<p>Many classmates at my NYC public magnet self-studied for AP tests because their overall/subject GPAs were too low* to get admitted into the AP courses at the time I attended. </p>
<p>Many ended up getting 4-5s by self-studying from non-AP course material and for a few weeks before the AP exam, an AP exam guide. A part of this was spite for being blocked from taking AP courses in the first place. </p>
<ul>
<li>One needed a minimum of around a 90 average both overall and in the given subject field to be approved to take an AP course in a given subject at the time I attended.</li>
</ul>
<p>I am not a fan of self-studying, I don’t think it helps gain admissions. I heard a Princeton admissions rep say he thought kids were taking too many AP classes. I doubt he would look favorably upon self-studying if that was how he truly felt.</p>
<p>Looking at the AP classes he can take - he would have credits for an english, history, science, and math which would get him out of core requirements at schools where credit is given for AP classes. Additional AP credits would most likely go into the “general electives” pile if they grant him credits (not a bad thing but not as helpful as getting core credits.)</p>
<p>He really should have taken the AP tests which match the DE classes at the time he was studying for these DE finals (now he might have forgotten some of the material and may not do as well).</p>
<p>The Ivies are the stingiest at giving credit for AP. Many HS seniors who get into Ivies skip the tests senior year after taking the classes because they have nothing to gain. </p>
<p>I think his time would be better spent doing well on the classes he is taking (keeping up his GPA), studying for those APs, and building up his resume in other areas - volunteering and other ecs.</p>
<p>My daughter self-studied for two AP’s without much time being put into it, and did well on both. (I think all of my d’s AP scores were either 4’s or 5’s). One was AP English Comp – my daughter studied abroad for a semester her junior year and could not enroll in the AP class, and preferred to take a literature focused class in any case. She is well-read and writes well. She bought an AP-English prep book, spent about an hour mostly reviewing terminology, and felt better coming out of the exam than any of he friends who had been enrolled in the actual AP course that year.</p>
<p>My daughter also took the APUSH exam without the class, although she had taken honors US History instead. Again, this was a scheduling problem. I don’t think she did any extra studying for the AP exam – she had taken a course that covered the underlying content, just without the AP designation.</p>
<p>My daughter also only took one semester of a two-semester AP course – psychology – again, because of the interruption created by her semester abroad. She also spent an hour or two reviewing an AP prep book for that exam, probably mostly as a way to fill in the gaps that she had missed by not being enrolled in the course for the full year. She scored a 5.</p>
<p>I don’t think it would make much sense for a student to study on their own for an AP course in a subject they hadn’t taken or that they struggled with. My d’s high school did not offer calculus except as a self-study, online course – and it was very rare for any of those student to ever do well on the AP exam. On the other hand, although my son didn’t opt to do so, I think he could have successfully self-studied for AP Calc, because he seems to have an intuitive knack for math and think that calculus is easy. </p>
<p>I think that AP courses can be a big advantage in college. The scores might enable students to skip taking a general ed course or go straight to a more advanced course, and they provide a cushion of extra college credit which could impact a student’s class standing. My son’s first college was stingy about AP credit, but he later transferred to a different college, and without the AP credit he would have probably needed an extra semester or year to graduate because of the second college’s general ed requirements were so different. </p>
<p>I think the debate here is possibly because of a misperception involved about the time and effort needed to “self study.” It really isn’t that time consuming if the student is comfortable with the subject and has some grounding from an underlying course without the AP designation.</p>
<p>Last year as a Junior I had a complication in my schedule which prevented me from taking APUSH. So, I studied on my own while taking regular US and got a 4! For 2 months I did NOTHING (I cannot emphasis the nothing enough) but study APUSH. Break, lunch, Aftershool, weekends. I Used flash cards and the crash course and my wonderful teacher.</p>
<p>I think most of the success stories that are being reported here are not really self-studying. If you take an honors or other level class in a subject and the class is not labelled AP, and then take the AP test I would not consider that self-studying. Since you had an instructor teaching you the subject, you did not learn it on your own. At my daughter’s school there were typically a handful of kids each year who for whatever reason were not in the AP section of a particular class who took the AP exam. There were also a handful of kids who took AP tests in subjects which were not even taught in the school at any level (psych, CS, etc.) - so those kids self-studied (whether they took an on-line class or just used books I don’t know.)</p>
<p>I think self studying and taking the AP branded tests or taking the test if attending a high school that does not offer the AP branded tests really depends on where you are going to college. If passing those tests with a 4 or 5 can result in better placement or waiver of gened classes it might make some sense. If the throughput is personal satisfaction and the cost is not a consideration it might make sense for the self competitive kid but there is an awful lot of testing that occurs junior and senior year so why not put the effort into improving the SAT or ACT tests? For the application in my opinion the vast majority of colleges that do not offer credit for AP branded testing probably don’t give tremendous weight to self studied AP tests if the applicant is taking a rigorous course or study within the structure of the particular high school and is succeeding. At my kids’ high school some of the most rigorous classes were not AP branded and that was explained on the school profile. I doubt taking the AP exam for those classes would have given those classes more validity.</p>
<p>A good guidance counselor who puts in their letter “Johnny was not able to take the AP section of US history but successfully took the AP exam after the class” does help the kid with their admissions and in that case I think it is a good thing.</p>
<p>^^the operative word is “good” but if the senior has a good relationship with their GC perhaps they can influence the recommendation to cover those nuances.</p>
<p>I personally know a friend who is “self-studying” with peers in AP Bio. On top of that, he is taking 5 other AP classes and Honors Research Science, whch I consider it to be an AP level course in itself. I’m hoping that your son isn’t taking such a heavy load as my peer is!
