underachieving at the most selective schools.</p>
<p>I recall reading a quote from a Duke admissions officer asked about expected AP scores. She said that the office "expected" students to get 5s on their tests, although a few 4s don't hurt much.</p>
<p>thanks randomperson. Expecting 5s is insane! I mean, its like expecting only 7s on the IB exams.</p>
<p>shark_bite A's in class and 4s on the tests show grade inflation. To show you what I mean, take my example of average of 1st and 2nd semester grades, and AP result:</p>
<p>Physics avg. 98, AP 5
English Lit avg 93.5 AP 4
Calc AB avg. 92 AP 4
Stats avg 94 AP 4</p>
<p>They correlate as far as i see, but getting straight As and 4s might show that you didnt care about the AP test, or there is a great deal of grade inflation. Reduces the value of your GPA.</p>
<p>im betting we have inflation. to be honest with you, i only got straight a's for one semester, i had b's in all 3 of the ap classes ive taken so far. maybe if i get straight a's for both semesters, i can get 5's on my 7 tests this year. (i got an A and a B in my classes, so average them together and you get a 4, maybe with 2 A's i can get a 5 on the ap test because i will have practiced more.</p>
<p>Heres one more question. If i take 10 ap tests, and get 4s will harvard think its better or worse then someone who takes 3-5 ap tests and gets 5's? does harvard want perfection in a few classes or a pretty good score in most classes?</p>