<p>I read other threads, but there was no consensus. What is the effect of the 1 and 2 that I have?</p>
<p>Here are my scores:</p>
<p>AP Calculus AB- 4
AP US History- 4
AP Biology- 3
AP US Government- 3
AP English Literature- 2
AP Chemistry- 1</p>
<p>I got a 2 in AP Lit and a 1 in AP Chem. I heard that a 2 in neutral, but the effect of the 1 in AP Chem is unknown. Would the 1 hurt me for these colleges?</p>
<p>Yale University
University of Pennsylvania
Brown University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
Vassar College
Vanderbilt University
Bucknell University
University of Southern California</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Chemistry AP score of 1 looks bad and may create a negative impression of your academic abilities. The main problem is that you did not realize how poorly you had done on that AP exam or you would have cancelled the score within the alloted time frame. Although most schools just use APs for placement or exemption, admissions folks are human & the scores of one & two do create an impression that suggests you are not a top student.</p>
<p>I do have an explanation. I had a headache and cold from the Thursday I took AP Lit to the Saturday on the next week. I didn't go to the doctor, but I took tylenol. Should I e-mail the colleges explaining my situation?</p>
<p>No, because that would just draw attention to your low scores & might portray you in an unfavorable light. As I wrote earlier, the best route would have been to cancel the test results within the alloted timeframe. Don't stress out over something about which you have no control, especially since this is a small, almost insignificant part of your application. The good part is that you did put yourself on the line & took a variety of AP tests, several of which had outstanding results. It is okay to note simply that you had a bad test day if your coursework in these areas was far superior to your AP scores.</p>
<p>my D has the same problem! she took 8 APs during her hs career,she made all final A's( outstanding gpa3.85/5.6wgpa) but during the AP's tests( one week) she felt horrible, very sick, we went to the ER, we run tests etc...( stress? what they said!) and she got bad results on 3 AP's (2/2/2) the 2 others she took were allright(3/4) .she has 3 more to take at the end of the year..but now she is very anxious with the college process, especially because she applied to Ivies! howare they going to see her despite her excellent HS career ? she is very bright and she can do well on a high level... but if they focus on tests they will certainly deferre her or worse deny her !! i prey!</p>
<p>LaVieEnChocolat, she should be fine. Good luck with her results. I'm anxious about decisions, too. The 2's shouldn't hurt her much as longs as she has a good GPA, SAT/ACT test scores, and good essays. I talked to my former high school guidance counselor about it, earlier.</p>
<p>A two is neutral at top schools? No way. I'm unclear, but do you have to send them? As an adcom this would speak to out of control grade inflation if you have the GPA's for the schools you list and would tell me you could have difficulty with college level material.</p>
<p>At top colleges they expect 5's and even 4's would cause me concern.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, if you send them: they matter. Is there any way you are still in the time slot and can cancel them? (This can be done, but only within a certain amount of time). Otherwise, I would recommend not contacting the school. Like ColdWind said, that will just draw more attention. Focus on making everything else the best it can be. Hopefully their effects won't be too drastic compared to the rest of your strong application. Best of luck! =]</p>
<p>AP scores of 4 or 5 are outstanding, but recently Harvard & some other elite schools stopped giving credit for scores below 5 since the students had not sufficiently mastered the material in the opinion of the professors. AP tests are not IQ tests, and, due to the intense competition to get into the ultra selective colleges & universities, an AP score of 4 will not help--although it probably won't hurt either at top tier Ivies, CalTech & MIT-type schools.</p>
<p>5's are pretty much the thing for getting out of distribution requirements at top schools though some do take 4's. Not saying 4 is a bad score, just that ivy applicants tend to have a full list of 5's. At DS's high school lasy year, which sends about 30% to ivies plus, the average AP score was 4.5 and the school does not even offer any class called an AP.</p>
<p>I had a patient who got in to Stanford early decision. I knew he had major grade inflation when he told me he got a 2 on the AP Spanish test and an A in the class. After questioning, he had 3 or 4 similar grades. It was a school where he took about 10-12 Ap classes and got A's in all of them but did crappy on the test. I couldn't believe Stanford even took him. Meanwhile my son worked his but off in an AP class, got a C and ended up with a 4 on the test. You even had to apply to take the Ap classes at his high school and have interviews. </p>
<p>At another friend's school, one father at back to school night said the high school teacher required more in the AP Biology class then he required in the beginning Bio class he taught at UCLA!
Now, my son's university only counts 4's in certain subjects (about 5 of them) and he got no credit for any 3's he got. The whole AP thing is way out of hand. I know the people who are in charge of the National AP program have started checking on some high schools to make sure the class should have the AP name.</p>
<p>It's very simple: don't send the official score report to schools you are applying to.</p>
<p>List your good scores--definitely the 4s, possibly the 3s, depending on the schools--in the "academic honors" section of the Common App. (If a school gives credit or placement for a 3, then it is worth listing for them.) When you get in and decide where you are going, then send the official scores.</p>
<p>Headache is not a legitimate excuse... In fact, that's the dumbest excuse ever. Do you think the rest of us were perfectly healthy/sane taking seven AP tests in two weeks?</p>
<p>The same advice for SATs and ACTs goes for APs. Don't send them until you get the score back and are o.k. with them. If you do poorly on an AP test, my advice is to immediately take the equivalent CLEP test. You can take it at just about any local university and it's accepted at over 3,500 schools. I don't think Stanford accepts CLEP, but you never know where you'll end up attending. My son scored a 2 on AP Spanish, but did much better on the CLEP Spanish test and got 6 credits.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I had a patient who got in to Stanford early decision. I knew he had major grade inflation when he told me he got a 2 on the AP Spanish test and an A in the class. After questioning, he had 3 or 4 similar grades. It was a school where he took about 10-12 Ap classes and got A's in all of them but did crappy on the test. I couldn't believe Stanford even took him.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Maybe his AP scores didn't really matter because he took the hardest courseload available at his school and did well, even though those courses weren't as well taught as your son's. When AP scores depend largely on the quality of teaching at a school that you go to because you live in a certain area, I really don't think bad AP scores should matter if you did well in the class.</p>
<p>what kind of grades did you get in those classes...?
If you got an A in the class but then a 1 on the exam it is going to look really strange.</p>
<p>In my opinion it is best to show all the scores or none of them. Because if you only do some the admissions people are going to automatically just think oh he either didn't take it because he didn't know the material or he failed it.</p>
<p>Stanford loves kid from low socio-economic area. An old friend I've just talked to at a recent gathering(I have not seen this person for a long time) said both of his daughters got into Stanford because they are valedictorians of a high school from the Inglewood area near USC. In this case, the AP scores would not matter. It also depends on the high school AP teachers. Even in some high performing high school, the AP teachers are a joke.</p>