<p>How much will a bad AP score in AP Calculus affect me? If I have a valid story for the reason as to why can I write about it in the optional essay?</p>
<p>Nice username!</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’ll hurt you. How bad is bad?</p>
<p>Thanks! And I got a 1… 
yeah I know…BUT I have a very valid reason, pertaining to having a new math teacher at our school and classmates that refused to learn…however I do know I am capable of learning calculus and I thoroughly enjoy it and I’m trying to show that by taking AP BC my senior year.</p>
<p>I’m not sure a new teacher and stubborn classmates is really going to be seen as a valid reason. Granted, I don’t have all the details here, so take that as you will. </p>
<p>Can I ask what your grades in the class were? (Do you know how people did on average, both on the AP exam and in the class?)</p>
<p>If you did well in the class but poorly on the AP, doing well in a subsequent class in your high school might not be comforting to Admissions. Do you have a local college you can take calculus at?</p>
<p>You are not required to report your AP scores, and you might want to consider whether the benefit to having taken an AP test is worth having to report the 1.</p>
<p>I agree with Mollie that you shouldn’t report this one, and I agree with Piper that a new teacher and stubborn classmates is not a reason to get a 1. You could have bought a prep book.</p>
<p>You don’t have to report AP scores, but you should be prepared to discuss it, if asked, in the interview. I presume the AP class is on your transcript. Not reporting a score begs the question.</p>
<p>However, in the article by a Reader for Berkly applications, he said they look for reasons to advance a student, not to disqualify them. So, they might ignore a non-report.</p>
<p>It’s highly doubtful that an interviewer would ask about AP scores. They don’t see the application, so they wouldn’t know whether you reported it. Some people include it on the resume’, which some people bring to the interview, but I don’t think an omission would raise a red flag.</p>
<p>Sorry it took me so long to reply, I was off playing soccer in another state. </p>
<p>@Piper- I had one of the highest grades in the class, and the class average was a 1, no one got above a 1. And I did get a prep book, but sadly that is not the kind of learner I am. While I don’t enjoy being lectured to, I cannot read a math prep book and completely understand everything. I need interaction; I am a social learner.
I also understand what you’re saying about subsequent classes, but in other classes I have received 4s and 5s on the AP tests and nothing lower than that.</p>
<p>And my only concern about not reporting the AP Calc score is does that mean I cannot report other scores? Because I want to show off how well I did in many other classes, but I don’t want this blemish to show up.</p>
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No, you can report some scores and not others.</p>
<p>Have you taken the SAT 2 Math exam? What is your score on that? Granted, it does not test Calc however, but a strong score would be of help. Do not report the 1.</p>
<p>You won’t send an official AP score report to MIT – the scores are all self-reported. This means that you can choose whether to report all of your scores or not.</p>
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<p>I disagree with this. It seems kind of unreasonable to expect a student to be savvy enough to know if their teacher is doing their job or not.</p>
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<p>Shravas:
MIT seeks students who will “build the world” - their words.
How do you think they’ll react when they see an applicant who blames a teacher or a fellow student for a poor HS class grade?</p>
<p>ATPmolecule:
Take Piper’s and Lidusha’s advice seriously.</p>
<p>jpm50- My only problem is being in a small school with a history of bad math teachers (although this teacher is not bad, just unfortunate to be a new teacher with a rowdy class) And I didn’t exactly have any choice as to what to do about the class, at my school when you realize your class is tanked halfway through the year you can’t exactly get out of it.</p>
<p>And I will, I won’t report it.</p>
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<p>The OP didn’t get a poor grade in his HS class, he or she got a poor grade on the AP test. Normally, a good grade in the class will translate to a good grade on the test, but unfortunately not all teachers do their job - either they don’t cover all the material, or they don’t teach at a level required to do well on the exam. MIT accepts people who didn’t participate in the AMC because their school didn’t offer it, I’m not sure how this is that different.</p>
<p>Shravas:
Your logic is reasonable and makes sense. But is it really what is best for ATPmolecule’s if he/she is applying to MIT?</p>
<p>Assume you are a college admission’s officer (who has to cut 11 of every 12 applicants). You have two applications in front of you. Their only difference is their AP test score.</p>
<p>Applicant #1 makes excuses for a low AP score, saying: “I got a low AP score because of a poor teacher and a classmate”</p>
<p>When you read Applicant #2 app, you see they too had handicaps in their HS AP class but took the initiative and legwork to recover on their own to make sure I didn’t score poorly on the AP exam.</p>
<p>ATPmolecule’s excuse will work fine at numerous colleges. Do you think it will fly at more selective colleges?</p>
<p>jpm50 I’m not trying to be rude, but you keep saying this is an excuse. Yes some see it as an excuse, but to be honest I did not know what to expect from AP Calculus, I did not even know until probably a month or two before the test that we were not learning at the level we should have. I’m sorry if it sounds like and excuse to you, but I happened to have been participating in two varsity athletics, a club sport, and various other activities. If you think that I’m trying to make excuses I am not. I was trying to point out that I realistically cannot learn by self studying or simply through AP prep books. I did buy one, I did look at it, but I also was not good at learning that way WHEN I had the time to learn. I understand your points, but I am also tired of feeling insulted. </p>
<p>In other words; I won’t be sending the score because I have taken others advice and got the answer I was looking for and that is if I can keep the AP score from being seen.</p>
<p>ATPmolecule:
I may have been too harsh, and if so, I apologize. Your earlier replies made it sound like you were making an excuse.</p>
<p>If your last reply is really the case, then try to turn this into an opportunity. E.G: your AP score was a wakeup call, you realized what you needed to learn, where your score needed to be, you made a plan for how you were going to get there, and now you’re implementing it. </p>
<p>If you can say something like that, then there may be value in sending in your score.</p>
<p>I was not trying to make an excuse, I understand I didn’t perform, but I know given the right instruction I can learn the material and get a 5 or 4.</p>
<p>And I just don’t think I want to risk sending it, as long as I can keep it from being sent!</p>