<p>My school doesn't offer any AP courses but I've taken two APs: US History (on which I scored a 3) and Latin (on which I scored a 4). I'm considering taking English Literature tomorrow. I haven't studied but I'm pretty good at English so looking at some practice questions, I could probably wing it. What do you think? If I wanted to get into a pretty competitive school (one with a rate of 25% or higher), would it be necessary to take the AP tomorrow or should I take some senior year or should I just do some SATs and SAT2s?</p>
<p>APs aren’t necessary if your school doesn’t offer them. For people whose schools do, colleges care about seeing that they’ve taken the course (as the most rigorous thing available); they don’t even care about the actual exam scores except for placement, and they don’t have to be submitted.</p>
<p>I’d say it’s not worth taking it.</p>
<p>Yeah, don’t take it. The only way your APs can help you is by beefing up your high school schedule. The scores, I feel, don’t matter all that much unless you’re looking to get college credit.</p>
<p>Actually, I disagree with the other two posters. If you are confident of getting a good score (like a 4 or a 5), then I’d say go for it. Many colleges do use the English Lit AP for placement. At this point I’m most likely attending UC Berkeley in the fall, and Berkeley gives a semester’s worth of credit towards fulfillment of its Reading and Composition requirement for a passing score on the AP English Language exam, and a full year’s worth of credit for a passing score on the AP English Literature exam (meaning you will have fulfilled the whole requirement). I think you should still try to take the exam if you can; you really have nothing to lose!</p>
<p>I think colleges would respect the fact that you took initiative to “study” for an AP course which was not offered in your school. Or at least you can make it sound that way.</p>
<p>Crap. 2:2. Anymore advice?</p>
<p>AP scores don’t factor into admissions. It would be nice to see that you’ve taken AP classes on your schedule, but obviously don’t take classes you aren’t interested in. To be honest, AP courses aren’t all as special as some think they are - the more important parts of your application are your SAT score and your essay.</p>