^^ Yes.
“The information gleaned from these documents also sets your academic experience in context for us: how many of your classmates go on to attend a four-year college, what kinds of advanced or accelerated courses (if any) are offered at your school and the size of your class. This information is important to us as we assess your achievements within your school environment and within our overall applicant pool.”—Copied from stanford website
Let me explain my reasons why say taking APs although they aren’t offered at school is positive. They want students who challenge themselves. Right? So, if I have no AP courses at school yet took them, I am not only challenging myself I am also challenging circumstances and limitations.Isn’t that something positive?
Moreover, I ma the kind of student who prioritizes his studies and intellectual interests over anything else even though I may want to play sports, for example. So from that perspective, I took APs though my school has no AP courses nor exams. By taking APs, I am demonstrating my commitment, interest, and hard work. Howcome at last all that becomes a disadvantage?
Without knowing the specifics of your school’s curriculum, one cannot answer the question of whether a student is able to challenge him/herself within the confines of what the HS offers. Many US HS’s do not offer AP’s for a variety of reasons, but they still offer courses which are at or past the level of AP’s. The AP designation is not the holy grail.
That may appeal to some colleges; Harvard is not one of them.
OP said he took the APs out of interest. At some point, we can take him at his word. Among the many attributes a tippy top college seeks, “intellectual curiosity” counts much.
Yes, there can be a fine line between interest and robot. I think the heart of this thread argument may be students who do accumulate APs because they misunderstand the “value.” But if OP is in a school which doesn’t offer them and offers the usual cores at some lower level,he may be seen as supplementing. Not gaming. He can simply tie the self study to his interest in physics and the the other courses.
I don’t think it’s a problem to list the courses in the testing section because, for the order in which an app may be read, it would highlight that he did this and offer some addl context as the rest is read. And he did get 2 5’s.
Make your best decision, OP.
I think I would list the courses I take this year, but not in the anticipated tests, but rather in the additional info as to provide some context