To give you an example: my coworker’s daughter had a 4.3 GPA and went to one of the top high schools in the area. She got rejected by all the UCs except one. I am just a worried parent.
Self studying and taking AP exams is not going to help your student get accepted to college. Most colleges do NOT use AP exam scores in admissions…but some use them for placement into courses.
Who suggested that your son self study Physics 1 as a ninth grader??
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I totally understand.
As a point of comparison, my D23 had a UC weighted GPA of just over 4.0, and got into UC Berkeley. She ‘only’ took 7 AP’s junior and senior year. I would not describe her as an academic superstar. The UC"s have holistic admissions. Piling on as many AP’s as possible is not necessarily the path.
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I understand, but self studying AP tests won’t help with college admissions.
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But a counter example: my daughter took a total of 4 AP classes in high school and not a single AP test and is now a regent’s scholar at UC Berkeley. There is WAY more to admissions, especially when it comes to the UCs.
The number of AP classes you take is viewed within the context of your high school, so students are NOT penalized for not taking AP classes as freshmen if their schools don’t allow AP classes until junior year.
And it is definitely not “whoever takes the most AP tests wins.” Not by a long shot.
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I’ll add…self study AP really isn’t the path.
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You’ve got a long way to go with a freshman, but I would recommend reading through the many find threads here on CC, specifically the ones on UC admissions if that is your student’s potential interest, to give you some idea of how to help.
I found the posters here and, on those threads, extremely helpful in the process when my daughter was applying to college. The wisdom here was an invaluable help to us, which we are still very grateful for.
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Honestly it sounds like many of the area schools know they max out their AP test spots with their own students taking AP classes. Thus I said I would be super angry as the parent of an upperclassman actually taking the AP class and putting in the time being told my child didn’t have a spot in a proctored test because of a freshman taking the test after self studying. I don’t think thats harsh.
I do feel for California students as competition for instate universities sounds insane. Thankful my child was able to look outside of our state and find a good fit for his personality, his major, and our budget.
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I did. I have a PhD in physics, so decided if the school doesn’t teach him physics. Why don’t I just teach my son?
The only people placing a ‘max’ on the number of potential AP test takers though is the school. They could take as many students as they would have physical room for as well as proctors for those rooms. But that would require more work for the testing coordinator, so I get why they might not be amenable to letting outsiders in.
And many schools don’t let freshman and sophs take AP tests, which sounds like OP’s school is one of them. That policy is reasonable for any number of reasons.
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Your high school offers AP physics, right? It’s going to look mighty strange to a college that your kid didn’t take the course, and chose to self study this. The high school DOES teach the course. It just wasn’t on your timeline.
At this point, he has a couple of choices. He can self study…or he can just wait until he can take the course and test at his school.
But it sounds like the school does offer physics, just in upper grades. Is that correct? Perhaps the best thing would be to wait to take it when it is offered to his grade level? Or do you mean that the school does not offer AP physics at all? In that case, definitely look into DE, although maybe not as a freshman.
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And that raises the question…Say he does manage to find a place to take the AP exam and passes. Then what CLASSES does he take? To be the most competitive for the UCs, you should have four years of science - usually, that will include a class in biology, a class in chemistry, and a class in physics. If he passes the AP physics exam now, what upper level science class will take in the place of a physics class? Would he not take physics? That doesn’t sound like a great idea. Or would he take the test now and then take the class later? I’m a bit confused on the longer term strategy.
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I am not so sure. I have interviewed many high school students as an alumnus interviewer for my college as part of the admission process, and my college is pretty good. Sometimes my college is ranked #1 in the nation.
Anyway, to answer the OP’s question:
No, I don’t know of any specific schools. And schools that allowed it last year may not allow it this year
But one can use this to search for schools that offer the particular course.
Any school that offers the particular AP course can register outside students for the exam, but they are not obligated to. And most won’t.
Similarly, any school that offers AP can order an exam, even if they don’t offer the particular course (except for African-American Studies). Again, most won’t.
I provide the above solely as info, since that was the question asked. Not that I think a 9th grader self studying is the best use of his time, because I don’t. While there’s nothing that says any student can’t do outside learning for the sake of learning without having an AP test, it’s again not the best use of time if it’s simply duplicating future coursework, IMO.
There are few places that are actively looking for one-dimensional academic wonks. The kid would likely be better served channelling these energies into appropriate ECs.
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Thanks. It looks like I just have to give up.
CA used to publish the test scores for all AP tests and SAT scores for all CA high schools, public and private, in a public database. It wasn’t super accessible but it was technically public. This was one of the reasons why some schools did not want outside students to take the test or wanted to limit the test to good students. As of this last year, they are no longer doing it.
If your child enrolls in the class through UC Scout they guarantee a testing seat at their headquarters. It might be worth enrolling, even it isn’t your child’s primary method of learning.
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I am not in California and do not have a direct answer to this, but I do wonder if the self-study might be put to good use by using it to contribute to a science Olympiad team or similar group. Or individual science fair-type competitions.
The students in our area who were accelerated in math and science (often through self-study) were very successful in those competitions and received awards that were helpful when it came to college admissions and scholarships.
Maybe not finding an AP exam is a blessing in disguise and he can apply his knowledge in a different, possibly more effective way.
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I view AP physics 1 as basic requirement before competitions.
This information is gold! Thank you so much for your help!