Do I have to try on my AP exams if I'm not going to college?

<p>Until next fall. Or can I just retake it before I get into college?!</p>

<p>I’ve NEVER heard of anyone re-taking an AP exam. Let’s say that you have an “A” in a course which has an AP exam and then you get a “2” on the exam because you didn’t “try.” What do you think the college will think about the AP course you took? They’ll think it was a useless course and you didn’t really learn anything, so will not feel that it was actually a rigorous course.</p>

<p>Does your school have a history of kids not trying to do well on the AP tests? I can only give you the example of my 3 kids and their high school. It would show utter disrespect for the teacher if kids didn’t try to do their best on the AP tests.</p>

<p>…“What do you think the college will think about the AP course you took?” </p>

<p>You don’t have to report the AP test scores to the colleges you apply to. You fill out paperwork before the exam and you can choose which colleges to send it to. My son left it blank so he can see what his scores are before sending them. If they are terrible he won’t send them. He has a 100+ average in the subject he’s choosing to test as a sophomore. It will mean there’s little correlation between his AP class and the exam though.</p>

<p>I’ve not found that any colleges he’s interested in require AP tests for admission. A few require a couple of SAT subject tests though. Completely different. </p>

<p>@momof3sons - Not sure your example holds much water. Hum…what if the student did try hard and got a 2, even if he had an A in the course? Does that show disrespect as well? I do not think so.</p>

<p>@priscillaaaaa21 - I have heard of kids retaking the AP exam. Being in an AP class is not required to take the exams. A couple kids on one of my older son’s sports team retook AP exams; they self-studied.</p>

<p>@OspreyCV22 is dead on. APs are not required by any college. They are a nice business for the schools and testing companies though.</p>

<p>I recently saw a comment around here that most colleges will not let you test out of the 101 class pertaining to the student’s major. For example: AP Physics: Physics major. Is that true? I saw that after we had paid for the AP test. I wouldn’t be so bad to get to college and easily ace that class though. </p>

<p>^^ Some colleges do and some do not allow such placing out sans APs. Really need to check with each school. My kid had no APs and simply talked to the dept head to place out of two intro classes in his major. That was math though and math is rather straight-forward; either you understand it or you don’t.</p>

<p>What does that say about you that you’re not willing to put in the effort?</p>

<p>Have people missed the point of the OP not going to college? </p>

<p>If possible, I recommend the OP just not take the test. However, I do get it that it is tough to get up for something one thinks is not useful or beneficial to him. </p>

<p>OP is going to college next fall, according to the first post. So it makes sense to “try” on the AP test when the info is still fresh. If the score is a 4 or 5, then no need to take the test again. If the OP doesn’t “try”, then they either pass on getting credit, or take the test next year, which means they’ll probably need to do refresher studying. None of this impacts college admissions any, but if you’ve taken the class and paid for the test, might as well make the effort and see how it turns out.</p>

<p>^^ A definitely reasonable argument. But I add, the OP stills needs to be up for it. To force it makes little sense.</p>

<p>…“Have people missed the point of the OP not going to college?”</p>

<p>The young posters on this forum often do a poor job of titling their threads. OP is not going to college “until next fall.” To me next fall means 2014 but in order to have another chance to take exams he/she must mean fall of 2015.</p>

<p>I can understand if OP is not doing a lot of independent studying for the AP’s next week. There are only a few weeks left in the school year. Many projects are due. My son has many EC’s that have competitions. He is scanning notes but tells me he either learned the subject in his AP class or the teacher didn’t teach the material. My son has a 4.5 GPA right now. I’m not going to stress him out over a test with negligible return. </p>

<p>@OspreyCV22 - Thanks for the clarification on 2015. Yep, it is a negligible return issue. </p>

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<p>AP tests should not require any special preparation after one takes a good quality AP course in high school. I.e. just another test, no big deal, and no reason to panic or stress over it.</p>

<p>As far as what colleges count AP test scores for, each college has its own policy. Assuming generalizations may result in an unpleasant surprise when the student attends a school that is an “exception”.</p>

<p>^^ " …after one takes a good quality AP course in high school."</p>

<p>That is a big assumption here. Maybe the course / teacher was not good.</p>

<p>But, the major issue I see is not needing to prepare is not the same as being up for it at this time. I see no point in taking a test that has little return for the OP, if the OP is not into taking it right now. </p>