...to take or not to take....

Test Preparation
1

<p>So, here's the dilemma:</p>

<p>My AP Physics teacher more or less screwed us over due to the fact that she is a rather inept teacher (she’s cramming electricity and magnetism into the two weeks right before the AP test). Perhaps it’s my fault that I didn’t study enough so I could decipher the textbook and understand the concept, but I’m feeling pretty lost regarding Physics right now. I could possibly cram and study like a mad banshee and get a 3 on the exam, but my question is – IS IT WORTH IT? </p>

<p>Because none of us really know what we’re doing (which is scary, because 4 out of the 20 kids in the class are valedictorians), she curves everything, so I have an 103% in the class. As far as college admissions are concerned, I am acing the class. However, my actual physics capabilities are quite low. I currently have a 4.0 UW GPA, 232 PSAT score, and 2280 SAT score, so my stats are pretty good so far. </p>

<p>My problem is that I only have one AP score to report to colleges – AP Biology. I’m taking the exam this year. My school offers 7 APs, of which I am taking 6 (by the time I graduate - 2 this year, 4 serior year). I am confident that I can score a 5 on the AP Bio exam (for our semester final this week, we took the 2002 AP Bio multiple choice section, and I scored 113 out of 119). Will submitting one AP score really affect my chances at highly selective colleges? I don’t think it will, and am leaning heavily on the side of not taking the AP Physics exam. My physics teacher and guidance counselor are both urging me to take it – but after flipping through my AP Physics prep guide I know that I am not ready. Should I take a chance and blow $80 on a test? Or should I save myself the worry and time and forget about taking the test?</p>

2

<p>Wow, we're in really similar situations:</p>

<p>-Same GPA
-Same PSAT score; your SAT is 30 points higher
-Both are taking AP Physics with a teacher who has tried to cram E&M into the last 2 weeks before the AP exam
-Both have really high AP Physics grades that have been curved up due to a completely clueless class</p>

<p>However, in March I foresaw this kind of dilemma...so I decided not to sign up for the AP Physics exam at all, and am overall pretty happy with my decision.</p>

3

<p>Hey, didn't you apply to TASP too? I remember seeing you at that forum… :)</p>

<p>One fact I neglected to mention: Our semester final (which is sometime before graduation…again, my teacher is being frustratingly vague. BAH. I should’ve taken AP Chem.) will be an old AP exam. I’m going to have to study for this flipping thing anyways. But I guess I have more breathing room to cram in…</p>

4

<p>Just take it.. if you can pull off a 4, it's better than not taking it at all.</p>

5

<p>I say take it. When you're filling out college applications, you put down what AP tests you took and the scores you got on them...but you don't have to put them all down. If you end up not passing, maybe next year when you're filling out apps, you will "forget" that you took physics. ;)</p>

<p>You don't send in official AP score reports until WAY after you've been accepted to colleges.</p>

6

<p>Exactly, Orwellian poster. I couldn't actually find a spot to put my AP scores from junior year down on applications, so I just didn't. It was just a 4 on AP English Language, so it didn't matter much anyway.</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
Hey, didn't you apply to TASP too? I remember seeing you at that forum… </p>

<p>One fact I neglected to mention: Our semester final (which is sometime before graduation…again, my teacher is being frustratingly vague. BAH. I should’ve taken AP Chem.) will be an old AP exam. I’m going to have to study for this flipping thing anyways. But I guess I have more breathing room to cram in…

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Bahahaha. thechiiguin, we're long lost twins. Yeah, I applied to TASP too, but the TASP people are haters. =P</p>

<p>And my final for first semester was part of an old AP exam...it'll most likely be another old AP exam for this semester also. Which, having not taken the real AP Physics exam, this will be one of the two finals I'll actually have to study for.</p>

8

<p>We are just too cool for TASP. :D</p>

<p>I'm still undecided, and the test is what, 3 days away? My physics teacher thinks I'm this absolute physics mastermind...but...that's just not true. I started to do a practice AP exam, just to see how well I could do without studying, and it's not coming along that well. >_< <em>continues to vascillate</em></p>