I’m a rising senior and so far I’ve taken AP Human Geography, AP US Government, AP Physics, AP Biology, AP Calulus BC, and AP Language and Composition.
I got an A in all those classes but I got a 3 on all the AP exams, except Physics 1, which I got a 2 on. I know that sounds really bad, mostly I didn’t study enough for the tests. To be honest I was not even planning on using my AP credit to pass out of classes anyway, I want to retake the classes in college.
A 3 is not great, and I really don’t want to submit any of those scores. However, I’ve heard that it looks suspicious to take an AP class but not report a score, especially when I’ve taken six AP classes but don’t report any scores.
Will this hurt my chances? What should I do?
Don’t submit it; you don’t need to, and college adcoms won’t wonder why you didn’t.
I would assume no such thing. While I don’t think AO’s are going to spend a great deal of time in the 10 minutes they read an application pondering AP scores, many will notice if an AP class is listed without a corresponding AP exam score.
If a class shows as AP on the transcript and one chooses not to report a score, the AO may assume one of four things:
• Nothing
• Financial hardship prevented one from taking the exam
• One was not motivated enough to take the exam
• One took the exam and performed poorly (1 or 2)
AO’s can, and have, contacted GC’s to explain why there are no AP scores reported on the application.
That said, I would not report a 2. Which is worse? Having the AO assume you blew the exam, or reporting the exam so the AO knows for sure that you blew it? I’d go with the former.
S19 took BC Calc, APUSH, and AP Lang junior year and got all 5’s. He will self report them. He got As in the classes. Now, he did take AP Comp Sci A soph year, did well, got an A in the class but he HATED it and he was spending so much time on it during the first semester that his other grades were suffering a bit. We made a decision that he didn’t have to worry about taking that AP test and he was to use that extra energy to make sure his grades in all classes were stellar for second semester. This plan worked for him. Straight As second semester soph year and straight As since then. He was taking that Comp Sci class because he’s a strong math student and wanted to see if he liked comp sci. He didn’t (that’s an understatement).
So, all of this to say that he will have that class on his transcript with a A as a grade and no AP score reported. I’m just not worried about it. His transcript, his GPA, his SAT, and his AP scores reported show a very strong student and I cannot imagine not reporting one AP from soph year is a big deal or even a red flag.
I agree @homerdog There are always extenuating circumstances. My point is that one can;t make a blanket statement that an AO will not question it. They may or they may not. In your son’s case, if the AO contacts the GC, I’m sure the AO will be satisfied with the response.