AP Tests this week, how are we feeling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did kids say Gov was easy? My kid said it was easy?

yes==and know we are stressing over the scaling/curving

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do the AP scores weight heavily on admissions?

Yes, they do at competitive colleges, especially for competitive majors. Academics typically account for two-thirds of the admission criteria, with minimum unweighted and weighted GPA serving as early filters to narrow down the applicant pool from thousands. The next level of filtering criteria would be the rigor of coursework, with AP-level or post-AP-level coursework given the highest preference. If a student receives an A but does not earn a score of 4 or 5 on the AP exam, it could suggest that the grade was inflated. For STEM majors, rigorous coursework such as Calculus BC, Physics C, Chemistry, AP Language/Literature, etc., can significantly enhance the applicant's profile, particularly if they achieve scores of 5 on these exams.

Disagree. If you are in-state and you are already admitted, VT or UVA do not care if you pass or fail your AP tests in your senior year of high school...

I think everyone is talking about junior and sophomore scores, in the US senior ones dont matter

My kid is sophomore and I was just wondering about this last night - hadn't thought about it much before!

So my question is: If a kid as already been admitted, why bother taking the AP exam at all? At our HS you only get the GPA bump if you take the exam, but why do you care about the gpa bump at this point anyway? Am I missing something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do the AP scores weight heavily on admissions?

Yes, they do at competitive colleges, especially for competitive majors. Academics typically account for two-thirds of the admission criteria, with minimum unweighted and weighted GPA serving as early filters to narrow down the applicant pool from thousands. The next level of filtering criteria would be the rigor of coursework, with AP-level or post-AP-level coursework given the highest preference. If a student receives an A but does not earn a score of 4 or 5 on the AP exam, it could suggest that the grade was inflated. For STEM majors, rigorous coursework such as Calculus BC, Physics C, Chemistry, AP Language/Literature, etc., can significantly enhance the applicant's profile, particularly if they achieve scores of 5 on these exams.

Disagree. If you are in-state and you are already admitted, VT or UVA do not care if you pass or fail your AP tests in your senior year of high school...

I think everyone is talking about junior and sophomore scores, in the US senior ones dont matter

My kid is sophomore and I was just wondering about this last night - hadn't thought about it much before!

So my question is: If a kid as already been admitted, why bother taking the AP exam at all? At our HS you only get the GPA bump if you take the exam, but why do you care about the gpa bump at this point anyway? Am I missing something?

I think you're right.
My kid is in 11th and taking AP exams this year. I am considering signing him up late for any AP exams he *might* want to take next year, or signing up on time and then cancelling if college offers arrive in a timely fashion - otherwise I'm not sweating it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did kids say Gov was easy? My kid said it was easy?

yes==and know we are stressing over the scaling/curving

This is what my son was saying they might curve it down because it was so easy... Yikes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do the AP scores weight heavily on admissions?

Yes, they do at competitive colleges, especially for competitive majors. Academics typically account for two-thirds of the admission criteria, with minimum unweighted and weighted GPA serving as early filters to narrow down the applicant pool from thousands. The next level of filtering criteria would be the rigor of coursework, with AP-level or post-AP-level coursework given the highest preference. If a student receives an A but does not earn a score of 4 or 5 on the AP exam, it could suggest that the grade was inflated. For STEM majors, rigorous coursework such as Calculus BC, Physics C, Chemistry, AP Language/Literature, etc., can significantly enhance the applicant's profile, particularly if they achieve scores of 5 on these exams.

Disagree. If you are in-state and you are already admitted, VT or UVA do not care if you pass or fail your AP tests in your senior year of high school...

I think everyone is talking about junior and sophomore scores, in the US senior ones dont matter

My kid is sophomore and I was just wondering about this last night - hadn't thought about it much before!

So my question is: If a kid as already been admitted, why bother taking the AP exam at all? At our HS you only get the GPA bump if you take the exam, but why do you care about the gpa bump at this point anyway? Am I missing something?

