Hello! I am from India. I intend to Major in economics or Finance. I had a few questions about APs. I study in a CBSE school and AP courses are NOT offered to students.
Q1. Do APs add considerably to an international applicant’s application?
Q2. How many APs should I give?
Q3. I will be studying subjects like Business Studies, Accountancy, Economics, English and Math in my 2 remaining years of high school. Should I give AP economics or go for APs in subjects that are not taught in High School?
Q4. Do AP scholar awards add any value to the application or are they pretty redundant?
P.S. I will graduate high school in 2020.
1/ No
2/ Zero
3/ No and No
4/ No, they add no value.
No US college has any expectation that an applicant take AP exams if AP courses are not offered. Their expectation is that you avail yourself to the curriculum offered and take a rigorous course load within those parameters.
From what I know, taking APs can help demonstrate an interest in a subject you’re not pursuing in high school. Additionally, since CBSE isn’t highly valued by American colleges anyway, scoring well on a test familiar to them might help them assess you better (I know that’s what SAT I and SAT II tests are for, but doesn’t hurt, does it?)
If the ap test matches the content of your hs class and you’d like to skip the intro class in college, there’s no harm in taking the test to get credit since CBSE doesn’t give credit. In your case I’d recommend AP economics and ap calculus AB.
Note that it will not substantially improve your application. It will only give you flexibility once you enroll and register.
In Science and Engineering majors, APs (with a score of 4 or 5) most definitely add value to your Application, particularly when applying to top competitive US colleges. They also add credits to your coursework after joining college. US colleges do not rely too much on the CBSE grading system and under these circumstances, the SAT/ACT scores, SAT Subject Tests, and AP scores will come in very handy while evaluating the academic credentials of an Indian applicant.
@siddharthgarg11, @skieurope & @MYOS1634 know what they are talking about (look at their histories): APs will not help your application, but can exempt you from intro level classes at many colleges.
A university will evaluate you in terms of what resources you have available to you. It is not specifically necessary to take AP courses, if they are not available in your curriculum. If you are in an IB curriculum, your IB courses are considered even higher difficulty than AP courses. If you are in a CBSE or ISC curriculum, you can consider taking difficult courses online. We like the
UC’s Scout program
for AP courses. Another option is the
Florida Virtual School.
If you do take an online AP course, make sure that it is accredited, so that you can get credit for it on your high school transcript. If you take a course online, you will still need to go to a brick and mortar location to take the AP test. If this is not possible because of cost or because you live in a rural area, it is still advantageous to take the AP course, even without taking the test.
Another option is to take a class at your local community college. Some of these are offered online also. A college course is considered just as difficult as an AP course, and shows your initiative in going above and beyond what is required, which will be looked at favorably.
At any rate, make sure that if you are aiming at a top university, that you take the most difficult courses you can within your own curriculum. Write a note in the Additional information section of the application telling about your curriculum and that it does not offer AP courses, and what you have done to challenge yourself as a result.
[Disclaimer: This answer is from https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/singleQuestion/where-do-i and not my own. Hope this helps.]