Hello, I am a junior interested in applying to UK colleges like LSE or UCL. I would like to either major in philosophy and economics or just economics.
I found out that LSE wants five APs with 5, and I currently have two (BC Calculus and Studio Drawing).
I am planning to take this year:
Chemistry
US History
Micro + Macro (I know that they want both to qualify as one)
English Language (still thinking whether to take it or not…)
Statistics
And I am wondering if Statistics will count as one of five aps. I saw on the UCAS website that Stats is Group B exam… so do I need to take another B level subject?
Also, if I do not fulfill five aps in my junior year, do they not give out conditional offers? (I don’t know yet if I will take any ap exams in my senior year.)
Yes, most applicants get conditional offers, as most apply with exams still to take in June of final year.
Officially there are no ‘A’ and ‘B’ APs anymore, and neither LSE nor UCL are as (officially) restrictive as they used to be- but they are still very tough on US standards.
Yes you would get a conditional offer if you didn’t have enough APs. It’s more important that you get say three 5s and no 3s or 4s this year than doing too many and ending up with several lower scores. Put another way five or six 5s at the end of your senior year is better than seven 5s and four 3s and 4s, because an AP 5 is already easier than an A at A level and competing UK students can and will get some A*s.
Given the reliance of philosophy on essays, they would probably find it odd if you didn’t do English Lang, and perhaps it’s worth considering APs in at least some of English Lit, a European language and Euro History to show interest in Europe. Doing no APs in senior year would look like you weren’t up for a challenge and would potentially be held against you. You have to list planned exams, be predicted 5s, and then go on and take the course (though taking the exams won’t necessarily be required if your offer is unconditional).
I think it very unlikely that they would make you take the AP Calculus test again as long as you’re continuing in college level math. I do not think it would be a good idea to just not take any more math after sophomore year. AP statistics after calc BC is not really showing them anything. I don’t think a 5 on that is going to matter one way or the other.
^ I disagree because stats is different from calculus and the top UK unis would like to see as much math as possible for an econ course. In reality, A-Levels Maths and Further Maths cover far more than just calc and stats, but that is all that the AP tests offer.
Also, UK (and Canadian) unis may be sticklers for their guidelines (and I can see their rationale; they seem to only have faith in the results of standardized tests, yet if it has been years after you’ve taken a test, your knowledge may have faded).
In addition to the AP Calc BC and Stats courses, A-level Maths and Further Maths (which many/most UK economics students will have) also overlap with a large part of the AP Physics course. I definitely agree that OP needs to do another year of math in senior year either doing college math (multivariate calculus) or if that’s not possible, AP Physics would probably be the closest substitute, even though it’s not particularly related to the math you study in economics.