What Kind of Test Scores Do British Colleges Expect From Americans?

Now I am not an Oxford Latin tutor, but from knowing how Oxford tutors generally tick, here is my guess:

If you have not studied Latin but want to do classics, they are willing to take a chance on you and extrapolate how good you might be at it from their own aptitude test, and, probably, would like to see a Romance language score (A level from UK students, AP test from US students).

If you HAVE studied Latin, they will not be prepared to guess. They want to see what you can do with it. They want to see a test score. It doesn’t matter to them that the school doesn’t offer the AP class, because you CAN take the test without one, by self studying, taking an online class or dual enrolment. In fact, nothing will prepare you better for Oxford than self studying for an AP test because that is precisely the kind of independent worker they like to see.

If the idea of preparing for an AP test wthout the support of a classroom teacher seems daunting, the UK system as a whole is not a good fit. And thats okay! Horses for courses.
Similarly, if researching the websites of classics departments for every single school of interest and taking them at their word, trying to immerse yourself into a totally different mindset as far as admissions are concerned, is not how you want to approach your college search, it is not a good idea to start college abroad.
If you want to have a chance at applying for a classics course in the UK, I’d recommend to take the following AP tests: Latin, English lang, Euro History, Italian, whether you find a class for it or not. Retake the ACT or SAT. Make sure to pick a range of universities for your UCAS list, eg apply to a few departments that require only a 29 ACT and Bs/4s for the subject tests taken. Good luck!

I do not think you will need to submit your HS transcript/grades at most UK universities, with the exception of Univ of St Andrews.

My feeling is that AP courses should be the ones of greatest interest to you amongst the choices available. If you want to study Classics or Ancient History, then you probably already are most interested in humanities area AP courses. Many are probably fine, depending on what your school offers. I would suggest taking, if you can, AP Art History, AP European History, and AP Literature, in addition to your AP Italian (which I think is a fine choice) but there are probably others that would work, too. IMO, it wouldn’t hurt to have a couple more, but other APs you end up taking could be in unrelated areas.

I don’t think having unrelated scores, such as an AP Chemistry score, hurt your application, but if you didn’t rely mostly on humanities scores when applying for a humanities course, that might be odd or problematic.

I normally confine myself to simply answering an OP’s question, taking their word for it that their questions are sincere and relevant to their lives, without bothering to check out a member’s posting history, but those “other threads” have come up a bit too often.

OP, I’m inclined to agree with others that you are either not for real and having us on, or you are deluded. If this is you sincerely trying to find out information and engaging with people trying to help you, the UK system is not for you.

On another thread, you declare yourself a B student, with occasional Cs and Ds, aiming for two APs in computer science principles and environmental science for your junior year and aiming for a 27 ACT, and on here you are discussing Oxbridge? I think you are wasting our time and this thread could be closed.

Do they have to be relevant? Because I don’t have the option of AP Euro or English.

You keep asking this question, and you get the same answers. If you do not have the option to take anything relevant- no history, no english, no language- then you self-study.

Or not: you can apply with anything you want. But your goal is to demonstrate that you have a good grasp of what you want to do, and that you are able for the work. If you can’t find a way to do that, then studying in the UK is not the path for you.

I don’t think any of us here can guarantee you admission to the UK university of your choice. Applying to universities is certainly an inherently stressful and uncertain process.

Just do the best you can to get a solid HS education, and take the AP courses available to you that you are genuinely interested in and think you can do well in. Take the SAT IIs in areas you think you can do well in.

Look at the webpages for universities you like, and look up the courses and related courses and see what you would like to apply for. Throw your hat in the ring. That’s all you can do.

In addition, there are a couple of university guides. I looked up the Guardian’s league tables , and they, for ex., list about 25 universities that offer Classics or Ancient History degrees. Just work your way through the list, a few at a time, and look for the ones that: (a) appeal to you as a university overall, (b) you like the structure of the course design (look at this carefully), and (c) also seem like they have entry tariffs you meet (this is often under “international”).

Make a chart or spread sheet to record your research. If you’re not sure if your qualifications are a good fit, you can just contact the university and ask. It’s a little tedious, but I think this is the best way.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2019/jun/07/university-league-tables-2020