LOW AP Scores

<p>My 2nd D is a sophomore in high school and received a low AP score = 1 - what do you do? How do you explain to child that it isnt the end of the world and that she shouldnt give up? Any advise. She is ever so embarrassed and now feeling like colleges wont even look at anything other than that low score. She fears the SAT's now. ANy advise?</p>

<p>Was this her first AP? Maybe her anxiety about the test affected her performance. Had she done well in the class? And can you tell if the material taught in class was appropriate preparation for the test? Did she take the PSAT this year? It would really be a shame if her disappointing score on this one test prevented her from doing as well as she is capable of doing on future exams. She needs something that will reassure her that she CAN get through these tests.</p>

<p>My kids will be facing all this in a few years, but my D took SAT/ACT this year for CTY and overall I'd say it was a good experience for her. She felt that taking the tests without the pressure of having them really "count" helped her. Since your daughter will be a junior, she doesn't have this luxury, but having her take some practice exams under test-like conditions could help. She needs to regain her confidence, and doing well on practice exams could help with this.</p>

<p>As for this score hurting her chances for colleges - unless her school reports the grades, she shouldn't have to submit them anywhere. Does your daughter know for a fact that her school sends all these grades to colleges? I was under the impression that students were responsible for reporting these grades on their own (mainly to get college credit for high scores), so low grades should not be so terrible, since it is not required that they be submitted - not all kids who take AP classes actually take the exams.</p>

<p>Good luck to your daughter. It seems so stressful to be a HS student nowadays.</p>

<p>When my older S was a senior in HS, he got a 2 on his AP Econ and AP Govt. exams, although he got an A in the course. His friend, who received the Top Social Studies Student award at graduation and was valedictorian, got a 1 on his APs in those same classes. In fact, no one in the entire class scored higher than a 2. The class was taught (badly) by a football coach, who had no business teaching ANYTHING, let alone an AP class. </p>

<p>As EG1 stated, your D won't have to submit that score to colleges and she ought to be able to request that the GC not put her AP scores on her transcript.</p>

<p>Neighbor kid, a good student, made a 1 on the AP Stats exam. He was admitted to the Honors program at one of our state u's, graduated last month and will be starting grad. school in Aug. Don't worry.</p>

<p>Low AP scores say more about the school than the student, in many cases.</p>

<p>Can either you or your daughter ask around and find out what kind of scores her classmates got? This will give you a better idea of whether there is some specific problem with her work or whether the course was taught in such a way that most people did not do well on the test.</p>

<p>By the way, she doesn't need to tell colleges about that AP score. For most colleges, applicants don't submit AP scores formally with their applications. They simply self-report them on the application. It is common for students with low scores to simply leave them out.</p>

<p>Hi parents! I know a little bit about this subject so I thought I could be of assistance. I'll be a freshman in college this year and I got a 1 in my AP Calc. test. My scores were sent to the college but with the math placement exam it doesn't really matter, I just don't get higher placement. Most of the time, kids send their AP scores after they are accepted to college and have made a deposit (at least that was the case at the high school that I went to). The scores only help with placement into classes. Grades and SATs are the really big academic things on most applications.</p>

<p>I agree with several of the posts here that, unfortunately, low AP scores can result from teachers who have no business teaching AP. My S had a similar situation, and while he enjoyed the class (teacher was entertaining and not much else), I encouraged him to do a lot of self-study. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when he got a 3. I was definitely expecting a lot worse and most of his classmates did not fare as well.</p>

<p>The AP testing program allows retakes. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/student/testing/ap/AP-bulletin.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/student/testing/ap/AP-bulletin.pdf&lt;/a> </p>

<p>A sophomore is on the young end of the age range of students taking APs, and has time to redo the test.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I agree strongly that if a student who has done the work and gotten a decent (B-range or better) grade in her high school course gets a 1 or 2 on the AP, that looks like the school's problem, not hers.</p></li>
<li><p>Have people gotten their AP and/or IB scores in the mail yet? We haven't.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>No, we haven't gotten the scores here in VT and I'm too cheap to pay the $8. The pony express must use cows out here. I noticed we got the college decisions about 2 days later than anyone else.</p>

<p>No AP scores in VA yet, either. I was willing to pay the $8 but D wanted to enjoy her trip and not worry of test scores. Hopefully they'll be in the mail by the time she returns home.</p>

<p>Daughter's school doesn't have AP classes for sophomores. Big disadvantage in one way but everyone takes the AP exams and most do quite well.</p>

<p>no scores yet in NY. Does anyone know if there is a charge to submit them to your college. My son did not put down the college he was attending in case he did not get the 4 they require for credit. If he gets the 4 do I now have to pay to get the score sent?
For those of you who did not do well on the AP I would suggest taking the corrosponding CLEP exam in the subject. They are a bit easier (all MC no FRQ's usually). If your college accepts them for credit it may still get you the credit and they are cheaper $60. Also grading is immediate you know your grade before you leave. English comp and freshman comp are exceptions to the writing grading day of test though.
My son earned 15 credits by CLEP that is a full semester for $300!</p>

<p>rvmothership,
Try to get your D to relax. AP exams are not like the SAT's. The AP score will not be a problem. As other posters have said, generally students self-report AP scores on their college applications if they want to, and only have the formal reports sent to the college they will actually attend. Many colleges will accept a high AP score for credit, although some will not. Some colleges will use AP scores for placement, allowing a student to skip an intro course. May I ask which AP exam this was and if she had self-studied for the course or taken the class in school?</p>

<p>I agree with Marian, that the AP score is as much or more of a reflection on the teacher as it is of the student. </p>

<p>In our district the AP sections are relatively selective on the students who are allowed to enroll in them, they are limited on the number they can take(3 per term), and are taught at a very high level. As a result the students are very well prepped for the exam and very few get scores lower than 3 and about 75% get scores of 4 or 5.</p>

<p>Our son was typical amongst his friends. Study for the exam consisted of a single study group nite of a couple of hours and he got 4-5's and 1-4. He did not take the APEuro exam due to a mild case of senioritis.</p>

<p>Our district posts an exam summary for each AP section. See if your hs does the same and if have your daughter avoid those sections with substandard grades.</p>

<p>Reporting AP scores costs, I believe, $15 - that's what I just paid to send 4 scores.</p>

<p>One last rant. I believe that too many students are allowed to enroll in AP classes now. As a result there is probably a tendency for the teachers to dumb down the material presented so it should not be surprising that these AP sections have poorer exam score results.</p>

<p>Just to add to what others said, my S got a 2 in USH. As did most members of his class (they teach it as a two year program, so, duh, most of the first half is lost by the time they take the test). He didn't report the scores till he was accepted to his college--which is an Ivy, so tell her not to despair.:)</p>

<p>AP results came in the mail last Thu here in CA. My d got a 3 in Econ, what a relief! She worked really hard in the class.</p>

<p>You should let your D know she isn't the only one, and it also depends on the test. The computer teachers in our district say you shouldn't take the AP test after one year, because of our curriculum, but after the 2 year curriculum, but there is no course to go after, so only the true computer aficionados score at all on the test. Everyone else gets a 1 or 2. D was a soph when she took the AP computer test, but they didn't tell her not to do so. She was concerned, and we found out that scoring a 2 was incredible, with all the 1's we get in our district. She was devastated, until I found all this out. She was accepted to top schools, anyway.</p>

<p>JHS, as far as IB scores go, they were available online on the 6th, you go to results.ibo.org, and put in your personal code and PIN number that your IB coordinator should have given you.</p>