I’m kind of stressing that some AP courses I took this year won’t be considered hard by admissions officers and will make it look like I decided not to push myself senior year. It’s not like I’m taking AP Drawing or anything however my easiest one is AP Psych. I took all of my APs because I am interested in the subject matter but I’m just worried it will look bad since my application is missing some of the well known tough APs that are out there. Also when I went about picking them it was under the assumption that some were harder then they turned out to be. Can anyone give me input on this?
Are you talking about easy AP Classes or Easy AP tests? Not the same thing at all.
Easy AP classes but I’m assuming the AP tests won’t be too bad if the classes are fairly easy. @VickiSoCal
I think as you have 1 AP from each of the 5 disciplines (Language, English, Math, Science, Social Studies) you’ll be fine. My senior year I took AP Psych, English Lit, Spanish Lit, Calc AB, and Computer Science. It wasn’t a huge problem though in hindsight I should have swapped AP Chem for AP Comp Sci.
All AP classes are considered to be college level, but some are considerd to be less difficult than others. I would say AP Chem, Physics and Music Theory are considered difficult, and Psych and Human Geo are regarded as being easier. US History and Lit are tough classes. It isn’t that all STEM APs are hard and all the others are easy. No college is going to think you were slacking off if you took the APs you were interested in. However, if you say you want to major in Biology, and you didn’t take AP Bio, that might raise some eyebrows, (assuming we are talking about most competitive colleges.)
Psychology is not the “easiest” exam, and in fact only 19% get a 5. In contrast, 48% of those taking Calc BC get a five. It’s all about how well the course is taught and how much work you put into it. My non-STEM D thought Environmental Science was easy and got a five, but only 8% manage to do that. On the other hand, the only three she scored of all her APs was in microeconomics, yet 15% of test takers get a five. Colleges expect you to challenge yourself and take the courses you are interested in. If you have no interest in STEM, why take APs in those classes?
You don’t need to worry. And isn’t it too late now anyway? No point stressing about what can’t be changed.
Nothing wrong with taking AP Psych if the rest of your schedule is rigorous. If you are applying to top tier colleges, you want a schedule that your guidance counselor will mark off as being the most rigorous offered at your HS so this is really a discussion you should have with him/her.
My point is that at some schools AP Psych might be an easy A, at others it might be very hard.
Alright thanks for the responses everyone. Yes it is a little late to be worrying about it haha. I have other harder science APs (AP Bio) so I guess I won’t stress too much. My school doesn’t offer many APs however I have taken a wide range of them. I’m planning on majoring in Economics and they don’t even have AP Macro or Micro :/. I guess it’s to late to worry about it now. My counselor has always said that I’ve taken a rigorous schedule so hopefully he’s right.
@happy1 I don’t think AP psych is an easy 5. You can’t compare it to bio, or physics or world history. It’s an entirely different subject snd I can’t imagine any college will think the student was slacking by taking it, even absent other more challenging APs.
@Lindagaf I didn’t say it was (or certainly I didn’t mean to). My wording was only in response to the OP’s calling AP Psych an “easy” AP – which it might be at his/her HS – I don’t know. I only wanted make the point that the AP Psych would be looked at in the context of all of the other classes he/she took to determine overall schedule rigor.
And as an aside, my D took AP Psych at at our HS and it was one of her favorite classes – but it was not an easy course and she did not get a 5 on the exam so I would not denigrate AP Psych (she also went on to get a BS in Psych in college).
Additionally, it’s about the kids that take the class. The ones who take BC are generally the hardcore STEM kids, which, IMO, is why the percentage of 5’s. For a non-STEM kid, BC is by no means easy.
Agreed on both counts.
Of course, @skieurope . I guess indirectly I am implying that the kids who get fives are often really engaged in the subject, so they perform better and/or work harder. I would get a zero on Calc BC, or any math course for that matter. 
No problem @Lindagaf Some users (not implying you) have tried to read too much into percentages on AP Exams, and just wanted to ensure the waters didn’t get muddied.
@Lindagaf: "I would get a zero on Calc BC, or any math course for that matter. "
@skieurope, Where is the ‘So True! Me,Too’ link?
To be fair…I took AP Psychology online, didn’t read a page of the textbook, and got a five on the exam. Calculus? I studied for weeks, took a proctored practice exam, got a 3. So I can understand what OP means when she says Psych is considered an “easier” AP.
I would say the reason calc BC scores are so high is because the students choosing to take calc BC over AB or statistics are pretty self-selecting, not because the exam itself is easier.
Human Geography is considered an easy AP course. But at my kid’s school it is pretty hard core. She fought to get a B-. Then got an A on the exam. That’s what I mean by easy AP test does not always mean easy AP class at your school.
Yeah sorry guys I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad if they struggled in AP Psych. I know that the difficulty of the course really depends on school to school and realize now that admissions officers look at your schedule as a whole and won’t really split hairs. I also realize that people will have different strengths and weaknesses and that’s OK. I mean I doubt someone will be punished for taking an AP class…