<p>Would getting straight 4s instead of straight 5s in AP exams make a less viable applicant for top colleges?</p>
<p>To me it looks like getting Bs all the way. That said, 4 isn’t a bad score.</p>
<p>What if the school grades for the AP classes are A’s? Does that say more about the applicant or the school?</p>
<p>look most colleges you dont even have to include ap scores on your application. even the ivys dont require it. so in reality it determines what courses you are going to take in college and what you can get out of. some schools only let you get out of classes that you get a 5 in, some are more lenient. i would not stress over a 4 or 5 because they will not really influence your college application process all that much. that being said it always looks good to have 5’s and you can show them off, where as 4’s you wouldnt boast about. does that make sense?</p>
<p>LovelyBones, that is a really insightful question. It could really go either way for the student; however, the prospective university would consider the school’s grading system inflated.</p>
<p>Unless you decided to ignore College Board’s recomendation that underclassmen not send AP scores to universities, then no admission committee will ever see your scores. They will see the grade you earned in the class.</p>
<p>Most applications have sections where you have the option of self-reporting, but this is an option, and even if you got straight 5s, self-reported scores don’t do much to strengthen your app.</p>
<p>Also, why do you think many competitive colleges require SAT IIs even when all the competitive applicants have taken a slew of APs? AP is tougher than the SAT IIs, but the SAT II has a larger grading scale (easier to distinguish between a 700 and an 800, in USH, even if both earned 5s on the APUSH exam.) Plus colleges realize that most people won’t have sent their AP scores, and very well might have lost their AP number, which is needed to send additional score reports.</p>
<p>To make it short: if you want to show off your knowledge of s subject for an admissions committee, take the SAT II.</p>