<p>I don't get why colleges don't put more emphasis on AP scores. They measure your ability to learn material. Like the ACT/SAT, they can help compare different grading systems from different schools. They actually seem almost as important to me as the ACT/SAT.</p>
<p>Not every school offers AP classes, but I get where you’re getting at</p>
<p>I agree with you but some people contend that the AP exams are unfair in that it is only a representation of one 3 hour exam you took, but so is the SAT, ha. I feel like AP’s should be considered more heavily, I mean yes you don’t have to get nearly everything right on them to get a 5, but 5’s are by no means the norm on any test. Maybe collegeboard should re form the AP and have it be more like the SAT in that there is more levels like 5, 4.9. But then again, AP’s are meant only for college credit. Sorry for the rant.</p>
<p>Because if a kid takes a lot of APs and does well, he’s going to want those credits and colleges by no means, want to grant a lot of credit for them and lose money.</p>
<p>So, why would they weigh it heavily? It’s a loss for their college, and college is a business.</p>
<p>I’ve wondered the same thing too. I think there are a few reasons for this:
[ul]
[li]AP classes aren’t standardized. An AP class at an inner-city school may not be be of the same quality as an AP class taught at, say Thomas Jefferson HS. (I’m generalizing, but still)</p>[/li]
<p>[li]AP exams are heavily curved, and some of them can be self-studied in a few weeks (Environmental Science, Human Geography, Psychology, etc). They’re not designed as a tool to indicate success in college like SAT/ACT scores are.</p>[/li]
<p>[<em>]As law2011 said, students who score well on AP exams cost the school money, so financially colleges are better off not placing too much emphasis on APs.
[</em>]AP classes aren’t always college-level, and at some schools, the college equivalent of the HS AP course may be much more comprehensive.
[/ul]</p>
<p>The counterargument is that colleges are increasingly emphasizing rigor of HS coursework in admission decisions. The number of APs taken is certainly one measure of rigor, so the number of APs may matter as much as the scores.</p>
<p>I have had the chance to run some statistics on about 4000 self-reported admission results. SAT and GPA combined are the best predictors, but umber of APs taken accounts for a notable part of the residual error.</p>
<p>Some AP classes aren’t rigorous enough to consider themselves AP classes. And as a result, many of the students fail the test. It would seem that the AP test would seem to be a good way to look beyond grade inflation and grade variations depending upon the school. However, it still isn’t a good indication. This girl in my AP English class is known as a book worm. She reads CONSTANTLY. She has an enormous vocabulary. She writes well as well. But during the AP exam she froze up and didn’t do anything. She didn’t pass.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there isn’t a fair way to test the people.</p>
<p>I’m not too sure, but I think colleges don’t give as much importance to AP simply because it’s not very widely available outside of the US, so I suppose it’d be unfair for international students (like me) if those who did AP got a better shot at getting in.</p>
<p>Freezing up on standardized tests is not an excuse for not counting APs, that could happen on any standardized test. I agree that the level at which AP classes are taught varies, but the exam is still the same for everyone, so that still can indicate the rigor of the course. As to the heavily curved part, again it is curved but still the number of people who get 5’s are not very high across the board. Hah, I probably only want them to count more cause I have 6 5’s, if I had 6 3’s then I would probably be screaming that they are unjust tests that deserve to burn.</p>
<p>There’s also the very simple explanation that MANY of the AP tests are taken at the end of the senior year in high school. Those scores are moot when it comes to the acceptance process.</p>
<p>In addition, the AP scores are self-reported on the applications. Unless you are applying AP credits towards college credit, the college/university has no way of verifying what the actual AP scores are for all their applicants.</p>
<p>Yeah, no offense to anyone who thinks that APs should be looked on more favourably, there is no way in hell I’m paying $15 a college to send my AP scores…</p>
<p>sending score reports is not that big of a deal, I mean, its just one more report, and hey that one report could get you into a really great school. I feel like the problem isn’t the reporting but the fact that the AP exam only has 5 possible scores, there needs to be more variability in order to get a better indication of performance. But I guess thats what SAT subject tests are for.</p>
<p>AP scores matter most once you’ve actually been admitted to a school because they can determine what classes you may be able to opt out of.</p>
<p>Yeah, I have 6 5’s also. I think I should have a big advantage over someone with like 6 4’s/3’s, but that is not the case.</p>