You take it to get college credit for the course. Particularly helpful if the AP satisfies a Gen Ed requirement that your kid has no interest in taking in college (foreign language as an example), or you want to skip the beginner level required course, or you want to graduate early, or you want to have some credits in your back pocket so you can perhaps take fewer courses one semester...or some combination of the above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do the AP scores weight heavily on admissions?

Yes, they do at competitive colleges, especially for competitive majors. Academics typically account for two-thirds of the admission criteria, with minimum unweighted and weighted GPA serving as early filters to narrow down the applicant pool from thousands. The next level of filtering criteria would be the rigor of coursework, with AP-level or post-AP-level coursework given the highest preference. If a student receives an A but does not earn a score of 4 or 5 on the AP exam, it could suggest that the grade was inflated. For STEM majors, rigorous coursework such as Calculus BC, Physics C, Chemistry, AP Language/Literature, etc., can significantly enhance the applicant's profile, particularly if they achieve scores of 5 on these exams.

Disagree. If you are in-state and you are already admitted, VT or UVA do not care if you pass or fail your AP tests in your senior year of high school...

I think everyone is talking about junior and sophomore scores, in the US senior ones dont matter

My kid is sophomore and I was just wondering about this last night - hadn't thought about it much before!

So my question is: If a kid as already been admitted, why bother taking the AP exam at all? At our HS you only get the GPA bump if you take the exam, but why do you care about the gpa bump at this point anyway? Am I missing something?

I think you're right.
My kid is in 11th and taking AP exams this year. I am considering signing him up late for any AP exams he *might* want to take next year, or signing up on time and then cancelling if college offers arrive in a timely fashion - otherwise I'm not sweating it.

Good idea. I think my kid *may* want to take a few exams senior to report score if it's really good. But may change his mind if it seems unnecessary or senioritis kicks in. That takes a lot of potential pressure off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do the AP scores weight heavily on admissions?

Yes, they do at competitive colleges, especially for competitive majors. Academics typically account for two-thirds of the admission criteria, with minimum unweighted and weighted GPA serving as early filters to narrow down the applicant pool from thousands. The next level of filtering criteria would be the rigor of coursework, with AP-level or post-AP-level coursework given the highest preference. If a student receives an A but does not earn a score of 4 or 5 on the AP exam, it could suggest that the grade was inflated. For STEM majors, rigorous coursework such as Calculus BC, Physics C, Chemistry, AP Language/Literature, etc., can significantly enhance the applicant's profile, particularly if they achieve scores of 5 on these exams.

Disagree. If you are in-state and you are already admitted, VT or UVA do not care if you pass or fail your AP tests in your senior year of high school...

I think everyone is talking about junior and sophomore scores, in the US senior ones dont matter

My kid is sophomore and I was just wondering about this last night - hadn't thought about it much before!

So my question is: If a kid as already been admitted, why bother taking the AP exam at all? At our HS you only get the GPA bump if you take the exam, but why do you care about the gpa bump at this point anyway? Am I missing something?

You take it to get college credit for the course. Particularly helpful if the AP satisfies a Gen Ed requirement that your kid has no interest in taking in college (foreign language as an example), or you want to skip the beginner level required course, or you want to graduate early, or you want to have some credits in your back pocket so you can perhaps take fewer courses one semester...or some combination of the above.

It can also free up your college schedule for a double major or minor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do the AP scores weight heavily on admissions?

Yes, they do at competitive colleges, especially for competitive majors. Academics typically account for two-thirds of the admission criteria, with minimum unweighted and weighted GPA serving as early filters to narrow down the applicant pool from thousands. The next level of filtering criteria would be the rigor of coursework, with AP-level or post-AP-level coursework given the highest preference. If a student receives an A but does not earn a score of 4 or 5 on the AP exam, it could suggest that the grade was inflated. For STEM majors, rigorous coursework such as Calculus BC, Physics C, Chemistry, AP Language/Literature, etc., can significantly enhance the applicant's profile, particularly if they achieve scores of 5 on these exams.

