<p>The AP Physics class at my school was easily the hardest course in the school and extremely difficult/challenging. I know of some people who got Cs both semesters in the class, but got 5s on the Physics C: Mechanics and Physics C: E&M AP tests... as well as 800 on the Physics SAT II.</p>
<p>The student does demonstrate knowing the material very well (hence the high test scores), yet has a C in the class due to its difficulty... probably because the class is quite a bit harder than the AP tests etc. </p>
<p>The question is: How does this look to colleges then? If the student is getting a C, obviously this does not look good on the transcript but it does say something about the class (difficulty level etc) by the fact that the student is able to ace the tests on the material. So how much does this play a part in the college decisions etc? </p>
<p>I don’t know, I got a B in AP Bio but a 5 on the test and an A in AP US but a 4 on that test. I’m probably going to get a B in AP Chem but a 5 on that test this year, and like a 4 or a 3 on the AP economics test but an A in the class for the year. </p>
<p>Sometimes they just don’t correlate at all.</p>
<p>The only way for it to “look ok” is for your GC to include in his/her letter: “the teacher thinks he’s the next coming of Richard Feynman and hasn’t given out a grade higher than a C in ten years.”</p>
<p>To put the class into perspective, taking this class would probably help you breeze through your 1st/2nd year physics in college at top colleges with engineering programs such as Berkeley, etc. </p>
<p>The thing is that it might be hard to realize there is such a difficult class as this, but this is indeed the case. It would still take effort to get a C in the class (including studying a lot/doing many, many problems etc)… like I said, the class is quite a bit harder than the actual AP test or the SAT IIs.</p>
<p>What do you mean by class profile? Would colleges have a “profile” of this class or something?</p>
<p>It really doesn’t look good. I got a C in AP Chemistry, 5 on the AP, 720 SATII, and I think the C still definitely affected where I got in.</p>
<p>And a C does not indicate laziness, at least not in all cases. I worked really hard in that class, but the teacher’s way of explaining the subject really confused me.</p>
<p>How will colleges look if a person get C in physics during his pre-university studies?
However, the person get all As in humanities and social sciences subjects.</p>
<p>Doesn’t getting a 5 on the AP test mean you should be able to get an A/B in the college level course though? So the high school course could merely be harder than the college level one…</p>
<p>In my opinion, it would appear that the high school class teacher measured success in the class using different criteria than what is measured on the SAT. At any rate, a 5 on an AP exam shows that the student has sufficiently mastered the required material for the SAT and for college classes. Grading in high school is so subjective, that I think it would be discounted.I am all for going strictly by standardized tests for measuring aptitude, ability, and achievement.</p>
<p>I don’t know about that. If admissions counselors have knowledge of characteristics of the gifted, they might realize that this pattern is pretty characteristic. Perhaps they would see it as brilliant and bored by a high school program/teacher?</p>
<p>I should add that I go to a boarding school where it is fairly hard to get good grades, so my perception of grading/laziness/scores might be a bit distorted.</p>
<p>Someone once told me that greatness is measured by performance, not ability. A student that is brilliant and bored should have the motivation to work hard anyway, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Oh and trust me, most of these students were not lazy… you cannot be lazy if you plan to take this AP Physics course. Regarding the people with Cs, many did put in a lot of time (more than any other class I’m sure) and did many problems off of worksheets etc to prepare for the in class tests… which happened to be quite a bit harder than the AP test.</p>
<p>So overall, the class in general is harder than the AP test, hence why the students tend to all do good on the AP test but not so good in the class.</p>
you could surmise for hours about the reason for the difference between the grade and the AP test score. A student should address this in an essay, letter from the GC, or recommendation from that teacher.
you want to avoid having the admissions officer go , ‘Huh?’. The discrepency between the grade and score might do that. Will it keep you from getting into that school? Who knows. There’s so many other factors that thinking this one fact is the key point is probably not a productive use of time.</p>
<p>Get the grade up or address in an essay. And nice job on the AP and SAT tests!</p>
<p>zing, my D1 attends a school with similar issues of a tough class and grade deflation combined with high AP scores. The school addresses the issue in the “profile” that is sent as a supplementary document with college applications. There is explicit mention of the school’s deflationary grading, and how students often receive a “C” in a course while achieving 5’s on the APs. Some schools include a distribution of GPAs. If many top students are taking the tough physics course, then no one will have a 4.0, and your lower GPA is seen in context. Your school will have a profile as well. It might be worthwhile to review it and see if and how the counselors address this issue.</p>