I saw my scores today and to my surprise, I got a 3 on APUSH - which in my honest opinion, thought did pretty well on (I have 99 in that class if that helps). A couple of my friends suggested that I should take the chance - as a rising senior - to retake the APUSH exam. However, I will be taking 5 AP exams next year and some of them will not be counted due to the schools I am applying to. The AP exams I will be taking next year are Micro, Macro, US Gov, Spanish Language, and Calc AB. Is it overkill to take 6 (that’s including APUSH) AP exams knowing that some of them will not be accepted? Or should I accept my 3 and place my focus on my other AP exams.
If it helps, I am applying to Ivy League, accelerated medical programs, state schools (e.g. SUNY Binghamton, Stony Brook), “city” public schools (e.g. Macaulay Honors), and other competitive universities.
Thanks in advance!
APUSH is known to be one of the harder APs, so a 3 isn’t too bad. That being said, is it related to a major you’re interested in? If you’re doing pre-med with a biology or chemistry major, don’t retake. If you’re doing pre-med with a humanities major, I would consider retaking.
Most important though is to think of what you can handle. Colleges usually put more weight on the class grade than the exam score. The five APs you’re taking are all work-heavy. But, AP US Gov overlaps with APUSH quite a bit so it might be easy for you to study both.
@haru67 Yes, I forgot to mention that I want to dual-major in Psychology or Neuroscience (if the college I get into has that major/concentration) and Political Science under a pre-med track.
@darkcrescendo Yeah, in that case it’s probably better for you to focus on your next five APs. Try to get a 5 on US Government if you’re interested in political science!