<p>I was just wondering whether or not my scores on AP Exams offered by collegeboard actually affect my chances, or are the scores just for placement? Do colleges actually consider the number of AP exams you have taken and the results that you gotten on them? If I haven't taken any AP classes in school but I have taken many AP exams and scored 5s, does that make up for my lack of rigor in school? </p>
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<li>Yes and no.</li>
<li>Yes.</li>
<li>No.
Colleges care about your AP scores; they do tell the college a lot about your ability. However, the scores for AP, unlike those for SAT and ACT, are self-reported, so I imagine the colleges take them with a grain of salt, especially if they are all self-prepared (that is, if you haven’t taken the AP class that accompanies them). If your school offers AP classes and you haven’t taken them, at all, that’s a big negative, and I would think that self-studying would have limited effectiveness in offsetting that negative. If your school doesn’t offer APs and you self-studied, that’s a whole different animal, and that would be very impressive to schools (although you might be better off taking the corresponding SATII instead of the AP, really).</li>
</ol>
<p>Bottom line, if you think you can self-study and take AP tests and do well, why don’t you just take the classes? </p>
<p>Thanks for replying! My school actually doesn’t offer any AP classes, so that’s the main reason that I have decided to self study them and take the CB exams. However, it does offer IB, but I dropped out of the program because many of the courses weren’t what I was looking for, and I thought my time would be better used on self-studying APs. I’m not quite sure how much this is going to hurt my application…Also, I’ve taken all my SAT IIs, so I guess the APs are just a little extra stuff</p>
<p>If your school does not offer any AP courses, that changes the tune a bit. But the bottom line is how your course rigor compares to students at your school – as your guidance counselor will record on their form to your colleges that you are applying whether you are taking the “strongest rigor” curriculum, I can’t remember but I think it is like a scale (strongest, very strong, average, etc).</p>
<p>From the common app:</p>
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