So I decided to not take my AP computer science exam this year. I’m wondering if this will affect my chances of getting into a college. Any one have experience with this and know?
No, it won’t matter. But unless you are a senior and you know the college won’t give AP credit/you are planning to forgo AP credit or the price of the exam is an issue, I can see no valid reason for not taking the exam; if you do poorly, simply don’t report the score on the application.
I know several students who chose to not take certain AP exams because they saw no reason to spend money when the score that they expected would not get them credit.
If you have already paid for your exam, and you don’t have a reason why you must skip it (say scheduled dental surgery or an out of town wedding to attend), go ahead and try the exam. It will be an intellectual challenge for you, and you might land a score that is useful for you in the future. As mentioned above, if your score is low, you don’t ever need to report it to anyone.
I agree…there is no risk to taking it and doing poorly.
Thanks for the answer, the reason I am not taking the exam is that I feel like I learned nothing in the class this year and will just get a really bad score so why waste money on the exam.
I have another question, Im taking 2 AP classes this year, English and CS. I am planning to take the English exam and sending it to college if I get a good score. If I send that one in and colleges see that I have another AP class and did not take the exam, will they think less of me and lower my chances of getting in? I may just be too paranoid.
Not taking the exam will not lower your chances for admissions. And they will not think “less” of you. The might think that you bombed the exam, or they might think that you could not afford it. But you can’t control what they might think, so yes, I think you are being paranoid.