My son took 5 AP classes this senior year, he told me he wanted to skip the AP Lit exam because he doesn’t think he can get >= 4 to earn college credit. He will still take the rest. But his common app listed AP Lit as an exam he plans to take. He already committed to a college. Will skipping an AP exam create a problem for his college admission since he is not following the plan in his common app? Thanks!
No.
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That is a question best asked of the specific college, if it is not clearly stated as a condition in the admission offer.
Senior year of high school is stressful. Sometimes it is valuable to allow a student to reduce their stress level a bit.
One daughter did exactly what you suggested. She skipped one AP exam her senior year of high school. The only consequence was that she did not get AP credit at the university that she attended. She still graduated in four years slightly under budget and with a very good GPA in an appropriate (for her) major.
But I would have your son call admissions at the university that he is going to attend and make sure they are okay with this.
Some colleges give credit for 3’s.
Some schools don’t give credits for specific AP classes. GT doesn’t give credit for AP Stats.
My advice. Take the test. Nothing to lose.
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I agree that there’s nothing to lose if he’s already signed up and paid for the exams. However, I don’t think not taking the exams would affect his admission unless he somehow explicitly stated in his application that he would take the exams.
The common app asks which classes you are taking but does not specifically ask which exams you will be taking. If he listed AP Lit as a class, there is no problem. If he included somewhere else in his application that he would be taking the exam, it is probably worth asking admissions but unlikely that there would be any issue.
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Colleges do care if you drop classes, or if you do poorly in them. They don’t care whether you took the AP exam or not, and they don’t care (after you’ve been accepted) what your score is, if you take the exam. My kid took no AP exams senior year if the class was also dual enrollment. It greatly relieved stress and academic pressure.
But if you’re worried, call the admissions office.
Data point of one: back in the day, when I called and asked if there would be an issue with not taking the AP exam, the woman at the other end of the line laughed. 
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Here’s another data point. My S, after he was accepted EA and got a call from admissions. One of the questions he asked was whether he should take the exams (he hadn’t signed up for the exams at that point) and the answer was no.
I vote for skipping the AP Lit test, but if he wants to be sure, he should call the admissions office and ask. The AP English teachers at my kids’ school have said that scoring well on the AP Lit test is definitely harder than doing well on the AP English Language exam.
17% get 4+ on Lit; 31% get 4+ on Lang. Of course, other than personal stories, it’s difficult to discern score distributions of students that take both.
One key element about the English exams is that many colleges give credit for Lit or Lang, but not both, even for those colleges that don’t cap AP credit in general. So I really don’t think any college is ever surprised when a student opts not to take the exam
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my D skipped her AP Art History exam; her college would not accept any credit for it.
then . . after 3 semesters, she transferred; and the new college would have taken credit for it. She had to repeat the class in college. so - just another thing to think about. 
Every college is so different if they take the credit or not and whether it meets any of the college’s requirements or not. My D opted to skip taking 2 AP exams because it did nothing for her at the college where she was accepted. The college did not care at all and my daughter did not ask for permission from them. Unless your son is going to a very highly selective school I dont think it matters. It took some stress off my D senior year and she was happy about it. No regrets.
This! My S is considering transferring. Had a 3 on AP Euro, which didn’t get him any credit at his freshman school. But at transfer schools he is considering, it would/will.
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It is hard to see how any college would care since there is always a chance the score would be too low for credit, whether it be due to effort, test fit, bad luck, etc. Also, if I am the college, I would seemingly be happy the exam was skipped since I then get more tuition dollars from the student when they have to take course.
While private colleges may have this kind of tuition motivation (and therefore be stingy with credit for AP scores), public colleges with mostly in-state (subsidized even at list price) students tend to want the students to graduate as quickly as possible, so they are more likely to be generous with credit for AP scores (and IB and college courses taken while in high school).
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Just want to update this thread in case it can help someone in a similar situation. I received an email from AO in my son’s university (UMD) that skipping an AP exam does not affect the admission status even though he put in his common app that he was planning to take it. My son will still take 4 AP exams, I am completely fine with him skipping one as long as it does not affect his college admission. Thanks for all your replies!
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