Applying to UK universities without APs

[Anonymous]

DC will apply to British universities but is at an academically private school which does not offer APs. Would be great to hear from anyone with a child who did this. Particularly interested in whether your DC independently did AP exams given the bar is so high for entrance marks for non-AP courses.

Not interested in hearing about St Andrews as its admissions team is much more familiar with non-AP admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC will apply to British universities but is at an academically private school which does not offer APs. Would be great to hear from anyone with a child who did this. Particularly interested in whether your DC independently did AP exams given the bar is so high for entrance marks for non-AP courses.

Not interested in hearing about St Andrews as its admissions team is much more familiar with non-AP admissions.

* academically rigorous

[Anonymous]

Is DC a junior? I think this could be fairly tough. While AP tests are not that hard to pass, it’s not a piece of cake to get a 5, and the kids in humanities AP classes spend a lot of time during the year practicing how to structure their essays for the test.

Obviously it’s easier if DC is taking comparable classes during the school year. But to get 5s on four (?) APs is going to require a lot of prep, both in the subject and specific to the APs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is DC a junior? I think this could be fairly tough. While AP tests are not that hard to pass, it’s not a piece of cake to get a 5, and the kids in humanities AP classes spend a lot of time during the year practicing how to structure their essays for the test.

Obviously it’s easier if DC is taking comparable classes during the school year. But to get 5s on four (?) APs is going to require a lot of prep, both in the subject and specific to the APs

OP here. DC is a sophomore right now. At this stage interested in psychology but that could change. Thinking of doing 2 or 3 APs and hoping to schedule so mirror a course they are doing at school. Eg APUSH this year as they are doing honours US history at school this year.

Why do you suggest need to do 4 APs and score 5 in each?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is DC a junior? I think this could be fairly tough. While AP tests are not that hard to pass, it’s not a piece of cake to get a 5, and the kids in humanities AP classes spend a lot of time during the year practicing how to structure their essays for the test.

Obviously it’s easier if DC is taking comparable classes during the school year. But to get 5s on four (?) APs is going to require a lot of prep, both in the subject and specific to the APs

OP here. DC is a sophomore right now. At this stage interested in psychology but that could change. Thinking of doing 2 or 3 APs and hoping to schedule so mirror a course they are doing at school. Eg APUSH this year as they are doing honours US history at school this year.

Why do you suggest need to do 4 APs and score 5 in each?

I thought that was the requirement. My son is considering applying. I just checked and it’s five 5s, or fewer with a certain SAT score.

Psychology is a very easy AP from what I hear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is DC a junior? I think this could be fairly tough. While AP tests are not that hard to pass, it’s not a piece of cake to get a 5, and the kids in humanities AP classes spend a lot of time during the year practicing how to structure their essays for the test.

Obviously it’s easier if DC is taking comparable classes during the school year. But to get 5s on four (?) APs is going to require a lot of prep, both in the subject and specific to the APs

OP here. DC is a sophomore right now. At this stage interested in psychology but that could change. Thinking of doing 2 or 3 APs and hoping to schedule so mirror a course they are doing at school. Eg APUSH this year as they are doing honours US history at school this year.

Why do you suggest need to do 4 APs and score 5 in each?

I thought that was the requirement. My son is considering applying. I just checked and it’s five 5s, or fewer with a certain SAT score.

Psychology is a very easy AP from what I hear.

It is for Oxford. Here are the entry requirements: Oxford Entry Requirements - USA
The highest (A*A*A) requires either four APs at grade 5 (including grades in any essential subjects) or three grade 5 APs with an SAT score of 1480 or an ACT score of 33 (essay not required).

[Anonymous]

OP here. I’ve looked at the Complete University Guide for psychology course rankings. For Durham, York, Bath and Edinburgh, all appear to give the option of only doing two APs plus ACT/SAT. Don’t think any require previous study of psychology (but need to check).

I think only a handful require five APs. Maybe Oxford or Cambridge and LSE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I’ve looked at the Complete University Guide for psychology course rankings. For Durham, York, Bath and Edinburgh, all appear to give the option of only doing two APs plus ACT/SAT. Don’t think any require previous study of psychology (but need to check).

I think only a handful require five APs. Maybe Oxford or Cambridge and LSE.

You’re putting an awful lot of faith in a 15-year-old knowing what they want to study and not changing their mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I’ve looked at the Complete University Guide for psychology course rankings. For Durham, York, Bath and Edinburgh, all appear to give the option of only doing two APs plus ACT/SAT. Don’t think any require previous study of psychology (but need to check).

I think only a handful require five APs. Maybe Oxford or Cambridge and LSE.

You’re putting an awful lot of faith in a 15-year-old knowing what they want to study and not changing their mind.

I realise that. I’m really using it as a starting point to figure out the issues of whether she needs to do APs and how many. The websites also only provide a certain amount of information. For example, I know some universities will only look at APs done in grades 11 and 12. It’s not clear whether that’s an issue at universities which don’t specify timing.