Hi all,
I received a 2 on an AP United States history exam my sophomore because my teacher did not stick to AP curriculum and did not prepare us for the test format (DBQ/LEQ) whatsoever.
This last year (junior year) I received all 4+ on my AP exams. As I start my college application, I will likely not report my APUSH score to colleges as it is a lower score and I am applying to top schools.
Is this the right move to make or is it better to report a 2 along with my higher scores?
Yes. AP scores are self-reported. You can report any/all/none. And I certainly would not report a 2.
Let’s be clear - you scored a 2 because you did not prepare yourself for the AP exam. A good teacher will give the tools, but even if the teacher is not good, the onus is always on the student. Blaming the teacher is an excuse which will be acceptable to nobody.
@skieurope while I generally agree with your premise, this may be a situation where a not-so-good teacher didn’t provide the tools. The same thing happened at my daughter’s school this past year in the AP Chemistry class (and the general Chemistry classes as well). The school had hired a promising new teacher (a PhD with a collegiate teaching background), but the students felt they weren’t learning much. This was verified when another teacher was brought in mid-year due to the first teacher’s family emergency. They worked diligently for the remainder of the year, trying to cover a year worth of material in 4 months. Obvious not the same set of students, but a school that produced one of the 3 students with a perfect score the previous year, and had almost all 4s and 5s produced only one 3 this year. Yes, the student is ultimately responsible for their own score, but there is some shared responsibility when the teacher doesn’t follow the curriculum. There’s a reason AP courses are supposed to be authorized
You don’t report the 2. Someone may think it’s because of a low score or some may not spend that much time with it or think it was a three or not care that much as they will look at the grade for the class too. No reason to report the low score and to remove any doubt.
@skieurope I apologize if my explanation came off as an excuse but my teacher certainly did not teach our class the right concepts. He spent too much time on areas that weren’t even covered on the AP test. Because of this, he wasn’t able to teach us the time period 1900-present. I understand that I maybe could have taught myself but I didn’t know that we were that far off track until near the end of the year.
Thank you for your response though.
S had APUSH last year. At some point late in the semester the teacher asked, “No one is planning on talking the AP test, right? Good.” S said she spent more than a month just on slavery. They’re were several chapters in the book that they didn’t touch.
Our school uses AP primarily as an honors program, most kids don’t take the tests. The local directional U gives dual credit for the course, so unless you are part of the 2% looking at a selective school there is no reason to take the AP test. They just take the guaranteed dual credit.
So I’m certainly hoping that not reporting is ok. Because after soph year we decided that it wasn’t worth it to even take the tests.
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I think that would cause a riot in DD’s school. They offer both honors and AP levels, so if you choose to be in AP, you pretty much take the test.
I wouldn’t report a score of 2 either, but I would report a 3 because AOs might think if you don’t report, you got a 1 or 2.