<p>It's so dumb. I got an 89.2% overall grade, and I messed up on the finals. But I got a 4 on the test though. AP Stats isn't exactly a science or math class is it? I mean I got A+ on AP Calc and a 5 on the test. 80 on PSAT and 790 on SAT II Math and like 100 on AMC 12 . . .Would Caltech penalize me?</p>
<p>protip: the B+ in AP stats hurts you less than an admissions officer seeing this post</p>
<p>and they do read this forum</p>
<p>Why should it hurt me? So what if they see it?</p>
<p>Because you're the kid that'll get alcohol poisoning after their first series of exams.</p>
<p>In all seriousness, there are a lot of factors involved in admissions. There's no such thing as "penalty" from admissions...</p>
<p>That being said, I would warn you not to take statistics too lightly (from a learning perspective). Anyone who attempts to dismiss statistics as "not math", i.e. implying that stats is not important, is being incredibly myopic.</p>
<p>What if they said that biology isn't science? (I kid, I kid - sort of)</p>
<p>Same thing applies :P</p>
<p>AshwinSundar, I'd say that if you had any trouble understanding any of the concepts in AP Stat, or applying them properly in context, I couldn't recommend the Caltech environment to you. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if you read the AP Scoring Guides, there are a lot of ways to lose points on the AP Stat exam which do not reflect on your ability--in fact, to the contrary. For example, in your answer, you often have to repeat a statement about the nature of the sample which is one of the "givens" in the question, or you lose points for that (well, ok that's in the nature of proof). But if there is an assumption in the application of a statistical test that the sample is 10% or less of the entire population (say), and you are given the information that the entire population is 600 and the sample size is 50, you have to actually write down that 10% of 600 is 60 and 50 < 60. Saying that 50 is less than 10% of 600 will actually not get you all of the points . . . . absurd, but I'm pretty sure it's true. A test-savvy teacher or self-studier will look at the scoring guides for the free response, which are posted on the CB web site. So, did your teacher mention some of the weirdness in the free response expectations, or not?</p>
<p>^ I don't remember him saying anything like that, but I'm pretty sure I got a 4 because I totally skipped the last free response question because I ran out of time.</p>