how bad is it if you fail an AP exam? is there a way to hide it or something?
<p>I don't think there is a way to hide it (the deadline already passed for canceling, I believe). Worst case you just probably won't get credit for it, I doubt colleges will look down on it too much. Also what do you mean by fail.</p>
<p>No college will see it if you just don't send the scores...it's not like it's included with the SAT score report or anything.</p>
<p>2 or a 1 is failing</p>
<p>when you have the score report sent to colleges, you pay an extra $15 per college to have that test withheld from the report.</p>
<p>Just think about what the admissions officers will think when your score report lacks an a.p. score that your trascript will show. It will look like you're hiding something, and you are! I think hiding the score may look worse than the actual 2 or 1, because it will reveal a negative personality trait to the admissions board.</p>
<p>your high school transcript may or may not show AP scores. Check with your high school to find out. If they are included, than uvajoe is right, and you can't really hide the score from collleges. But many high schools do not include that. That's why colleges ask about the scores on their apps.</p>
<p>well, i took an ap test for a class i didn't even take. i self-studied it. i didn't get back my report yet, but i was just wondering, because i wasn't too confident. my school doesn't put aps on my transcript</p>
<p>Actually, only a 1 is failing, Molly. You won't get credit for a 2 at any college, but a lot of colleges don't give credit for a 3, either. </p>
<p>If you leave it on there, it might turn out better than you think. Even if it doesn't, you can explain that you self-studied the class.</p>
<p>I kind of freaked out an cancelled my Physics E&M score. Now I wish I hadn't because it's gonna be hard explaining why only the mechanics score appears. Just leave your score and take the test again next year if you want credit</p>
<p>on her high school transcript it should read</p>
<p>A.P. (class name) (grade)</p>
<p>regardless if score is reported on her h.s. trans.</p>
<p>many people take an AP score and don't take the exam, or vice versa. Having the course on her transcript in no way implies that she has hidden the score (even if she has). And in any case, the OP says that she didn't take a course, so nothing will be on her transcript if she has the score withheld.</p>
<p>most people at my school don't take the AP exams. and if they do they take one. even teachers advise us against it!</p>
<p>but i took all 4 of mine anyways...</p>
<p>and promptly cancelled my physics score afterwards, lol. i got an A in the class though so I'm hoping colleges won't be like... "hmm, no AP physics score...MUST BE A FAILURE."</p>
<p>Definitely listen to Rabokarabekian and texas137 and tawny.</p>
<p>1) Adcoms don't care that much about AP scores.</p>
<p>2) If you will be a senior next year, pay the $15 fees and have the score withheld. If you will only be a junior next year, have the score cancelled for all time.</p>
<p>3) Check with your high school to see if the AP scores appear on the high school transcript. Chances are that they don't.</p>
<p>
[quote]
1) Adcoms don't care that much about AP scores.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>well, I don't agree with this part. I think good AP scores can definitely help you with admissions and should be reported when you apply to colleges. In terms of putting you in the context of the applicant pool, they are much more useful to ad coms than the corresponding grades are, especially if you attend a high school that may be unfamiliar to a particular college. A 5 on an AP exam means the same thing all over the country, but an A in the course can mean a very different level of mastery of the subject in different high schools.</p>
<p>I said that about AP scores in the total context. First they care about the difficulty of curriculum, then gpa/rank, and then standardized test scores. The standardized test scores they most care about are SAT I, SAT II's and/or ACT. Then after you've qualified academically, they consider your EC's, recommendations, and essays. The academic record gets you into consideration at the extremely selective colleges, but you need to have a "hook" in order to actually be accepted.</p>
<p>Out of all that, I think that the AP scores are the least important. I am not saying that taking AP courses is not important. That is the most important thing. However, a lot of schools only use the AP scores for advance placement after you have been accepted. I don't know of a college that requires that AP scores be reported in the same way that SAT/ACT scores must be reported.</p>
<p>Michelle Hernandez, former Dartmouth ad com, has an entire chapter devoted to AP and IB scores on pp 90-93 of her book A is for Admission. Here are some relevant passages:</p>
<p>" Perhaps the easiest and most effective way to override a mediocre AI (Academic Index) and to stand out academically is to score well on AP or IB exams. Although these are not factored into the AI formula (they are not offered by all high schools and therefore cannot be required by colleges), they are in many ways more useful for highly selective colleges than SAT II scores"</p>
<p>"So what effect can these AP or IB scores have on your application? A big one."</p>
<p>(examples) "...even if the student's AI placed him in the academic 5 or 6 category (out of 9), the officer would probably boost the academic rating to a 7 because of excellent AP scores. In addition, if the student didn't seem to be that exceptional academically, a number of high AP scores could suddenly change the picture dramatically."</p>
<p>[A homeschooled student I know who only had 3 grades from traditional courses was accepted to some of the most selective colleges in the country, in large part due to a slew of 5s on AP exams.]</p>
<p>What if you take a bunch of APs like 10 (yeah, tha may not be a lot to you guys) and take like 6 exams? I took AP Spanish and that is what it says on the transcript, but I didn't take the test because the class should have been Pre-AP Spanish (we didn't learn stuff for the AP exam until 4th quarter, honestly).</p>
<p>I'm not that crazy about "A is for Admissions". She points out to all the high schoolers in chapter 1 that not all of the adcom officers are Ivy graduates and so the applicants have to realize that they are being judged by people who are not as smart as they are. Everything I've read says that the AI is not used except to justify the acceptance of athletes. She doesn't deal with the lottery aspects of applying to HYPSM and seems to feel that only the best people are the ones who are accepted. She believes in the process and has no doubts that going to an Ivy is the greatest achievement anyone can hope for. Frankly, she seems to believe adcoms are the guardians of Social Darwinism. Some of the problems with the book may be that the book is dated.</p>
<p>Concerning the AP scores, I would agree that having a bunch of 5's should be reported, but I'm not sure how much they care if the scores aren't reported.</p>
<p>Other books presenting inside views of adcoms are "The Gatekeepers", "Admissions Confidential", and "Harvard Schmarvard".</p>
<p>I don't have the book handy, but I think I remember some discussion during a committee meeting of a particular applicant's calculus AP score in The Gatekeepers. </p>
<p>Rachel Toor, former Duke ad com, writes about AP scores on p. 92-93 of College Confidential:</p>
<p>"Although the scores on the (AP) tests were meant, originally, for placement into higher level college courses and were not intended to be used in college admissions, they are. We expect students to score 5s on their tests. If they get a couple of 4s, that's okay, but anything below a 4 doesn't help much. We don't require that students report these scores for admission; if they do, however, we use them. I always told students that if they scored below a 4, not to report it to us."</p>