Would it look good for top colleges if I manage to get a 5 on the AP English Lang test by self-studying it. Or do they not care at all?
I got a 5 on Ap psychology and 4 on APWH by self-studying, was that worthless in terms of admissions?
na. not worthless. just not very worthwhile either
If the class is offered at your school, colleges would prefer that you take the class and the test rather than just the test. If the class is not offered at your school, colleges don’t expect you to take it and you would be better off working on your extracurriculars, studying for the SAT/ACT, etc. For most students, college credit is the only good reason to self-study. (There are some special circumstances where it might be helpful, like if you’re homeschooled or applying to colleges outside the United States.)
@halcyonheather should I just not report the scores on the tests that I self studied?
Oh and what are your thoughts on taking an online course as preperation for the test, would that be any different? Would it come off bad if I took a business course instead of an Ap science course (based on interest) in terms of rigor?
Halcyon heather is correct. Colleges generally don’t care about self-studied APs, but if the subject is of real interest, and isn’t offered at school, there is no harm. It isn’t going to give you extra points though.
Avoid at all costs appearing to be an academic drone. Stop self studying APs. In fact, if the courses were offered at your school, it might backfire on you. Unles there was a very good reason you were not able to take those courses, which could be explained by a counselor, I actually wouldn’t report the self-studied courses. If the classes weren’t available, then report the scores.
If you are doing it to get Intro level courses out of the way, that is fine. There is no need to send AP scores anywhere unitl you matriculate at a college.
I see zero reason to take an online AP course. Unless the high school accepts them for credit, which might be an exception.
I don’t think self-studying is directly harmful. If you got a good score on a self-studied AP exam, it’s fine to report it. It’s just that, if you’re deciding whether to self-study or not, your time may be better spent elsewhere.
It is not harmful, and it does not impress anyone either. You should self study an AP if it is not available at your school or you have schedule conflict while you want to get college credit from it. Taking an AP class would increase the course rigor, which is one of the factor to be considered by adcom.