<p>As a future MIT applicant, I have the following questions:
1) How impressive is this award to MIT?
2) Would it be worth to retake an AP exam if the score was a 4 ?</p>
<p>I won the Siemens AP award (state level) and got into MIT and Caltech (rejected by Harvard, Stanford, waitlisted by Yale). I have no idea if it helped, but it certainly didn’t hurt. Keep in mind that I also did a lot of things (sports, volunteering, college classes, research) that weren’t AP exams.</p>
<p>I’ve retaken an AP exam I got a 4 on and got a 5. It gave me a lot of personal satisfaction. I listed both scores on my MIT application. I like to think it helped show MIT that I’m willing to keep trying. But again, I don’t know.</p>
<p>Also depends a lot on the state you are from. If you’re an AP Siemens winner from California, I will forever bow down to you. If you’re a winner from North Dakota… meh I probably got more 5’s than you.</p>
<p>Okay could you guys give me a couple states for example? I want to stay anonymous in these forums. So you guys suggest me retake for a 5 ?</p>
<p>@lidusha Maybe not for the SIemens award… I took my Calculus BC exam in 7th grade… So the raw score would probably be low. Also I’m doing 19 AP exams total o.o I’ve taken 4 so far, 8 next year, and 7 more senior year</p>
<p>@prototyped: I did a similar number (as did plenty of my peers at MIT). It’s all good.</p>
<p>You can find info on number of AP exams taken by students in each state somewhere in the AP Report to the Nation (State of the AP Union? 
): [Home</a> | AP Report to the Nation](<a href=“AP Program Results – Reports | College Board”>http://apreport.collegeboard.org/) That should give you an idea of what states are strongest.</p>
<p>I suggest that you retake for a 5 if retaking for a 5 would give you personal satisfaction. I would.</p>
<p>How many would I need for MD,ID,OH,WI?</p>
<p>Ranked in order of difficulty (in my opinion at least) md, oh, id, wi</p>
<p>@lidusha: I like how you tell people that it’s okay to get B’s because you got B’s and got into MIT. Maybe you should also tell them that you took 20 AP’s…</p>
<p>@ice, haha I heard about that too…, that’s like me right now >_< but I haven’t applied to MIT yet</p>
<p>I don’t think the APs were necessarily a good thing for my application, and if they were, they were only a good thing at a place like MIT that values risk-taking and initiative apparently more than success. My mental health, my attendance record, and subsequently my grades did not go unscathed. I think that had I done everything I did sans the APs, I would still have gotten into MIT and Caltech, and maybe I would have also gotten into Harvard or Stanford or Yale (not that it matters–MIT was my first choice). But it was a bizarre personal goal and I did it because being immensely invested in and stupidly chasing bizarre personal goals is what I’m about, and I’m glad MIT decided they liked that.</p>
<p>If you’re curious, my Bs:
Advanced Zoology, 9th grade
Advanced Honors Precalculus, 10th grade
AP Physics C, 11th grade
AP English Language, 11th grade
Advanced Spanish 4, 11th grade</p>
<p>And the APs listed on my application when I applied (I did not list or have room to list macro or micro econ, both of which I got 2s on after trying to cram for both the night before the test with no previous econ experience…):
Statistics, grade 10, 5
Biology, 10, 5
Chem, 10, 4
Chem, 11, 5
Calc BC, 11, 5
Comp Sci AB, 11, 5
Physics C: Mechanics, 11, 5
Physics C: E+M, 11, 4
Psychology, 11, 4
Environmental Science, 11, 4
English Language, 11, 4
Comparative Government, 11, 4</p>
<p>(If you’re wondering about Siemens, I’m from PA.)</p>
<p>I don’t know why I got in, but I’m fairly confident that my APs did not get me in, just as my grades did not keep me out. I hope I was a lot more interesting than APs or grades.</p>
<p>Two years before me four people from my school got into MIT. None of them took an abnormal number of APs. They were all very smart, very kind, and very committed to their extracurriculars.</p>
<p>If I got 5s on AP Calc BC, Stats, Computer, two Physics C, AP Enviromental , Chemistry test… Assuming I failed to get a 5 on two of them… Which is 5/8 … Lidusha, it appears that you did 6 and won for PA… Hm… So would you say at least 6 is a nice shot for Midwestern states?</p>
<p>Tell me your opinions on states especially like Massachusetts xD</p>
<p>I don’t know how strong MA is. You already took the tests. All you can do now is forget about them and wait. I found out from Siemens shortly before getting my early action decision from MIT. You have a while to wait.</p>