He goes to a rigorous prep school. What benefit is there (besides college credit) to taking the actual exam that the grade in the course wouldn’t offer? I am not convinced it adds any value, but before I advise him to not take the exam I thought I’d check here.
As an aside, this is the last year the school will be offering APs . . .
Aside from potential credit/placement? None. But depending upon the exam, this could be a big benefit, and given that a HS sophomore has no idea where he’ll be attending college, is not one that should be quickly discounted.
Which brings up the question: why would you advise him not to take the exam?
Many BS do not offer APs, but offer courses that contain the same content without the label, and many students still choose to take the AP exam.
I would take the exam and hope to get a 5. His competition for college will have AP classes with exam scores. He also has the option NOT to report the exam scores if he doesn’t score well. I see no downside in taking the exam and it might actually help his application.
Thanks. He is a junior. I’d switch the question 
why *would * you take an exam that offers little to no benefit?
For example, he isn’t taking the PSAT this year as for him there’s no benefit. He’s already taken the SAT and clearly won’t be a National Merit Finalist, so why would he spend a morning in a stressful exam?
Going to that rigorous prep school with some big extracurriculars, I try to remove stress/work if they aren’t necessary.
Just my opinion but to me not taking the exam shows that the school really isn’t rigorous. I have seen on this forum kids getting A’s in the class and getting 3’s on the AP and kids getting B’s in the class and 5’s on the AP’s
I think AP exam scores backup and reinforce classroom grades. My DD has gotten mid to upper 90’s in her AP classes and 5s on all of her AP exams. It shows AOs that she knows her stuff. I have read about AOs who suspect grade inflation in schools when students don’t take AP exams or report test scores because it just “looks suspicious”.
Well, I specified rigorous prep school in my OP because the school is very well known, and very well known by AOs at any school he would be applying to. So luckily there isn’t a question of a suspiciously easy or superficial class.
I have asked the question of whether it would impact my sons college admissions chances not to take the test of the college advising office. Happy to report back with their answer in case anyone else happens to be in this position.
I think an issue could be if an adcom sees the AP class on the your student’s transcript and assumes they did poorly on the exam if there isn’t a score reported.
Again, even as a junior, he has no idea where he will be going to college, so the credit/placement may matter, Without knowing the specifics,it’s hard to say more, because it depends. Is APHG exam worth taking? Probably not, because most colleges give no credit. IS AP Calc BC worth taking? Yes, because credit/placement is almost universal. But if the AP is in a subject he’snot doing well in, then he likely would not perform well enough on the exam to get credit. So like I said, “It depends.”
Will there be an expectation that a student take the exam when the school offers no APs? Of course not. Will college AOs look at AP exams to validate grades from a BS? No, but that would be a valid reason for a student from East Podunk High.
But I’m not understanding the part about rigorous prep school with big ECs. We all have/had that. If we wanted the credit, we sucked it up and took the exam. It’s also unclear who’s driving the decision; you seem gung-ho that he not take it, but what does he think?
@cinnamon1212 I can tell you in our experience that a few of the scenarios outlined above had zero negative impact on college admission decisions for our daughter last year. We pressured our daughter to take 1 AP test - which she bombed with a 2. Obviously she didn’t submit the score - so had no AP credits on her application. But she was a well rounded applicant with all the the other things expected on her resume from attending a top BS and got in almost every school to which she applied- including ivies. I know that this is not a big enough data point to sway the conversation. But, I do think top colleges look at the entire application in context.
@vegas1 thanks, this is what I’m looking for.
@skieurope very true, it always “depends” doesn’t it?!
Then he can check out those colleges’ AP websites to see if credit is even an option. Environmental Science and English may not get him any credit (or only elective credit). Depending on the college, a high enough score on the English exam can waive the freshman writing requirement, but that is less likely for colleges in the higher tier.
Then, bottom line, taking the test will not help get him into a selective college.
You do not get credit from a college if you don’t get admitted there. Nor do you get admitted just because of good grades in a rigorous prep. And some ECs thrown in.
I am absolutely with @helpingmom40 and @momofsenior1. Adcoms like supporting metrics and you never want them asking, why no AP scores? Or, guessing they did not represent well.
The next kids, from his prep or other similar, may be submitting their whole packages, have the same top grades and provide all the supporting numbers.
So, of course taking the test and doing well can help hm get into a selective.
Unless he does get recruited. I wouldn’t bet the whole farm on being a recruit when things can happen. It’s a 3 hour test (and some prep for it,) 8 months from now.
I think the key for us was avoiding the early “weeder” courses in Bio, Chem, Foreign Language (FL) and Calc, if any of those will be of interest for your son. My kid avoided the “100” classes for Calc, Bio, Chem and all of the FL requirement.
Fyi for anyone else in this situation, the head of college advising answered my question, to say not taking the AP would have no effect on my son’s college admissions.
Possibly a bit like SAT subject tests – my son’s older brothers didn’t take them and they both did fine with admissions.
I am not saying this advice applies to everyone, but that not everyone under every circumstance needs to take these tests.
PS @sushiritto wow, that’s a great example of where taking AP’s add a great deal of benefit! Well done to your son.
DS had 5s on APs in subjects in which he had a B (or B-) in the class at a rigorous BS. I think (but cannot know for sure) that this may have reinforced that there was no grade inflation, and maybe the opposite, at his school. He did fine in the application process with a GPA that was far from exceptional and I suspect that his AP scores may have helped. We’ll never know for sure on that.
The benefit was that he could skip college courses he’d already taken at BS (no credit, but placement), and that was attractive given everything available at college. AP scores can also allow a student to meet a FL requirement or distribution requirement without taking class. I think it’s worthwhile. Why spend your money and time twice on the same thing?
It sounds like you have made up your mind but I wanted to add that using AP’s for requirements was golden for me in college. I didn’t get college credit for any but I got to skip some things, get distributional requirement credit for others, etc.
I also think there’s a big difference between skipping one AP test cause “what’s the point” and using APs as a wow factor. Like a score of 5 on all six of the APs you take - that can look great to a college that is comparing you to a bunch of other smart kids. Just one 5 on one AP? There just isn’t the same impact.
Additionally, it sounds like your kid is a recruited athlete, so yeah, the rules are different for him. He is competing against other athletes more than the general population. As long as his target schools are solid and the coach’s support is solid it sounds like he doesn’t need the AP test.
Just wanted to say I hear this! My kid’s ECs are extra and people just don’t get it. I hear the “all the BS kids are doing so much” all the time. Yeah, no. Most people will not understand this.
You missed the point,OP. Depending on specific college, reported AP scores may not influence admissions (the counselor is right), but it can determine a student’s priority in course registration, dorm selection, timing for joining honor societies-all of which may depend upon class standing determined by credit hours. If taking AP tests is really that stressful, the student shouldn’t apply to highly competitive colleges anyway, where most students breeze thru such exams.
Sometimes you need to be careful with this, especially if the AP score places you into the more advanced class. My older kid’s college’s parents FB page is currently lit up by two threads about what a disaster of the advanced chem and math classes are for freshmen. It turns out that at least some of the kids who aced the AP tests do not actually have the knowledge the kids who took the intro class at college do, and so they struggle mightily in the higher level class they placed into. And if you think you want to go to med school getting a C (or even B?) in a chem class is a kiss of death apparently. Similar situation with math, getting 5 on the BC calc exam does not necessarily prepare you for the college level math the engineering program requires.