<p>I know you can get the award in your senior year, but unless you get it in your junior year you cannot use it on your college apps. How much do colleges care if you got the National AP Scholar award compared to getting the AP Scholar with Distinction award and how would it compare to, say, making it to the AIME? My case is that I took two ap exams in my sophomore year and I'm taking five ap classes in my junior year. I got 4's on both my exams from sophomore year and I'm pretty confident that I can get 4's and 5's on three of my exams this year. On the other two (they're apush and ap language and comp), they're definitely not my strong suits so I may need to study my a** off just to get a 4. But just assuming everything goes well on my five ap exams this year, it still doesn't fulfill the requirement for the National AP Scholar award (I need to have gotten at least 4's on eight or more exams and I would have taken seven at the end of my junior year). So my question is, is it worth self-studying one exam just so I can get the National AP Scholar award a year earlier? And what's a good exam to self-study for? (and by good I mean easy) I've been thinking either ap computer science or ap physics c: e&m but I heard psychology and apes are exams that are easy as well. I don't want to spend too much time on ap exams and end up with bad SAT scores either. So does anyone have advice?</p>
<p>Um, maybe you should repost in the AP forum?</p>
<p>IMO, the AP Scholar awards aren’t that impressive, other than having the title itself. It is probably more distinctive than qualifying to AIME (since ~10,000 students qualify each year) but qualifying to USAMO, on the other hand, is far more impressive than a National AP Scholar award. That’s just my opinion though.</p>
<p>I am in the same situation as you are. Just stick to the 5 AP’s. You wouldnt want to overload and then not get the 4’s and 5’s you needed in the first place. Its not that impressive to colleges in my opinion.</p>
<p>If you are looking for “easy” and less time-consuming AP courses, I can safely say that Environmental Science and Psychology will fulfill that requirement much much more than either Computer Science A or Physics C: E&M. Of course, you should also pick a subject you are interested in, it’ll make the time go by faster.</p>
<p>Very critical comments here, it is alright to set very high standards but to just blow off getting an AP National Scholar award is a bit over the top.</p>
<p>Many high schools don’t even have a single APSNA to their credit and most have just a handful. Out of 8000+ foreign test takers last year only 9 made it. Some states had 0.</p>
<p>A lot of kids work very hard to get recognition like this, putting in years of effort over weekends, summers and even holiday breaks. They earn the distinction, happily post the results here and then are told it is “insignificant”. </p>
<p>If that is the case, why even bother then? Wonderful if you did well in the USAMO but that is strictly math, AP covers a lot more and it takes a well rounded person to get 5’s in AP Physics/Calculus and 5’s in Latin, English Lit., European History etc.</p>
<p>My daughter qualified this year as a Junior; is it safe to assume that this accomplishment it is held is some high regard by colleges? She will have completed 15 at the end of her senior year. Hard to believe that such a workload was simply not worth the effort. Regardless, she enjoys the challenge these classes offer, as well as the knowledge obtained.</p>
<p>AP Scholar is definitely an accomplishment, as you can obtain a good amount of college credit. But when it comes to the most selective schools, I don’t know how much it will stand out. When I applied to MIT I didn’t even list my AP Scholar award, simply because I had more impressive awards, and there was already a place on the application to list AP scores.</p>