are AP exams really necessary?

[Anonymous]

I think if you take an Ap class, and want to get the GPA bump for it, you should have to take the exam -- or take a similarly lengthy challenging final exam administered by your teacher.

If you skip the exam the high school should not weight your grade for that class.

A final exam is part of the course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think if you take an Ap class, and want to get the GPA bump for it, you should have to take the exam -- or take a similarly lengthy challenging final exam administered by your teacher.

If you skip the exam the high school should not weight your grade for that class.

A final exam is part of the course.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a student does take an AP exam and scores very poorly on it (1 or 2) would a college revoke admission?

No

Then what is the point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think if you take an Ap class, and want to get the GPA bump for it, you should have to take the exam -- or take a similarly lengthy challenging final exam administered by your teacher.

If you skip the exam the high school should not weight your grade for that class.

A final exam is part of the course.

Public schools abuse the AP system. They give a full one grade higher for these courses but there is no final. I think the AP final needs to count as part of the actual class grade. So easy to to just not bother. Pisses me off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a student does take an AP exam and scores very poorly on it (1 or 2) would a college revoke admission?

No

Then what is the point?

Weighted GPA and to show “rigor” although most private college prep and boarding schools don’t even offer them. And they all get more acceptances than public school kids. I don’t like it and wish they would scale way back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The problem with APs, is that it has become the de facto “most rigorous” course load at a high school.

Although a college may not accept the credits, most still make the “rigorous” consideration (for admissions) based on how many your student took while in high school."

So don't take the exams.

As a former college counselor, it doesn't look great to admission folks when someone *doesn't* take the exam. This is especially true if most students take the exam at your high school.

This is what I really want to know, but if the college counselor is also the one who said that a college might revoke the acceptance depending on the AP result, I am now doubting the credibility of the initial post. My kid will take a ton of AP classes because they are the most rigorous offering at her school. We aren't going to particularly care about the AP credit for college. While it would be nice to register earlier than others if that is a side benefit, to us there aren't too many other benefits. Will the selective colleges she is applying to care that she got 5's on her AP exams? Is it one of the factors they look at? Given that all those College Confidential posters list their great AP exam scores on their "chance me" threads, I assume they are providing that information to colleges, and so isn't that an added plus to the colleges in looking over a particular admissions file?

[Anonymous]

At DS’s Magnet HS I’ve heard that many kids take around 10 AP exams including 5 or 6 in 11th grade. My kid has decided to “only “ take 4 exams in 11th grade because he wants to take Magnet electives rather than more generic AP classes and does not want to self study for too many exams. On the one hand his AP exam load will not compare favorably with his peers (the program sends a profile with information on how many kids take each AP exam and how they do eg 60 students took AP X, 45 got a 5 etc). On the other hand, I am going to hope that colleges look at the whole picture and see a kid doing well taking tough and interesting classes. It has become such an arms race and I want to support my kid’s push for sanity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a student does take an AP exam and scores very poorly on it (1 or 2) would a college revoke admission?

No

Then what is the point?

Weighted GPA and to show “rigor” although most private college prep and boarding schools don’t even offer them. And they all get more acceptances than public school kids. I don’t like it and wish they would scale way back.

I actually think that AP classes/exams are not a bad thing. Having a standardized measure is not a bad thing.

Kids signing up for all AP, taking the GPA bump on college apps and then not actually doing the work and taking the test......that would be pretty bad. Hopefully not too many students get away with this sort of thing. But whatever.

I thought that a school could lose their AP administration privileges if not enough of there students actually take the AP exams.

[Anonymous]

their

[Anonymous]

Can an AP teacher decide to simply not GAF and have their students watch videos and play card games all year....why prepare the kids for an exam that the kids have zero interest in ever taking. They are in it for the grade and GPA bump, right?

Thank goodness the vast majority of AP teachers (and students) do not think along those lines!

[Anonymous]

My son’s low-20’s ranked SLAC took many of his 4 and 5 AP scores which is allowing him to pursue a 3-year plan. I don’t think that they are remotely as rigorous as an actual college class and it took some adjustment. But he seems to have caught up and the compression will save him a good chunk of change. Not a perfect plan but it worked for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son’s low-20’s ranked SLAC took many of his 4 and 5 AP scores which is allowing him to pursue a 3-year plan. I don’t think that they are remotely as rigorous as an actual college class and it took some adjustment. But he seems to have caught up and the compression will save him a good chunk of change. Not a perfect plan but it worked for him.

They have to have fairly decent study skills to get 4 or 5 AP scores. That is probably why your son is having such a successful college year. Good for him!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think if you take an Ap class, and want to get the GPA bump for it, you should have to take the exam -- or take a similarly lengthy challenging final exam administered by your teacher.

If you skip the exam the high school should not weight your grade for that class.

A final exam is part of the course.

Public schools abuse the AP system. They give a full one grade higher for these courses but there is no final. I think the AP final needs to count as part of the actual class grade. So easy to to just not bother. Pisses me off.

Not at my children's public high schools. They have a final AND the AP exam. Joy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"The problem with APs, is that it has become the de facto “most rigorous” course load at a high school.

Although a college may not accept the credits, most still make the “rigorous” consideration (for admissions) based on how many your student took while in high school."

So don't take the exams.

As a former college counselor, it doesn't look great to admission folks when someone *doesn't* take the exam. This is especially true if most students take the exam at your high school.

This is what I really want to know, but if the college counselor is also the one who said that a college might revoke the acceptance depending on the AP result, I am now doubting the credibility of the initial post. My kid will take a ton of AP classes because they are the most rigorous offering at her school. We aren't going to particularly care about the AP credit for college. While it would be nice to register earlier than others if that is a side benefit, to us there aren't too many other benefits. Will the selective colleges she is applying to care that she got 5's on her AP exams? Is it one of the factors they look at? Given that all those College Confidential posters list their great AP exam scores on their "chance me" threads, I assume they are providing that information to colleges, and so isn't that an added plus to the colleges in looking over a particular admissions file?

PP here. Nope, that post about "revoking based on a poor AP result" was NOT me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a student does take an AP exam and scores very poorly on it (1 or 2) would a college revoke admission?

No

Then what is the point?

- shows rigor
- bumps up wtGPA
- get college credits (varies by school)