I finished junior year with a B in APUSH and I was pretty worried just because I had never gotten a B before that. I was even more worried because APUSH correlates to my intended major (Political Science). However, when I got my AP exam score back I was surprised to see that I got a 5 on it. Will this B affect me too much in applying to top tier schools if I clearly showed that I know APUSH well enough to meet the CollegeBoard’s standards even though I didn’t meet my teacher’s standards?
applying Columbia early decision by the way.
No-one can give you an answer, based on just one grade and one AP score, about what a holistic admissions process (looking at a full 4 years of academics and extracurriculars plus letters of rec) will do.
@SJ2727 is correct. What else do you have in way of grades, test scores activities? About where are you in class rank, and what sort of school are you attending?
Some of it will depend on how other students at your school did in APUSH. Is your high school very rigorous? Did most of the APUSH students get As? IME they will look at all of that in the context of your school.
One B won’t hurt your chances at any tippy top college. The fact that it is in a class related to your major isn’t good, but there are so many variables in play. It is what it is at this point. Worry about what you can control going forward, not about what is done and over.
As noted, there are probably 30+ courses on your HS transcript and this is just one, plus test scores, etc., etc. An A would be better than a B, but if it’s your only B in your college career, it won’t mean much.
But in terms of relative importance - a grade over an entire semester of school work is going to be weighed more than one 3 hour test. So it doesn’t “offset” the class grade.
It says to me that you had a demanding, rigorous teacher who prepared you for the exam. I’d find a way to let the admissions office know you got a 5 on the exam. Good for you! Grades are always dependent on the teacher but the A.P. exam is an equalizer. I know many, many kids who get great grades in the classes, but not on the exam. It always makes me wonder about the teacher and the grading.