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@niaxo
0 answers, 1 vote
 • 3 years ago •
Admissions Advice

Sending NO AP Exam Scores

Will submitting 0 of the 4 AP exams I have already taken negatively affect my application by a decent amount? I scored 3's in both AP Histories and 2 in AP Chem and AP environmental science. However, I received high B's in AP world and u.s and A's in ap chem and environmental (I just suck at AP exams). I'm still submitting exams I will take in 2021, but not including any of these exams. Is that fine or should I include the 3's? I feel like colleges will then know I failed chem and environmental (I mainly care about top UC's).

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2 answers

4
@jeremiahejensen04
29 answers, 61 votes
 • 3 years ago

In my opinion, choosing not to submit the exam scores will not negatively impact your application. For one, there is a significant percentage of students who take AP courses but never take the exams at all, so you're definitely not in an unusual situation. If you don't send your scores, then colleges will have no idea whether you took the tests or not; they can only see them when you send them with your permission. Also, a lot of admissions experts agree that AP Exams actually have no effect (or at least no significant effect) on your admissions probabilities. See https://www.collegexpress.com/articles-and-advice/test-prep/blog/icymi-ap-scores-dont-matter-college-admission/ for one example.

Hope this helps!

4
[🎤 AUTHOR]@niaxo3 years ago [edited]

Thank you for responding! This makes sense, but do you think that because SAT/ACT scores are not allowed any longer, they’ll start taking other factors such as AP scores more into account? Thats what I’m especially worried about.

@jeremiahejensen043 years ago [edited]

You misquoted slightly: colleges still 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 SAT/ACT scores, they just don't 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 them. Admissions experts have made it clear that applications w/o standardized test scores are based strictly on grades/GPA and Extracurriculars, not on other test scores, APs, etc. –I wouldn't be worried about it. Hope this helps!

@DebaterMAX3 years ago

Agree 100% APs in my mind roughly equates to like .01 gpa boost or minus per test IF you submit it.

@DebaterMAX3 years ago

How did you get the italics?

3
@CameronBameron
2,281 answers, 8,531 votes
 • 3 years ago

You're in a tough spot because if you report zero and they know you took 4 APs, then yes, they will assume you bombed them or didn't pass them. But if you submit (2) 3s and (2) 2s then that doesn't match up with your grades so they might think that your teacher in AP Chem and AP Env.Sc. had serious grade inflation because you got 2s in those vs. your 2 histories where the grade and AP score sort of aligns.

Since you mostly care about the UC Schools and the UC Schools do give credit for 3s in History/Social Studies I believe, then I recommend you submit the (2) 3s in AP World and AP US Histories and do not report the (2) 2s in AP Chem and AP Env. Sci.

That way the AO people will think you're "okay" on your APs but nothing special rather than raising a bunch of "yellow flags" as to what happened.

Good luck and hope that makes sense to you.

3
[🎤 AUTHOR]@niaxo3 years ago [edited]

Thank you for responding. I will most likely report the 3’s, but my counselors told me to not report them at all, saying that colleges could assume that they could all be 3’s/ the scores arent important and how they aren’t related to my major. What do you think about this? Also, i definitely wouldnt want them to think the class was easy, my teachers were really tough. Also, won’t they know I failed the other two If I submit only 2/4 scores? This sucks because the pandemic messed me up.

@CameronBameron3 years ago

Just report the (3)s, who knows what they will really think about not reporting AP Chem and AP Env. On the most favorable assumption, someone might think you had severe technical problems like 10% of the AP test takers and couldn't submit or something like that. And when you took it over, it threw you off your game. It's better than handing them a 2 - 2s on a silver plate.

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