<p>I'm trying to go ivy/ivy-caliber. sophomore year i took my first AP (euro history) with a really subpar teacher who never even gave us an idea of what it really took to get a high score. i got a 3, which was the highest score anyone at my school got last year, and only like 3 other people did that well. throughout this whole year, i've been a solid 5 guy in calc bc, but i missread a problem today and will get no points on it, so i'm bracing for a 4. another unforseeable calc-type meltdown will be the only thing that keeps me from a 5 on english lit. i'm expecting a 4-5 in mechanics. so how will this effect admissions?</p>
<p>AP's are viewed as means of giving credit to you for college as in units. They do not impact your chances of getting in or not getting in to the school. You do not have to take any AP tests if you do not want to, just do well in the class. Getting a 3-5 on the test will exempt you from taking classes in college because you have already done well on the AP test which shows that you are already a college bound (european history student) for example. So in answer to your question, AP scores have no effect on admissions.</p>
<p>that's what i thought, but in past chances threads people have said that the 3 would hurt me and there is a spot for the scores on applications so i started to think they were considered.</p>
<p>Well the least I can say is I talked to my college counselor about this and he said AP's do not determine if you do or don't get into college, it's the AP classes that look like they challenge you on their resume that the admissions are looking for. AP's only help you when you get into college because then you don't have to take the course when it comes time to let's say European History 101 or something.</p>
<p>Pretty important, according to Michelle Hernandez, former admissions officer at Dartmouth and author of A for Admission. Admissions officers use AP scores to balance pieces of a student's resume: for example, someone who got a 5 on BC Calc will be considered good at math, even though he got a 640 on Math IIC. Also, lots of AP tests can boost your Academic Index by a point or more. I'm not sure if that's still the case today, but I'm taking as many as I can regardless.</p>
<p>I actually e-mailed Dartmouth's admissions office about this. They responded that AP test scores, like SAT II test scores, serve as a way for them to judge the toughness of your school. They also said that good AP scores can only look good on your profile and show mastery of the subjects. Basically, they are counterweights, like Darcy noted. For example, if someone scores a 5 on the AP English Language & Composition test, but does poorly on SAT critical reading, then the AP score will serve as a weak counterweight that will discredit the validity of the SAT critical reading score.</p>
<p>Do you guys know of an academic index calculator that factors in AP scores?</p>