does it look bad if i don't report an ap score

So AP exam score has near zero impact in the admissions process unless it’s a tie and only one will be admitted and even then that's sometimes. Your grade however will have a bigger impact. So a AP exam if not reported MAY hurt you a little it will not to the extent mblev says. I equate a AP exam to be .01 gpa boost or reduction (guesswork) but failing an AP test meerly means no college credit.

Hope this helps and please comment if you need clarification

Edit: Grammar

@DebaterMAX is correct. AP scores have very, very little impact on college admissions, especially if the exam has nothing to do with your major. If you don't report, they probably won't really notice. They can't assume you failed, as maybe you never took the exam in the first place. They care more about your grade in the class.

Additionally, AP exams will likely mean even less for this past year, as they were free-response only. Anecdotally, it seems that many students didn't perform as well as expected, and it's likely the case that the score distributions were pretty different from previous years'.

Even if there is a "tie" between two students, it's unlikely that your lack of an AP score will make a difference. It maybe could, but it's more likely that they'd first look at what kind of "roles" they need to fill on campus. For example, if they feel they need more art history majors, more musicians for the orchestra, more service-oriented students, etc.

Hope this helps, and don't worry too much! Let me know if you have more questions.

Hi there! I struggled with this same thing. I feel like colleges will presume your non-reported score to be a 1, so if that is not the case, go ahead and report it. It will hurt you more for them to think you scored lower than you did.