Will good AP scores mitigate against less than stellar GPA?

Applying to College
21

APush is not easy, maybe easier than Euro but still difficult.

Have you or someone who is an English teacher (preferably elsewhere) ever looked at her writing? Is the English teacher correct? While the ACT writing is helpful, scores are too mixed up right now to rely but you are right that is quite decent.

Is he head of the department or does he have someone supervising him? Will D have him next year? Do you have younger children in the district?

Assuming she can write and this is the last time D or any member of your family will have him, I would find out from friends who are knowledgeable about how the district works what the best course is for appealing her grades or if it is possible. Obviously keep all her work.

Your best proof she can write is if she gets a 5 on English.

I would bring the Stanford quote I posted above to the attention of the administration. I personally do not think a higher AP grade is worth a lower class grade just because the teacher is strict. On the plus side, state colleges will usually give AP credit for a 3.

She can always retake. Since science was her worst score maybe try the SATs? Especially if she gets a 5 on English since comprehension questions are similar.

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I don’t think that “she can’t write”–she would benefit from a better grasp of grammar rules, which became clear during ACT prep and from her scores, but she’s not terrible. The teacher is pretty full of himself (he apparently takes every opportunity to insert the fact that he attended an Ivy into discussions and conversations), but he is THE AP English Lang teacher, and my younger D (currently a freshman) will have him if she takes AP English as a junior (I don’t think he’s the AP English Lit teacher, but my junior D has decided she’s not taking it next year anyway–opting for honors English instead, so way to go dude for wringing the joy out of English for her…). If she does end up with a 5 on the English Lang AP test and a B in the class I will bring it to someone’s attention.

D took the SAT in March and we will get scores next week. She did minimal self-study for that test so I’m not expecting very good scores, but she’s registered for the June sitting and is doing some prep with a tutor, so I have hopes that we will see an improvement. She was not a fan of the ACT–haven’t decided yet if she will retake it or if we’ll just focus on the SAT. We’ll know more next week.