<p>Most schools will allow their students to do this as long as they pay the fee right?</p>
<p>Well, the statistics for South Carolina sure are strange =P. The 2009 data shows only 11 students getting National AP Scholar before senior year yet my particular school had 6 National AP Scholars =/. Maybe my school is just one of the few where nearly every student takes 8+ AP’s by the end of junior year.</p>
<p>id really argue that the boost is insignificant either way. heck, im a senior right now and have a healthy 12 5’s (6 self-studied including ones like chem and c:mechanics) in my arsenal. but do i think itll give me any boost whatsoever? hardly. I might sound ■■■■■■■■, but it was kind of just fun to study and take em when all of my seasonal EC’s were all done by february.</p>
<p>really, i think it is influenced by the number of aps that are offered at your school. like, id equate it sort of to, if you can get lots of 5s, it just shows youre good at taking tests. while this saying applies less than to like the sat or something, if i was a college admissions officer, i really wouldnt care that much.</p>
<p>^
you have the most APs I’ve ever seen as a junior.</p>
<p>How about trying to take every single AP test for fun. :p</p>
<p>umm well, lets say that I got one of the AP Scholar Awards for 9-11 grade AP tests, but since I got it this year (the award comes out during senior year), and I put down the award as 12th grade award on my Common App, do you think colleges will be confused? From what Im reading, even if you received the award in 12th grade, since it was for 9-11 AP tests, it is before senior year?</p>
<p>The awards from AP testing should be listed for your grade in the May when you took the test, even though the award letters have an official date of September (when you are in the next grade, in a United States typical school year).</p>
<p>The more I look at the data, the more it looks that people have started trying to use the National AP scholar as something that will give them an edge, rather than the culmination of a progression of events. The purpose of the AP exam is to show that you have a level of understanding based on a common body of knowledge and that colleges can choose to allow you to skip a few of the introductory classes as you have already proven basic proficiency. It in a way validates your transcripts and other profile material.</p>
<p>I understand students have to do what it takes to get into a elite college, but I think there are unintended consequences in encouraging students to take AP courses merely to get an award from the college board.</p>
<p>I just think self studying a few AP’s shows initiative. The only AP that I chose not to take that was offered to me as an open option in school is AP US History. Other than that, I am taking the full load offered in school. I want to go above and beyond my peers though. Won’t I stand out if everyone else applying to elite colleges has, say 4 AP’s before 12th grade, while I have a hefty 8?</p>
<p>does being an AP National Scholar (or SAT National Merit Scholar) count for a lot? At my school, you can only start taking AP’s during sophomore year, but 1 at most, so will it affect me if I don’t take that many AP tests?</p>
<p>the number of AP count, but the National Scholar doesn’t really count as anything for an award.
Neither does National Merit. National Merit is only useful for scholarship</p>
<p>Do they evaluate National AP Scholars in the context of what their school offers? Here, people take ridiculous numbers of AP classes (many graduate with over 15 – I’m graduating with 18 and we have some with over 20) so we have quite a few National AP Scholars before 12th grade (I was a National AP Scholar after 11th grade, took 9 AP exams with straight 5’s). We had a few who were National AP Scholars by the end of 10th grade too, so I never thought it meant much.</p>
<p>TheAscendancy,</p>
<p>Wow that is quite the school. At my school, most people graduate with 4-8 (we are severely restricted). I just want to stick out by having 12-15 by the time I graduate.</p>
<p>i mean of course they look at the context of the school you come from. they dont expect that from somebody who goes to a school that doesnt even have ap classes inevitably. </p>
<p>but ill still maintain it really doesnt matter either way. its a fun thing to learn random things in different subjects (since you still need at least a functional knowledge of a subject to get say, a 5, even if your mastery of it isnt tremendous), and so if youre like someone wholl have 7 ap tests after your junior year, there would likewise be no reason to go out of our way to try to take an 8th just cuz you want the dang award. its frivolous people :O</p>