<p>There's lots of useless ones. The hardest I've encountered is definitely AP Physics C. AP Chemistry was effortless.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply, Nazhockey. With 4 AP's you had a terrific choice
of colleges. Are you an athlete as well, e.g., hockey? It seems like really good athletes
are in a different category, ever more so with acceptance %'s declining
at nearly all the top schools. Just wondering. In any case, best of luck.
I am going to keep Penn State in mind for my d, who wants to go
into engineering also, like her Dad (civil). The sound of mega merit
aid is also music to my ears!</p>
<p>I'm going to be honest. I was amazed at the number of APs that people could take. My school offers around 10-13, but no one can take all of them. Or even most of them. The maximum you can take sophmore year is 1. Then after that you can add more. I feel like I won't have the chance to get more than 3.</p>
<p>The number of AP courses you can handle over four years is enough. It varies; some can only stomach one while others can take 25. I am somehwere in the top quarter of the distribution, with 15-17 completed by HS graduation. Requirements also limit options; in some schools a certain number of APs is allowed by school law, and others by sheer schedule conflicts. Of course the final factor is also whether or not the school has any and whether a distance education course is available and affordable to the family.</p>
<p>I got amazed when I joined this site. I really never knew people could take so many AP courses. Well, better to suffer the pain of knowledge than the bliss of ignorance.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the course. Last year, I was in three (AP US Gov, Lang, Bio) and it felt like only one, since Gov and Lang had bad teachers who gave no homework, and the exams were two pieces of cake. This year, I'm in four, taking five tests, and I swear it feels like I'm in 20. As soon as I finish with Calc, it's time to read for Lit. When I finish Lit, I begin USH. And so on. I'll have 14+ when I graduate.</p>
<p>So, it depends on the class.</p>
<p>eiffel13:
I am an athlete but not good enough to compete at the division 1 level which all of those schools compete in. I am actualy going for civil engineering and am pretty excited about next year. The one thing that wound up being the deciding factor in my college decision was atmosphere. I just loved the Penn State scene. I at first thought that I wanted to go to a top notch private school like an Ivy but came to the conclusion that I would have more fun at a Big 10 football school and thats when I whittled it down to either PSU or Umich. I eventualy decided that the distance and cost associated with attending Michigan negated the fact that it is a slightly better engineering school.</p>
<p>Maybe that's why I was rejected from some schools - I only took 2.. but that's about all that was offered at my school.</p>
<p>Hhahahaha. Some of you people have a distorted view of learning. 19 AP tests makes you genius? Nice one. More like someone who needs to spend their time more wisely so they will not commit suicide later in life. </p>
<p>Anyways, as to your question. 10 APs are plenty. AP tests don't factor into admissions as much as GPA, SAT scores, etc. They only boost your GPA. AP tests are only useful if you actually plan to do the course in college. If you are not, you are basically a college-whore fattening the pockets of College Board in order to delusionally boost your stats. </p>
<p>I'm not saying to take no AP courses. It's just unnecessary to take even more than 6 really (even though I am doing more than that, probably ~10 tests)</p>
<p>All colleges take into account how many AP courses your school offers. If your school offers 15, then 10 is good. Showing you actually worked harder and obtained good grades in an AP class is a must, even if you don't pass all ten of them. Colleges won't know which ones you scored 4's and 5's on until you're already enrolled and trying to transfer credit.</p>
<p>Is that true that colleges won't know what your scores are until AFTER they've accepted you? How do you know this?</p>
<p>I don't get how so many people have 10+.</p>
<p>My school only offers these:</p>
<p>AP Biology
AP Calculus
AP Chemistry
AP Computer Science
AP English Literature
AP English Language
AP Environmental Science
AP European History
AP French
AP Government & Politics
AP Italian
AP Music Theory
AP Physics
AP Psychology
AP Spanish
AP Statistics
AP U.S. History</p>
<p>I am not interested in AP French, Italian.</p>
<p>That is 15/17. I am doing about 13 or 14. I forget the exact amount since I won't be starting next year on them.</p>
<p>Now its impossible to take all of these. In order to take most of these AP languages you are REQUIRED a minimum of 1 to 2 yrs in a Honors language. So technically the max is 15.</p>
<p>I basically maxing mine out at my school. Do some of you with 15+ have 25 or so offered at your school?</p>
<p>I'll stick with 6 thanks very much. </p>
<p>I know two guys who took 6 APs their senior year alone. mmkay. unless you can get a waiver, it's a waste of money.</p>
<p>calc, chem, bio, physics, history, econ/gov, engllish are the standards. anything over that (i.e. euro hist, language, stats, etc) is icing on the cake.</p>
<p>Hypergreenbean:</p>
<p>Having gone through the whole admissions process with six schools...each one only asked for which classes I took, so I wrote down all my AP's. There weren't any spots on there for what you scored on them.<br>
Confused, I called the admissions office of each school and asked if there was a mistake. The admissions personell at each one said they only look at scores during enrollment when you're trying to gain credit for those AP's you scored 4's and 5's on.</p>
<p>Maggie took (this year) only one AP class, about 10 offered at school. She got into Dartmouth and Stanford. So I think GPA and alot of other things you're involved in (and essays) really count toward admissions.</p>
<p>Our school offers a measly 5. I would have taken every single one of them before graduation plus around 7 extra tests to get a total of 12.</p>
<p>AP English
AP Calculus
AP Chemistry
AP Biology
AP US History</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply, and best of luck with your decision.
I am going to keep the Penn State engineering program in mind
when my d starts her college search. There will have to be good
b-ball too!!</p>
<p>I think as long as you take meaningful AP's and do good in them that's what counts. </p>
<p>What you should take for like IVy's and stuff is like</p>
<p>AP Science (atleast 1 or 2)
AP History(2 is probably good)
AP Math (definetely)
AP English(1 is good)
AP Language (if you like the language)
the others are just like for fun and are usually easy.</p>
<p>Let's look at this realistically now children.....</p>
<p>TAKE </p>
<p>Science-----------------------------------3-4</p>
<p>Historical Accuracy------------------------------0-1</p>
<p>Literature---------------------------------------0-1</p>
<p>Math---------------------------------------------0-2</p>
<p>Language------------------------------------------0-1</p>
<p>Other----------------------------------------0-2</p>
<p>Total-----------------------------------------------3-11</p>