Disagree. If you are in-state and you are already admitted, VT or UVA do not care if you pass or fail your AP tests in your senior year of high school...

I think everyone is talking about junior and sophomore scores, in the US senior ones dont matter

My kid is sophomore and I was just wondering about this last night - hadn't thought about it much before!

So my question is: If a kid as already been admitted, why bother taking the AP exam at all? At our HS you only get the GPA bump if you take the exam, but why do you care about the gpa bump at this point anyway? Am I missing something?

Ok that makes sense. If your kid has already committed, then they would check to see which classes they could potentially get credit for, for that particular school and/or program.

You take it to get college credit for the course. Particularly helpful if the AP satisfies a Gen Ed requirement that your kid has no interest in taking in college (foreign language as an example), or you want to skip the beginner level required course, or you want to graduate early, or you want to have some credits in your back pocket so you can perhaps take fewer courses one semester...or some combination of the above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did kids say Gov was easy? My kid said it was easy?

yes==and know we are stressing over the scaling/curving

This is what my son was saying they might curve it down because it was so easy... Yikes!

ap calc bc has 54 percent getting 5s, so i think if our kids did well they will keep it a 5 for ap gov this year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did kids say Gov was easy? My kid said it was easy?

yes==and know we are stressing over the scaling/curving

This is what my son was saying they might curve it down because it was so easy... Yikes!

ap calc bc has 54 percent getting 5s, so i think if our kids did well they will keep it a 5 for ap gov this year

to clarify the mcq was easy . the frq was not easy-it was within what was expected

[Anonymous]

^^I messed up my reply. But ok I see what others are saying. Take the ap senior year for:

-potential college credit for gen ed classes you want to skip
-to double major or add a minor
-to free up schedule to graduate early or take fewer classes one semester

All good reasons. So, when they make it through junior year testing madness (PSAT, SAT, APs, final exams), it's a little more relaxed senior year in that good scores will impart some benefits but nothing that's critical for admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The college board site says they start releasing results on July 8th.

Given past experience, that doesn't mean ALL results will be available first thing on July 8th.

I have kids taking a few starting this week. One kid is really ill with Flu B so has anti-virals and anything else we can pump him with, to be well enough to take them.

There are make-up days at the end of the exam period. Don’t take it sick

Agree!

The make ups are not the same test and my kid heard they can have harder FRQs so be careful.

That would be deemed discrimination and not ethical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The college board site says they start releasing results on July 8th.

Given past experience, that doesn't mean ALL results will be available first thing on July 8th.

I have kids taking a few starting this week. One kid is really ill with Flu B so has anti-virals and anything else we can pump him with, to be well enough to take them.

There are make-up days at the end of the exam period. Don’t take it sick

Agree!

The make ups are not the same test and my kid heard they can have harder FRQs so be careful.

That would be deemed discrimination and not ethical.

this is an n of 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The college board site says they start releasing results on July 8th.

Given past experience, that doesn't mean ALL results will be available first thing on July 8th.

I have kids taking a few starting this week. One kid is really ill with Flu B so has anti-virals and anything else we can pump him with, to be well enough to take them.

There are make-up days at the end of the exam period. Don’t take it sick

Agree!

The make ups are not the same test and my kid heard they can have harder FRQs so be careful.

That would be deemed discrimination and not ethical.

this is an n of 1

wut?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^I messed up my reply. But ok I see what others are saying. Take the ap senior year for:

-potential college credit for gen ed classes you want to skip
-to double major or add a minor
-to free up schedule to graduate early or take fewer classes one semester

All good reasons. So, when they make it through junior year testing madness (PSAT, SAT, APs, final exams), it's a little more relaxed senior year in that good scores will impart some benefits but nothing that's critical for admissions.

That's correct (assuming they aren't looking to transfer, or that they're not on a waitlist somewhere in mid-July.)

Another reason to take the APs:
Your school may give you advanced standing when it comes to class registration.