Being an AP student myself, I believe that it is fairly difficult to study on top of your current load of regular classes, as these classes don’t just depend on memory, but also a fair amount of interaction and dedication. Another thing that I should add is that AP Physics (which I assume your son will be taking) is infamously known as probably the most difficult AP exam out there. If he can handle it, I’d say go for it. If not, there are many different ways to improve his application.</p>
<p>My son has five APs this year. Three are in the second semester. He could not work his scheduling out so he could take AP Government, so he plans to self-study for the exam. His school strongly discourages students from taking more than three APs a semester. He figures he should be all right. He likes government. His teacher is supportive of what he wants to do. He has an older brother who has a degree in political science who scored a 5 on the exam, so he will offer his help in preparing him for the exam.</p>
<p>Calmom is right about AP offering a big advantage for a student. My older son started college with 65 credits thanks to his APs. He was a double major, double minor student. The young son would like to use his APs to fill some general education requirements.</p>
<p>Normally my answer would have been mostly no, but I agree if your son is interested in applying to colleges that won’t give him credit for duel education courses, but would for the equivalent AP it’s a no brainer to take the AP test. My older son was able to take only three unwanted courses thanks to his AP tests (and if he’d had the sense to take an AP English test even though he wasn’t in the class he’d likely have had only two!) Younger son’s college only gives credit for five APs no matter how many you pass, so for him extra APs only allow you to take more advanced level courses.</p>
<p>Older son says he should have taken AP Comp Sci without taking the class, since he already knew the material, but that never occured to him. I think self-studying extra courses a high school doesn’t offer is of limited value. (Things like psychology say.)</p>
<p>AP exams show the knowledge gained. Taking an AP course may or may not help in this. </p>
<p>Examples. Son got a 5 on the AP Chemistry exam taken in May but got a C in the AP course finishing in June (he didn’t like the way the teacher taught it he said- he didn’t do all of the work apparently, eg homework) senior year of HS. Someone else we know with similar IQ in a different state got a 3 on the same exam (different year) while studying hard and getting an A in the course with a couple more weeks of school before the exam. A matter of how well a course was actually taught/material covered.</p>
<p>Son took some AP courses in 3 week summer residential gifted programs, taking the AP exams the following spring. One he dropped out of, running was more important to him at the time (teenagers). Studied and got top scores regardless of finishing the course or needing to wait many months.</p>
<p>A kid we knew got a 5 on the AP US History exam as a HS freshman (I believe not after 8th grade) and therefore was excused from the US History requirement of the HS. Some students take both regular and AP US History, others take only the AP course as sophomores instead.</p>
<p>Some HS’s offer a different advanced Biology course. Some students put in some extra study time and get a 5 on the AP test.</p>
<p>Pros and cons. AP course credit can save needing some courses in college. You don’t know that the student will get into/choose a college that does not give credit for APs. On the other hand, AP courses are a mediocre/average version of a college course in a subject. The student could be better off needing to take the course at the college level at many schools. Or taking the AP course/studying the material on one’s own could help prepare the student for the more rigorous college course in the subject.</p>
<p>On a purely personal level. A student could self study and take an AP exam to fill his time. Some HS students take a full academic load and participate in varied sports/music/academic activities plus have down (frivolous) time but still want to do more. It can be fun to study the material and show your mastery of it.</p>