Will it hurt my college app if I don't do well on an AP exam?

<p>I'm afraid of the AP U.S. history exam. I'm afraid that if I self-study for it and I end up getting a 3 that it might look bad on my college app. Let's say I took 3 ap exams and had 5s on them. the colleges would like that, but then when they see a 3 on the ap us history will they see that negatively and give me less priority for admission? Or is just the case that you can take as many APs as you want and they only care about your top scores?</p>

<p>Just cancel the test result. I remember Collegeboard has got that kind of service. If you think you do badly on one test you could pay certain fees and cancel the test result, therefore schools will receive test report excluding that test, and even if they tell collegeboard they want all your test scores, Collegeboard won’t give them. I think I read that from AP booklet or something. Well, you may search it out, and see if I got it right.</p>

<p>You are not obligated to share AP test results on your college applications. You will simply self-report them and indicate the college to which you want a score report sent during May of your senior year.</p>

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Yes I know. But self-report is not as reliable as official score report. I used to self-report my AP scores to UChicago during EA round and Admission officers treated me as if I’ve never taken APs(Guess that’s why I got rejected by UChi. They thought I’ve got no APs. I could not find another reason) Afterwards I ordered those expensive official score reports sent to schools. So self-report works, but I do recommend official score reports. Especially for elite schools. They would think you are really meticulous.</p>

<p>An entire admissions decision is not going to be shattered by 1 lower AP grade. AP scores are used for credit granting purposes, not for admissions decisions. And a 3 is really not that bad; a lot of colleges still give credit for 3s. I wouldn’t be concerned with it.</p>

<p>@dawncoming wait what do you mean by official score report? isn’t it the same as self report? Ahh! i’m getting worried now 'cause i’m applying to UChicago too, but i didn’t cancel the tests that i think i did bad on :(</p>

<p>@esthetique: I think the information you want is all on this page
[AP</a> Scores - AP Scores & Reporting Services](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>View Your AP Scores – AP Students | College Board)</p>

<p>official score reports, withholding test scores etc. the official score report is a score report that is sent directly to schools by collegeboard. But exorbitantly expensive. 15 bucks for one school. darn!</p>

<p>So you mean self report right?</p>

<p>The only way this might look bad is if the bad score was from a class that you had actually taken (and it especially looks bad if you had a high grade in said class).</p>

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<p>But I would greatly speculate that your denial from Chicago was not simply because they did not trust your self-reporting of AP scores. At the very least, that is quite difficult to determine from a sample size of one. Hence, there is really no viable means of separating it from mere coincidence.</p>

<p>I thought colleges couldn’t see your ap test scores on your app if you didn’t submit them.
Someone told me that AFTER you get into that college, you can submit your scores in May of senior year…</p>

<p>jumper101, that’s right. Colleges don’t know what you got on your AP exams unless you tell them, but you don’t need to send an “official” score report from CB (which, as noted above, would get expensive if you did that for every school you are applying to). You just self-report the scores on your applications.</p>

<p>You just need to send one official score report – after your senior year – to the college where you decide to enroll. And even then, you only need to send it if you want credit for those AP courses (and the school gives it).</p>

<p>say I were to get a couple 1’s on self studied exams. If i self reported saying that I never took the exams, could I hide the score on the official college board report?</p>

<p>The head of admissions at an elite liberal arts college told me they pay no attention to AP scores. He said they pay attention to whether you take challenging courses (in the context of your HS) and they pay attention to your grades in those courses, but not to the AP scores. He really, really, didn’t care about self-studied AP scores.</p>

<p>Most colleges only care about how challenging your classes are and how well you do in those classes. Most colleges do not care about your AP grades, self-studied or not. After you’ve been accepted to a college, they take your AP grades and turn them into credits. That is basically the extent of AP scores with colleges: giving out credit.</p>

<p>The administrators at my HS told me that I should take AP exams regardless of whether colleges will accept the credits since colleges want to see if you’ve taken the exam or not. Is this true?
I am taking a lot of APs, and the exams are so expensive ($85/subject!!!). For me, that’s a lot of money to spend ($1000 total) and I will not be getting any credit for college!</p>

<p>^Colleges don’t weigh AP exam scores that heavily during the admissions process, but it can give them a good approximation of how rigorous the classes at your school are (for example, getting an A in the class but a 2 or a 3 on the exam might indicate grade inflation).</p>

<p>^But if you don’t send in your scores during admissions, how would they know?</p>

<p>^They wouldn’t. It might, however, look odd if you did well in the class but did not submit an exam score.</p>

<p>They don’t know, unless you tell them by self-reporting your scores (or sending official score reports, if you want to spend the money).</p>