AP courses vs examsAnswered
If I take no AP courses, but I take the AP exams and I get good grades, will that be just as beneficial on my transcript as if I had taken the AP courses?
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3 answers
Not at all. All top colleges want to see evidence of course rigor on your transcript and taking, class participating, enduring the tests and homework are all evidence of course rigor. Self-studying for a single 2 hour exam is not. If you are taking AP Lit or AP Calc B/C, getting an A in those courses is very difficult and you have to dedicate 10-20 hours of homework a week to achieve such a level of mastery to be rewarded by your AP teacher.
If you just take the AP exam, that means that in that 2 hour testing window, you are judged on a set number of questions and maybe 1 essay. That is not the same thing.
I don't know how I would weigh the difference of getting an A in an AP course versus getting a 4 or 5 in the exam alone. I would say that it's like 75/25 or 80/20. There is not 1 to 1 replacement for taking AP courses unless you take College Course online with a reputable university like a Top 50 school. Why? Because then you can transfer your earned credits and the colleges acknowledge the course rigor if they themselves are a T50 college.
Unfortunately there are no short cuts for AP course rigor, otherwise 90% of HS students would stop taking in class APs altogether.
Maybe this is not the answer you are looking for but it is certainly more accurate than the previous answer.
If you are homeschooled, take the exams. They will be just as beneficial on your transcript as if you had taken the AP courses.
Yes! As long as you pass with a score of 4 or 5, sometimes a 3 it depends on the college, it's worth just as much! It's still beneficial regardless, congrats if you passed by the way!
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An exception could be if your school does not offer AP courses. Very selective schools will want to see that you took the the most rigorous classes available to you. The less selective the school the less they are concerned with rigor. Therefor a passing score on an AP exam sans taking the course and receiving a good grade, while not as beneficial as doing both, would still be an impressive feat that you would want to include in your application.