<p>I want to aim for the AP National Scholar (8 APs with a score of at least 4 on all of them) for my application, but I don't know if I should try.
I'm going to be a junior next year, and I've only taken 1 AP my sophomore year (My school only offers 1 AP until junior year). My junior year I would be taking AP Bio, APUS, and AP Eng. That means to get 8 APs under my belt I would need to self study 4 more APs. If I do self-study, the subjects would be Human Geography, Psychology, Micro and Macroeconomics (those are the easiest from what I've heard). I'm hesitant because not only is it a lot of work, but my junior year is going to be extremely important to raise my GPA. So if I attempt self-studying, I might take time away from my school schedule and risk lowering my GPA. So, any thoughts or opinions?</p>
<p>If it were me, I would prioritize my GPA over an AP award. (and I would be utterly crushed if I were to receive a 3 when I needed a 4 on the eighth exam in order to win that order which I placed all my effort and ... "health/wellbeing" into getting)</p>
<p>However, if you feel you can do it, then by all means go for it. I would rather try to take advantage of the resources available to me like take advanced classes at a local city college and earning good grades in them. Unlike AP grades, which are meaningless after you graduate high school (except getting INTO the college, and getting credit in certain cases), college grades travel with you forever. -but that's just me.</p>
<p>Hey! That's what I did! I took 1 in 10th and 7 in 11th. Honestly, not to get the award, though... However, my GPA did suffer. I got three A-s and I previously had a 4.0. But ANYWAY, I wouldn't do it JUST for the award. Challenge yourself only if you know you will have the time. Or else you'll just stress. But in all honestly it's not too hard to score well on AP tests. Just manage your time wisely and you should be fine. I think you know your own limits... (hopefully)</p>
<p>Self-study only if colleges will actually give you something (credit, advanced placement) for it.</p>
<p>there is totally no point in that. way too much work. don't do it.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice everyone.</p>
<p>Self studying APs is possibly one of the most stupid and futile things you can do. It takes a lot of time out of your school work and you get no real benefit at all. A lot of schools don't give you credit and the AP awards come so late their irrelevant in admissions.</p>
<p>Why not if you can. I got ap national scholar award after junior year(SC).</p>
<p>Try AP Enviromental Science. You’ll learn a lot of the material anyway in AP Bio.</p>
<p>Self-studying 4 sounds like a b-tch. Don’t put yourself through the torture. Seriously AP Nat. Scholar is a nice award and all, but not THAT nice.</p>
<p>yeah i dont think ap scores even have that HUGE of an impact on admissions if any at all…since you are aiming for the award. it’s not going to like make you stand out a ton, but it certainly would be a very nice accomplishment!</p>
<p>Best of luck =)</p>