<p>I'm going to be a sophomore next year, and I wanted to self study a couple of AP courses and take the AP tests near the end of May. My school does offer AP classes, but I'm aiming for the IB diploma. I'm planning on taking all IB classes for the rest of my high school career, so those AP classes cannot fit in my schedule. Therefore self studying is the answer IMO. I'm wondering if not taking an AP class offered by your school but still taking the test looks bad to selective colleges. I'm planning on self studying and taking the AP Stats, AP Calc AB, and AP Music Theory(?) tests this year.
Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m confused. IB starts Junior year and you’re only going to be a sophomore, so what’s this talk about AP classes not fitting into your schedule because of IB…? Unless I interpreted this wrong and you meant you wanted to take those AP classes for the next few years.</p>
<p>He probably means he has all pre-IB courses next year. IB students usually do not distinguish between pre-IB and true Junior+Senior.</p>
<p>I’m actually taking 4 IB classes this coming year, and 2 pre IB. IB classes don’t start testing till junior year, so these classes don’t have tests for them anyway for sophomores. I’m taking higher level tests for almost everything junior and senior year. So as of right now, the AP classes will not fit in my schedule for the next 3 years, so I want to self study them. But I was wondering if not taking the AP class even though it’s offered but still taking the test looks bad to colleges. Thanks</p>
<p>bumppp</p>
<p>I don’t think taking the AP test and not taking the course looks bad on your application. I think it’s quite the opposite - you have the initiative to self-study a course and to manage all your time to do homework, extracurriculars, AND do extra learning for APs (and hopefully some time to relax!). If you do well on your AP tests and get good scores, I think that would be helpful to your application, especially if you get an AP award.</p>
<p>Also, on another note, shouldn’t at least some of your IB classes correlate with some AP material? The classes at my school (IB school) do.</p>
<p>@cso1640 some of them do actually. i’m taking ib calc 1/elem functions which correlates really well with AP Calc AB. At the end of IB us history you have to take the APUSH exam anyway… and I’m taking AP/IB Chinese 4 which also requires you to take the AP test at the end. </p>
<p>Thanks for the help btw; I’ll definitely start self studying some AP courses!</p>
<p>@szluck13 No problem. Good luck in that studying, and hopefully you’ll manage your time well!</p>
<p>You can get college credit on the basis of your IB test scores just like AP test scores. </p>