I am a sophomore taking 3 AP classes and a weighted honors course with a 4.5 GPA. I have registered for the AP Bio, AP Physics 1, and AP Euro. I am allowed to cancel my exam with a refund until the registration deadline.
I recently went to UCLA and talked to some premed students. They said the AP exams were basically useless except for English. One even took 14, but only 4 were able to help him. Even with all the credits, he couldn’t choose his classes early.
You also need to start at the beginning of the sequence for any science. Bio and Physics would be useless as exams. I also am not a fan of Euro.
If the exams won’t do anything, I plan on only taking 0 this year, and 1 next year. I took AP HUG and got a 5 last year.
I’ll still take a lot of AP classes, but does not taking the exam severely hurt my chances?
Yes it’s probably true that many of the AP classes are not useful to the UCs except for graduation credit. However, taking the test validates what you’ve learned in the class, possibly a lot more than the grade itself. This is especially true if you don’t go to a super-competitive HS. Not taking it may come back to haunt you during admissions time. Now if you were a 12th grader it might not matter much, but to me skipping it before 12th will raises red flags.
UCLA did away with giving priority registration based on AP credits along with UC Davis. Where the AP credits are applied will be based upon your intended major. I would take a look at a 4 year course sample for your intended major and see which AP credits would be the most useful. The majority will probably give you elective credit and not major course credit. Also many Medical schools will not accept AP credit for Medical school pre-req courses.
UCLA does not specifically state that they consider AP test scores in their application review while UCB does consider them.
It will be up to you to decide which AP tests you are willing to take, but just remember you are not required to to the AP credits even if they are available. For some schools other than the UC’s, you might find them to be useful.
@Gumbymom@ProfessorPlum168 If that’s the case, would taking 4 exams by the time of application be competitive. And would having a high gpa and SATmake up for the small amount of AP exams?
My opinion is that, unless cost is an issue, I would take them. You don’t know what path you are going to take in the future and what colleges you will be applying (or accepted) to. Don’t make a decision now that you might regret in two years.
@medigull@lkg4answers At UCLA AP scores are not used in admissions. Submitting scores with your app helps the registrars office prep class sizes for the next school year. GEs do not get fulfilled by AP. Only courses required for your major and English are fulfilled by AP exams. Note only one of the English exams is needed taking both is redundant for UCLA.
I agree that making choices around just one school’s practice is too limiting, especially for a sophomore.
OP - you don’t know what can change in three years or where you might end up applying. I know my dd’s list changed dramatically after we started making multiple college visits.
I would say to take the tests unless it is a financial burden.
@10s4life yes, I understand that AP scores don’t affect admissions at UCLA and that APs can’t be used for GEs at UCLA (or Davis for that matter). My point to the OP is that s/he is only a sophomore and shouldn’t be making decisions now based off of options at UCLA. What if s/he doesn’t get into UCLA? What if s/he decides to apply to another school where the AP exams matter? Making decisions like that in 10th grade is, in my opinion, risky.
I would definitely take it. My D took all of her AP tests for classes she took during soph and junior year. During senior year she only took 2 out of the 5 because she already knew the college she was attending only gave up to a certain amount of credit for APs. Most of her friends did the same. For now when you have no information or idea on your college choice it is better to err on the side of yes, the test will matter.
My D took all AP exams, 12 or so if memory serves. I don’t think it would hurt you much in admissions if you skipped an AP exam provided you had a handful or more of other AP exams you did take. For most public schools outside of CA having a number of AP exams will provide you some benefit in terms of allowing you to graduate early or if you attend a private university you may be able to double major or take some classes outside your major that really interest you. If you are taking the class I would advise you to take the test. If you end up in the UC system they may be of less value but there are not a lot of downsides