Cancelling AP scores

Hello

My DS (a junior) has indicated a desire to do an AP exam that is not offered by his school. It is an easy AP, and I have some background in the subject, and there is a lot of material for it available, so I am confident that between the two of us, we can cover the material adequately for him to do well.

However, just in case he does not do well (scores a 2 or less), I have been looking at the options and hope you can help me out.

  1. Does Collegeboard report all AP scores to the colleges he will apply to, or can he designate which scores CB should report to which colleges?
  2. Can he request to cancel or withhold a score? CB says it is possible, but says the application to do either must be submitted by Jun 15th of the year that he took the relevant AP exam. This does not appear to make sense for two reasons.
    a. The exam scores will not be released by that date.
    b. Since DS is a junior, and will take the AP in 2024, but apply to colleges for Fall 2027, he will not know which colleges to withhold the score from before Jun 15th 2024.

Thank you for any help.

not an expert
but my 4 kids have only reported the tests they wanted to report. I dont believe there is anything anywhere that says to report all tests.

if you have a certain college in mind, you might want to double check their policies.

and fall 2025, right? not 2027?

AP scores are self-reported on the application. You can report any/some/all. The official score report only is sent to the college you’re enrolling.

The official score report shows all tests. There is no pick and choose, but you can get scores withheld - for a price. The price is not worth it to anyone other than the CB. The clerical processing the score report at the college will not care that you got a 2.

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bgbg4us - Sorry, my mistake. He is a sophomore currently, so he will apply for start in Fall 2026.

Is he a sophomore or a junior NOW.

He’ll have the option to withhold scores. If he did well, he can release it at any time. The fee’s only $10.

Not sure if he can still view the score though… Does someone here know?

Yes, I know. And yes, he can. Withholding and cancelling are 2 separate things. Cancelled scores are gone forever; withheld scores are not.

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The June 15th date is correct - to cancel a score, you must do it before you receive the result.

Hello,
College board allows you to choose which AP scores to send to colleges. You can decide after seeing the scores, ensuring informed decisions. Consider your DS’s actual application period for accurate choices.

No they don’t. Or more accurately you can cancel or withhold scores for a fee. But you’re effectively choosing what not to send.

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In addition to ski’s answer, I can’t think of any school where one has to submit official AP scores on the application, not even Gtown. One only has to submit official scores upon matriculation for purposes of placement and/or credit.

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The June 15 date only applies if you have already requested the score be sent to a school that year.

“Scores can be canceled at any time, but for scores not to be sent to the college, university, or scholarship program indicated online through My AP, the AP Program must receive your request by June 15 of the year you took the AP Exam.”