Hello guys! This is my first post in this forum, while I was reading through some of the discussions about the AP exams, I noticed that many students took (or planing to take) a lot of them. I already took one AP Calculus AB in the tenth grade (last year) and I’m planning to take an AP Physics this year.
What I want to ask, are AP exams really that important ? if so how do people manage to take a lot of them in only one year ? And are my exams enough or should I take more ?
APs show rigor and preparedness for college. In addition, they can get you college credit. I recommend that you read this: https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/exploreap/the-rewards
Yes they’re important, but interestingly, the kids at my school getting into top colleges are not the ones who took the most AP classes.
Taking AP **classes/b is important because colleges want you to challenge yourself, but the exams only matter for college credit. Other than college credit, there’s no reason to take exams for which you didn’t take the class.
This is probably because they go to high schools that offer a lot of AP classes. It’s okay if yours doesn’t because colleges will evaluate you in the context of what your school offered.
Taking AP classes is a good way to show colleges you’re a highly motivated student, but don’t feel compelled to take a bunch just because people on here sometimes go very overboard with them. Take AP classes you’re interested in, not just to look good; otherwise, it’ll be a painful year lol. Also, colleges usually only want to see like 7 or 8 at the very max, or else you look like you’re padding your application.
If your high school ranks, students are often forced to take as many APs as possible to complete for that coveted val/sal title.
No one is forcing students to take as many APs as possible and you may find this hard to believe but many students don’t “covet” that val/sal title.
That said, if you took AB as a sophomore, you are evidently a strong student and probably should be in more AP classes. Our school doesn’t have honors classes for upperclassmen–it’s AP or regular, and regular classes are full of kids who don’t care much about school. So a lot of honors students in our school take a pretty full AP schedule. However, schools are different, and only you can decide what the right level of challenge is for you.
They’re important if you can get a 5 on the exam. Otherwise they’re worth nothing n if u dont get a 5 it means ur a scrub lmao.
Colleges don’t usually pay much attention to your AP exam scores in admissions, but having a rigorous schedule in the context of your school’s course offerings is important. If your school offers 15-25 AP classes, then I would advise you to take advantage of that, but don’t take APs just for the sake of APs. Colleges know that some APs are worth more than others- they would much rather see a student ace AP Chem or AP Calc than AP Human Geography. The most important thing is to challenge yourself but still maintain very good grades, whether that involves 10+ APs or not. In my experience at a competitive large high school with around 20 APs offered, taking 12 APs during the course of high school is not all that much compared to my peers who will take up to 17-18. At my school, even the average college-bound student who perhaps won’t ever be an academic superstar takes 3-6 AP classes during high school just because the non-AP classes aren’t challenging enough to prepare them for college.
as previous commentators have already said, challenge yourself with ap classes(colleges like this) but don’t drown yourself with ap classes just for the sake of them because before you know it you’ll be drowning in stress and sleep deprivation
Depending on the score you get on your AP exams, you can save $$$ by using AP credit to satisfy college class requirements. Not only will it save lots of money, but it’ll also free up your schedule so you can take other classes that you like or need. However, different colleges require different scores and some don’t take any at all.
You probably won’t save money with AP credit unless you graduate early, which isn’t necessarily a good idea because you’ll lose a summer when you could have gotten an internship, but you’d be able to take more classes in your field.
Yes and No
Yes, for course rigor at your high school.
No, they are fluff for credits in GE. My DD2 got an earlier registration time for her AP credits.
My son was able to bypass some prerequisites for a couple of courses, but long term, most of his peers did the same.