<p>I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA and I will most likely keep it that way, but I am taking AP Chemistry next year, which has only been at my school for two years now. The teacher is new at the college material and how to space out the lessons etc., so the passing rate is low. All I want to do is pass with a three, but what if I don't? Will the college see that I got the A's and blame the exam's grade on the teacher?</p>
<p>Why not take it senior year, when the colleges won’t need to know for admission purposes?</p>
<p>I’ll be taking AP Stat and AP Calc AB as a senior, I don’t want to pile on chemistry too. I know many people here take 5-6 at a time, that is overkill to me. How much time do they have to study? I don’t have time for that much.</p>
<p>This is exactly what I was afraid of. My school isn’t one of the most academic schools out there in US, so my grades are extremely high. However, because I want to go to Ivy League schools, not only do I have to have a high GPA, but I also have to get high AP scores to prove to the colleges that I deserved the A’s through a standardized test, AP test. So if you plan on going to a really competitive college, your high GPA isn’t enough. You have to show them that you deserve the GPA. Generally, a student at really competitive high schools tend to have lower GPAs because there are just soo many talented people there. However, a student with the same talent that goes to a less competitive school will, for sure, have a higher GPA. Colleges know this, because they have many standardized scores to prove it (APs, SATs, State testings, etc), and they take in consideration of how good your school is academically. So in order to show them that you earned the A’s and B’s, and that you are on the same platform as the students at very competitive schools, you have to prove it to them by getting a 4 or 5. Normally, 3 is an acceptable score if you had a B in the class.</p>
<p>I feel that this is a really good idea. In reality, Stats does not require a lot of Calculus material. At my school, students are qualified to take AP Stats as long as they are concurrently enrolled in Precalculus/Trig. Comparatively, Stats is somewhat easier than Chemistry. Chemistry is considered one of the hardest APs (Physics C and Chemistry). Although Stats is also fairly challenging, it requires less “brain power” than Chemistry. This is just a suggestion, but perhaps you can take AP Chemistry as a senior and Stats as a junior if it’s possible. And a word of caution: AP Chemistry will require more time to grasp the concepts and will require more time to study for than most other APs, because there are so many concepts in Chemistry. I just took the AP Chemistry make-up exam today, and it was pretty hard =[ even though I studied my butt off.</p>
<p>This is all good advice, but I mean there are limits to how well I can do on the exam with an unexperienced teacher. I don’t see how being a senior would help me any more than being a junior. Is all I can do study a lot? I know I won’t take AP Chemistry as a senior because I’ll have calculus, which I won’t want at the same time (even if calc is easy).</p>
<p>Colleges will never see your AP exam scores, unless you personally and explicitly pay to have them sent to the college. So if you score poorly… don’t send your scores to the college until after you’ve been admitted.</p>
<p>Oh wow, that’a a relief.</p>
<p>Not sending your AP score when you took the AP class is a really bad idea. Basically colleges will assume you did crappy but weren’t up front about it.</p>
<p>All standardized test scores are automatically recorded on my transcript…</p>
<p>Can I remove some, so colleges don’t see?</p>
<p>Stats is a joke. It’s barely a math class; every computation can be done on your calculator. The only thing the class actually teaches you is when to do a certain test and how to interpret test results, plus some basic probability/experiment design. If you plan to go to a top college you should have absolutely no reason to struggle in AP stats. I really don’t think it’ll be that tough taking on all three senior year.</p>
<p>And Derivate, I hope you’re not seriously considering altering your official school transcript.</p>
<p>I have to take chemistry as a junior the way my classes are turning out, is it the end of the world if I get, say, a 3?</p>
<p>Of course not. Lots of people get accepted even with a 2 or a 1 on an ap exam. I’m from a similar situation, as I’ve only had one good ap teacher my whole high school career, and even in her class only 7/18 passed. I’ve still put in the effort to get 5’s on the exams, however.</p>
<p>What schools are you aiming for? Getting 3s doesn’t cut it for HYP, but if you want to go to a good instate college or just a solid college in general, you won’t have as much trouble with a 3, or even a failing grade.</p>
<p>^ i know many people who got into HYPS with one or two 3s
it’s not the end of the world</p>
<p>I don’t know what HYPS is. Harvard, Yale, Pennsylvania, …?
Well my dream is Stanford that’s why I am concerned. I would be perfectly happy going to UF as well, which I know I can get in to. Not to mention it would be free.</p>
<p>@ peachsnapple - Definitely. AP scores are not even that big of a criteria for admission purposes. What I meant was that if he just blames it on the teacher and can not put in extra effort to pass the exam, then he will have trouble at those top universities where you need to work a lot outside of class.</p>
<p>HYP = Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.</p>
<p>lol @ myself, I am applying to MIT and Caltech next year and Im pretty sure I just got a 3 on Comp Sci AB and Physics B, and maybe 4 on AP Stats. Ive had horrible teachers that didnt even finish teach half!! of the curriculam…and I was too busy to study for them… The funny thing is that Ive made USAMO (which has something to do with the previous three subjects)- which is why I didnt study for AP, as it is around the same time. Colleges are gonna be like “is there something wrong with this kid? Does he just not try for AP tests or something? How does he go from such a high score on the AMC/AIME to not even a 5 on AP stats or a 4 on physics or comp sci?” </p>
<p>However, the probelm is that, for something like physics, we have two teachers. Ones a great teacher and will probalby have a 4 average…my teacher will have a 2 average, so colleges will not be like “oh its just the teacher”. Besides, you cant blame the teacher…ill be honest, even though I didnt do well, its my fault for not studying earlier…although the teacher can help you do well on the AP tests, its you that take the test. Even though my teachers not a great teacher, one of my friends from his class self-studied and just got a 790 on physics SAT II and atleast a 4 on the AP test.</p>
<p>EDIT: oh yea and btw, I will still send my 3s to colleges because I still believe in honesty. Even if the 3s make me look bad and degrade some of my other awards, Ill rather have college make a decision based on the entire piture. Besides, lets say I got an A, and I dont report my score…that will make it look like major grade inflation.</p>
<p>Most applications have a space for you to self-report your AP scores, and while many colleges wouldn’t care if you omitted scores that you received, Stanford would probably think it’s iffy if you took the class but didn’t put down your score.</p>
<p>The only time you send the official AP score report is after you matriculate.</p>
<p>I had a B+ on all my report cards and mastery on the state exam in Chemistry but got a 1 on the AP Chem exam and I have no idea why! I took 2 other APs (Us and Lit) and got a 4 on both. I can understand how disappointing it is and how much it sucks but sometimes you just mess up I guess?</p>