<p>My HS junior is taking three AP classes this year. In two of his classes, he feels confident about taking the tests and passing.</p>
<p>His AP Physics test is a different story. While he is getting a B in the class, it has been a struggle for him. Additionally, very few students at our HS pass the test. Last year our Valedictorian got an A in the class but yet did not pass the test. It has been stated that once they get to the test they find they are being tested on some things they did not even cover in class.</p>
<p>If he does not pass, I worry that it may affect his admissions chances at more selective schools. Is there anyway to send some AP test results to colleges and block them from seeing others? Or do colleges see all AP test results no matter what?</p>
<p>colleges don’t see any AP results - you can self report what you want on the common app but don’t actually send them until you enroll and want the credits</p>
<p>^ It wouldn’t be truthful to self report some scores and not others on the Common App. It would be lying by omission. So if he gets 4’s and 5’s on his other tests and a 2 on the Physics test and indicates that on the Common App – is that going to look really bad? Could it affect admission?</p>
<p>That’s nonsense. I see no reason why you couldn’t self report some scores and not others. Getting a 2 on Physics doesn’t negate the 5 in English (or whatever). FWIW, my kids each bombed a particular AP test. So they didn’t send it and didn’t include it. Problem solved. “Lying” would be if they said they got a 5 when they didn’t.</p>
<p>My D’s school required the taking of AP tests for every class, even if you weren’t going to use the credits in college/didn’t think would do well.
IMO ,expensive and an unecessary stress in those cases.
If the school doesn’t require the test, it isn’t going to help him, although if he is going to major in physics I would be concerned.</p>
<p>But the colleges he applies to will see that he has three AP classes on his transcript from junior year. Won’t it seem suspicious to them that they have self reported scores on two but not three AP classes?</p>
<p>No, not at all. Many high schools don’t require a student taking an AP class to take the AP test. Don’t you think schools with 25,000 applications have better things to do than puzzle out why Suzy took AP French but doesn’t have an AP French score listed?<br>
Look, you can’t worry about this stuff. Trust me. It will drive you crazy. Far better to worry about making a favorable impression through EC’s or a killer essay than to sweat this kind of stuff.</p>
<p>cbug- AP scores are not used in admission, and none of the scores need to be reported. Because they aren’t required, there is no “suspicion,” and it’s not unethical to only report the high scores. It’s not like the SAT, where the test is an admissions measurement, where all of the scores are required. They won’t know whether he took the test, either way. Whether he takes the test and chooses not to report, or doesn’t take the test, the outcome is the same on the application.<br>
So my question to you is, if he doesn’t take the test, how will the colleges know whether he took it and did poorly and chose not to report, or didn’t take it? They won’t.</p>
<p>I suggest you let your son decide whether he wants to take it or not, and report it only if he is happy with his score.</p>
<p>If I were a college I’d assume an unreported score is a one. That said, colleges all said they cared more that you challenged yourself by taking the course and not what the actual score was. Our school requires students to take the test and they monitor the teachers and make sure that most kids pass the tests. I really don’t understand how schools can have AP Courses where most kids don’t pass - especially kids they’ve given A’s to. I don’t think those courses should be designated AP courses frankly.</p>
<p>Years ago I didn’t take my French AP - I knew I’d flunk (I hadn’t even finished the reading) and furthermore I was planning on taking a gap year in France - so my French was about to get much better than whatever score I’d get on my AP. I was a senior so I was already into colleges.</p>
<p>In our school district, in order to get the “weighted” GPA from the AP class the kids have to take the test. Verify whether not taking the test will have a similar effect on your child. Other than that, I agree- reporting the AP scores on the common app or not is no big deal. Only the “good” scores are going to matter in the end, since the kids will only get credit for those anyway.</p>
<p>Right, but not all high schools do require the kids to take the test - so it stands to reason that they aren’t going to work under the assumption that an unreported score is a test-taken-but-scored-poorly-on, when it might just as easily be a-test-not-taken.</p>
<p>Many kids in our district don’t take the AP exams that go with their class. It’s not required. People report what goes well, if and when they want the credit. I get the OP’s concern, but honestly, adcoms are not searching that much through every detail of your application. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with not taking the test, for whatever reason. You already took the CLASS, which is what shows your potential.</p>
<p>Honestly what I’d do is have every kid in that class take the test and then complain to the administration they aren’t teaching an AP Class. The Common Application has a place to report your AP scores - it’s not official. There’s a lot of discussion as to whether leaving a blank when you actually took the test, but don’t like the score is lying. If you don’t take the test, at least it’s definitely not lying. A careful admissions committee will see your child didn’t report the score and draw whatever conclusions they like. They all say the score doesn’t matter, but it’s hard to believe that they aren’t swayed more by 5’s than 1’s.</p>
<p>You are lucky you can choose to take them or not. In our school the school pays for the tests and they are treated like a final exam on the kids report cards. We don’t have many APs at “our” high school but they are taken seriously by the students and the administration and the AP test is required. OP, since the tests appear optional at your school perhaps your school does not report the AP test results on the transcript. If this is the case then the college is not going to get the results unless they are specifically sent by the test taker. Check to see how your particular high school handles it.</p>
<p>I would have your child take the test and determine afterward whether to have the test graded or not. A student has a few days after the test to decide whether they want it scored. At the very least, they would have an idea of how prepared they were. Each of my sons took this route with one of their AP tests. Also, reporting AP scores is not mandatory. S1 is at Stanford and S2 is deciding between Stanford, Princeton, and Yale so a non-reported score is obviously not a big deal.</p>
<p>Which is why colleges aren’t going to make getting one bad AP score the pivot upon which turns all your child’s admissions chances. Presumably, the Val took challenging coursework, studied, did well on other APs. </p>
<p>If you can save the money and not have your kid take the test, do so. I wish our district allowed that, at least in senior year, when the seniors know where they’re going the following year, and know if the AP credits can be used or will just be a waste of $86. :mad:</p>
<p>I’m an absolute stickler for honesty, and I see no problem with not reporting an AP score if it’s low. Let’s suppose that your son took the AP Physics exam, got a low score, and decided not to report it. If, by some strange chance, a college admissions person were to ask him about it, I think it would be perfectly okay for him to say that he knew that his score was not high enough to get credit at that school so he didn’t report it.</p>
<p>Suppose a student tries out for a school Quiz Bowl team, a sports team, or an orchestra chair, or suppose he/she runs for Student Council President, but doesn’t make it. Would the student be obligated to report that “failure” on his/her application? No. It’s not the same as a required GPA or SAT/ACT score.</p>
<p>I’ll add this: If he really feels that he wouldn’t do well on the AP exam, he shouldn’t take it. I know several students who excelled in high school physics and made 4/5s on the AP exam. They have found college physics to be a completely different story and now think that they should have started with the entry-level course.</p>
That said, colleges all said they cared more that you challenged yourself by taking the course and not what the actual score was. Our school requires students to take the test and they monitor the teachers and make sure that most kids pass the tests. I really don’t understand how schools can have AP Courses where most kids don’t pass - especially kids they’ve given A’s to. I don’t think those courses should be designated AP courses frankly.</p>