If AP scores don’t matter, why offer the test at all?

[Anonymous]

AP classes with no scores submitted makes admissions officers question the High School and GPA, i.e. signal grade inflation. They probably let that slide for First Gen/Low Income as they do understand the cost of the test. If you are from a private high school or a well regarded public high school they expect test results. For top schools you are competing against kids with 5's in all AP's

[Anonymous]

College Board is a monopoly that likes to charge extra $$$ for meaningless crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP classes with no scores submitted makes admissions officers question the High School and GPA, i.e. signal grade inflation. They probably let that slide for First Gen/Low Income as they do understand the cost of the test. If you are from a private high school or a well regarded public high school they expect test results. For top schools you are competing against kids with 5's in all AP's

This is simply not true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP classes with no scores submitted makes admissions officers question the High School and GPA, i.e. signal grade inflation. They probably let that slide for First Gen/Low Income as they do understand the cost of the test. If you are from a private high school or a well regarded public high school they expect test results. For top schools you are competing against kids with 5's in all AP's

Nope.

Once an applicant is accepted, the college moves on to the next admissions class. It isn't tracking AP scores.

[Anonymous]

Our private requires everyone to take the AP exam or they fail the class.

They average 90% of the studebts taking them 4s & 5s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bringing this over from a discussion that started on the SAT thread.

I’ve seen many people on DCUM claim that scores on AP exams don’t matter and are irrelevant to admissions.

I disagree, and think that in this test optional era AP scores should, and in fact do, matter a great deal.

We live in an era of rampant AP cours inflation and grade inflation in America’s public high schools. No one knows what a 4.0 even means anymore, and don’t get me started on the various absurd weighting schemes.

My own view is that regardless of the name of a class on a high school transcript, students should get no “AP bonus” in admissions unless they 1) actually take the test; and 2) achieve a score of 4 or 5 and 3) report this score to the school where they are seeking admission.

Like the ACT/ SAT, actual AP Exam scores provide important objective context to widely disparate high school quality and grading standards. It seems insane for students not to offer, and for colleges not to demand, this context. A B-average kid with several 4a and 5s reported is always going to look more impressive to me than a “straight A” student in multiple “AP” classes who doesn’t report a single high exam score.

As with college credit itself, the AP admissions standard should be: no test, no credit. If you claim to have taken a bunch of AP classes and gotten all As, but don’t report a single good AP exam score, I think it is a fair assumption that either grading standards or curricular rigor at your high school are low.

Our child is graduating in 3 years from a $90k/year school because of their AP scores, so I'm all for them (the $1300 we spent on those tests saved us $90k+). Totally worth it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my DC’s private school you are required to take the AP tests or you fail the class. I imagine they can’t do that in public school because of the test fees.

Wrong. Our public requires the test. Sigh. You don’t know a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bringing this over from a discussion that started on the SAT thread.

I’ve seen many people on DCUM claim that scores on AP exams don’t matter and are irrelevant to admissions.

I disagree, and think that in this test optional era AP scores should, and in fact do, matter a great deal.

We live in an era of rampant AP cours inflation and grade inflation in America’s public high schools. No one knows what a 4.0 even means anymore, and don’t get me started on the various absurd weighting schemes.

My own view is that regardless of the name of a class on a high school transcript, students should get no “AP bonus” in admissions unless they 1) actually take the test; and 2) achieve a score of 4 or 5 and 3) report this score to the school where they are seeking admission.

Like the ACT/ SAT, actual AP Exam scores provide important objective context to widely disparate high school quality and grading standards. It seems insane for students not to offer, and for colleges not to demand, this context. A B-average kid with several 4a and 5s reported is always going to look more impressive to me than a “straight A” student in multiple “AP” classes who doesn’t report a single high exam score.

As with college credit itself, the AP admissions standard should be: no test, no credit. If you claim to have taken a bunch of AP classes and gotten all As, but don’t report a single good AP exam score, I think it is a fair assumption that either grading standards or curricular rigor at your high school are low.

What are you on about? What is an "ap bonus."

And you don't "get [college] credit" for the class unless you take the test and report the score. And many schools do require 5s on the test to get that credit. And at many high schools - not sure about your kid's high school - you don't get a bump for your weighted gpa if you don't take the test.

[Anonymous]

Ignore the forum troll who keeps giving a blanket statement that AP scores don’t matter. Search this forum for why they’re very wrong. They know they are. Perhaps they are the same person who kept trying to deny yield protection exists. AP scores don’t *always* matter. But they certainly can. There are a lot of factors that speak to how big a role they might play in one’s applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know many kids who got straight A's in AP courses and then scored a 2 on the official exam. Of course they don't report that to colleges. There is rampant grade inflation, multiple test retakes, etc. If kids take AP classes, I think they should be required to take and report the AP exam, particularly if they get to benefit from a weighted gpa boost.

Ok. But on flip side, for kids who took 6 AP classes in sophomore and junior year and got 5s on all of them, yes, I think this would be worth something at a T25 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the forum troll who keeps giving a blanket statement that AP scores don’t matter. Search this forum for why they’re very wrong. They know they are. Perhaps they are the same person who kept trying to deny yield protection exists. AP scores don’t *always* matter. But they certainly can. There are a lot of factors that speak to how big a role they might play in one’s applications.

And perhaps also the same person who issues the blanket statement that alumni interviews never matter. These things are more nuanced. Be careful with posters speaking in absolutes. I think they’re just trying to get people riled up.

[Anonymous]

Our public can’t fail you if you don’t take the AP test, but auto- signs you up and pays for it and highly, highly encourages it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused. Do T25 schools not look at or consider AP scores in assessing/comparing academic achievment, readiness, or rigor?

Students are not required to submit test scores for admission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can absolutely report AP scores on the common app testing section for admissions purposes. They matter.

+1 Scores matter. CCO at the private has repeated it with stronger and stronger language the past three fall-parent-session talks. There are former T20 AOs on staff at this private and they have been quite clear that 4s and 5s are great scores, should be reported on the common app as should 3s most of the time, and at the T20s the sores are differentiators v similar students that do not report any scores. The caveat is they said "from similar backgrounds" , implying they matter for UMC public and/or private schools. They likely do not matter much if low or unreported for underprivileged applicants or underresourced schools. DCUM loves to say they do not matter, DCUM is way out of date on this, advising as though it is 2019 when 1/3 not 2/3 of suburban public school grads had above 4.0weighted. Inflation went crazy in covid. AO's have to delineate somehow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can absolutely report AP scores on the common app testing section for admissions purposes. They matter.

+1 Scores matter. CCO at the private has repeated it with stronger and stronger language the past three fall-parent-session talks. There are former T20 AOs on staff at this private and they have been quite clear that 4s and 5s are great scores, should be reported on the common app as should 3s most of the time, and at the T20s the sores are differentiators v similar students that do not report any scores. The caveat is they said "from similar backgrounds" , implying they matter for UMC public and/or private schools. They likely do not matter much if low or unreported for underprivileged applicants or underresourced schools. DCUM loves to say they do not matter, DCUM is way out of date on this, advising as though it is 2019 when 1/3 not 2/3 of suburban public school grads had above 4.0weighted. Inflation went crazy in covid. AO's have to delineate somehow.

We’re at a Title I magnet and the advice is to report all passing AP scores, but only report SAT score if above the median.

I suspect schools like AP scores from everyone who has them, because they are a strong indicator of ability to do the work without impacting the SAT scores reported in the “school profile.”