1
3 years ago
Admissions Advice

Should I take AP tests without taking the course?
Answered

Unfortunately, for this upcoming school year, I didn't get AP Biology or AP Statistics (my counselor claimed they were full). AP Stats was my backup for AP Bio, but I didn't get either. I'm wondering if I should study for AP Bio on my own and take the exam because I'm looking to become a biology major and go into the medical field. I'm a little worried because I may not be as strong compared to some of my friends who were able to take AP Statistics in place of AP Biology. I was planning to take both AP Bio and AP Chem in 12th grade, as I was anticipating that I wouldn't be able to take AP Bio, and take AP Stats in 11th grade. I know applications show very little of senior year, so I want to appeal myself to college admissions through my 11th grade transcript. Do AP tests hold a lot of weight in college applications? Would schools notice an AP score (pretend it's a 5) if I didn't take the course in school?

Sorry this was lengthy and a bit complicated. TLDR: Should I take AP BIO even though I'm not taking the course next year?

11th
apbio
aptests
2023
AP
1
3
🎉 First post
Let’s welcome @mangochilddd to the community! Remember to be kind, helpful, and supportive in your responses.

Earn karma by helping others:

1 karma for each ⬆️ upvote on your answer, and 20 karma if your answer is marked accepted.

3 answers

4
Accepted Answer
3 years ago

The real question is: Do you have the discipline to teach yourself AP Biology? Can you familiarize yourself with the concepts and labs enough to get a decent score on the test?

Do you know the AP Biology teacher? I know at least the one I had in tenth grade was one of the nicest people on the planet and probably would have sent any student in your situation all of her lesson plans and would have seen if it was possible for you to step into her class. Reach out to the AP Bio teacher and ask if they would be willing to give you any lesson plans/study helps or even let you come into their class.

If you DO end up taking the AP Bio test, I found it REALLY helpful to make very long cheat sheets with all of the vocabulary and summaries of the units. Even if you're just copying/paraphrasing info you find online, it REALLY helps (because that's totally what I did!).

4
1
3 years ago

If you think you can study for the test on your own, then go for it. I would suggest u find some mentors. I say this because I am from India, and not many schools in India offer AP Courses, so students just take the test by studying on their own and with some help from a mentor. Still they manage get into top universities and ivies

Good Luck! 👍

1
0
3 years ago

I did the same thing with APUSH last year and passed the exam. From what I’ve heard AP Biology is pretty intense and you’ll want to take regular Bio first; it’s not a sub for the high school class. I don’t know a whole lot about the class though

0
What are your chances of acceptance?
Your chance of acceptance
Duke University
Loading…
UCLA
Loading…
+ add school
Your chancing factors
Unweighted GPA: 3.7
1.0
4.0
SAT: 720 math
200
800
| 800 verbal
200
800

Extracurriculars

Low accuracy (4 of 18 factors)

Community Guidelines

To keep this community safe and supportive:

  1. Be kind and respectful!
  2. Keep posts relevant to college admissions and high school.
  3. Don’t ask “chance-me” questions. Use CollegeVine’s chancing instead!

How karma works