<p>Okay, my school offers AP Biology course; however, I don't have any space to squeeze in Bio next year. Is it okay to self-study a course that is given at one's school? By doing so, does it positively or negatively impacts the college app?</p>
<p>If anything, self-studying because you didn’t have room would probably look impressive, as you’re demonstrating dedication to learning and (if you do well) the ability to succeed in difficult courses.</p>
<p>most colleges won’t really take the time to figure out what you did or did not “self study”. However, they might take into account the grade you got which will most likely be lower if you “self study” rather than actually having someone who knows the subject lecture to you. I took AP bio my senior year and just payed attention in class… i never read the book or took notes. What i DID read though (once the test was comming around) was the AP bio Cliffnotes study guide. I already knew most of the concepts so i understood the study guide easily and ended up getting a 5. Then at orientation i learned that med schools prefer for you to actually take the course rather than obtain credit by exam.</p>
<p>I self-studied AP Bio because i couldn’t fit a bio course into my schedule and i got a 5. You can specify that you self-studied the course because of certain circumstances in the additional information part of your application; if the adcoms read it then it will most likely positively impact your application.
AP Bio isn’t too hard to self-study, although it needs a lot of dedication because of the overload of material to remember. Cliffnotes study guide is very good, although i self-studied out of the Barrons one.</p>
<p>I ended up doing better on the tests I self-studied, so GO FOR IT!</p>
<p>Maybe it was the type of courses, I did way better in the language and history departments…although my lowest score came from a history test…</p>
<p>BTW, my school has a (lame) limit on the number of AP classes student can take depending on their grade level (fresh, soph, jr., sr.).</p>
<p>Best of Luck! :)</p>
<p>Thank you all!</p>