Title is pretty much self explanatory. I got a 3 and don’t know what I should do. I definitely expected more from myself.
Not bad at all. A 3 is still a passing score.
Thanks for your response - A D is also a passing grade, but I would be disappointed with that too. Do you know what about a 3 is not as good as a 4 in terms of colleges?
There’s obviously a difference between a D in a class (which for a lot of college classes isn’t passing) and a 3 on an AP exam. First, colleges weight grades waaay more heavily than AP exam scores, some don’t even look at exam scores. Grades are a reflection of who you are as a student, test scores are a reflection of how well you test. Obviously, a college isn’t admitting you to be a testing robot, they’re admitting you to be a student.
The difference between a 3 and a 4 is the difference between “meets expectations” and “exceeds expectations”. There is no reason to be disappointed in a 3, it means that you met the expectations of a college level student while still a high schooler.
IMO, if you have other AP scores in the 5s and 4s, one 3 is not going to make or break you. Remember adcoms are spending only about 5 to 15 minutes on reviewing your college application and are not going to spend a lot of time worrying about your 3 on an AP exam. What is done is done, move on and focus on more important things like doing well in your classes and working on your essays, ECs, etc. (if you are a rising senior).
Don’t report it!
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I would not report a score of 3 on your common app. An exception would be when applying to a school that gives credit for the 3, then ok to report it.
Selective universities do not give credit for a 3.
But many state universities do. OP didn’t say where he was applying.
And considering the change(s) made to the AP tests for this past cycle, no one really knows if the same level of importance, of lack thereof, will apply to the 2020 “modified” test when universities review college applications later this year or next year.
Also, what subject is the 3 in? At least to me, a 3 in Comp Sci or Psych is much different than a 3 in BC, Chem, Bio, Lit, Comp & Lang, etc.
It was US government and politics.
So you think the As in both semesters are enough that the colleges won’t assume I tanked the exam?
This is just my opinion, but self reporting a 3 is simply honesty in my book. Nothing to hide. Lay it all on the line. It’s not a complicated line of code in a algorithm to figure out an AP class was taken and a score wasn’t reported, if that’s important factor to the college. 
A 3 is respectable, especially in a non-APUSH/Comp & Lang/Lit/BC/ Chem/Bio subject. I can’t say for every school in the universe, but almost always grades will be Numero Uno.
Don’t overthink this. Either report it or don’t then move on. The essay is going to be so much more important this year (and every year). Write an awesome one and they won’t care about the AP score.
And really, it is gov. AP lite. No one is going to care.
A in AP course with 3 on AP test suggests somewhat below expectation. It reflects worse on your high school’s course than it does on you.
Be glad you are not in a low-quality high school where A students in AP courses most commonly score 1 on AP tests.
I would not report it. For highly selective schools where rejecting applications is the practice far more than accepting them, the AOs have to look for reasons to reject. Yes, a 3 can put you on the reject pile. So can not reporting scores but a lot of applicants don’t and that isn’t as damning as a low score. 3 is low for highly selective schools.
@cptofthehouse If OP doesn’t report the score, and reports other scores, won’t colleges assume he just did worse than he did? A 3 at least shows competency.
A 3 is not good. It’s not awful but it doesn’t show outstanding achievement. They have the scores to differentiate achievement from grades as many schools are known for grade inflation. If you have other 5 AP scores then great, don’t report the 3. If not, the low scores might indicate that you learned the material well but did not do an outstanding job. It’s fine. Just a metric. If you are going for a top school they will likely know your high school. This year stats will matter less since many kids won’t have access to normal testing.
This is not true. First, they have scores because tests need scores. Second, a 3 on an AP exam is equivalent to a B-, C+, or C in a college course. Which, achieving as a high schooler, is a big accomplishment. People on CC seem to forget that AP exams are college level exams, not standards for high school.
https://aphighered.collegeboard.org/about-ap/scoring
Of course, I do agree that you should only report them to schools that accept credit for a 3 on US Gov.